Why football's nationality rules have changed

Football's rules around nationality have changed. Here's how.

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[ryandeane]

To be clear, Rice also made senior appearances for Ireland, though they were only friendlies

[thefootballfuturist]

This could’ve been a full length 10 minute video

[NSBEdits]

Imagine if fhey didn't change the rules and there were like 9 Brazilian players playing for a country like China or Qatar. That would be insane.

[NIDELLANEUM]

Back then, you could even *win the World Cup* with a nation and still switch. I was surprised to learn that Alcides Ghiggia, the Uruguay player who scored in the 1950 World Cup final, then went to Italy and played for the Azzurri. Can you imagine if, say, Griezmann switched nations and played for Portugal after scoring in a World Cup final?

[BeWe]

A rare example of footballs governing bodies making a good decision

[Stokie]

Bruno Fornaroli is a good example of the rule recent rule change.

Born in Uruguay but never played for the national team. Has played in Australia since 2013 and became a citizen so was eligible to be selected for Australia.

[arrmahn]

The rule has always been unable to change after 1 senior cap even if he only come on at 90th min. still remember when spain tried to convince Messi, Argentina rushed to arrange an intl friendly asap to get a senior cap with them first

[FranciscoCarbonara]

Declan Rice was capped at senior level for Ireland, even won FAI young player of the year

[kickass]

Back in the day players could play in a World Cup for one team then Switch to another team

[zsac]

All the Requirements to Playing for a National Team
(clarifying the mistakes in this short)

A player can play for a country if they:
1. Are born in the country,
2. Have an ancestral link to a country that allows them to gain citizenship (the furthest ancestral link FIFA accepts is through a grandparent),
3. Obtain naturalisation to a country they have no ancestral link to and after living in the country for at least 5 years (the rule to counter the Qatar farce).

A player can swap countries if they have any of these 3 links to another country and ARE NOT cap-tied to their current country. A player becomes cap-tied to a country by:
1. Playing 1 game for that country at a major tournament (continental or international),
2. Earning their 4th cap for that country as a senior player under the age of 21,
3. Being 21 or older having already represented that country at any level (youth or senior) at least once,
4. Representing a new country at least once after swapping allegiances.

A player can only swap national teams once in their career. They can only reverse the decision IF they fail to make an appearance for the new national team (which would have cap-tied them otherwise).

[somethingofascientistmyself]

Look at Indonesia national team. Some of the players are EU based and couldn’t even speak the Indonesian language, but since they have Indonesian grandparents it’s fine

[skojuzija]

This should be a rule in other sports too. Players in handball change national teams like clubs...

[colmmcsweeney]

but also if you were born or even just lived there for a certain number of years before a certain age

[francescganau]

Kubala and di Stefano played for Spain in the 1950s… crazgy😊😊😊

[bobbyscott]

My mum got me your book and i actually had no idea that it was made by you!

[HighLordBlazeReborn]

Basically, a way for first world countries to poach the best of the developing world while barring anything those countries could do to build a team/structure for the future. I get why they did it, but you have to admit there's a bit of weirdness here.

[upkaarbharadia]

Considering the landscape of international football isn't meant to be skewed by transfers like club football, and players are playing for their own national pride rather than money/ambition, more should be done in the rules to protect its integrity.

Allowing players like Rice and Grealish to get Rep. of Ireland fans' hopes up only to then rediscover their Englishness when it suited their careers makes a mockery of it and creates unnecessary hostility.

More responsibility (i.e. rules) should be placed on players at the outset of their intentional careers to understand that once they have made their choice, they can't switch to a different team. Whether it be a youth game or a friendly.

Even as an Englishman whose team benefitted on this occasion, I was unhappy that the rules allowed Rice and Grealish to switch.

[berosar]

An ancestral link is OBVIOUSLY not required.

[sebastianschmidt]

Came here after Rice two goals against RM

[LovelyPizza-mpmw]

Fifa closing loop holes. Fifa underestimates the greed of man