Part 3: Multiple Nationality Football Players – Switching national teams 🔁⚽️🌍
Another question that often crops up is “Can I switch and play for my country of origin when I have already played for my country of birth?”.
This may happen for instance if a player received a call up from his country of birth, say for U19, but then as he got older he decides to play for his country of origin. Remember, he must hold a permanent nationality in both countries (as established in Part 1)
So let’s assume Chinedu in Part 1 is an 18 yr old player, and he is currently playing for England’s U19s. After some research and discussions with his parents, he decides to switch and play for Nigeria.
Is that possible and if so, what does he need to do to get approval?
According to the FIFA regulations, “A player may, only once, request to change the association for which he is eligible to play to the association of another country of which he holds nationality”.
However, a request to change association may only be granted under certain circumstances.
This is quite a complex topic with a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ so I am not even going to try and break it down in a small LinkedIn article 😅. If you are a football player and looking at switching national teams, it’s best to read this directly from the source ➡️ FIFA Statutes.
What I would like to add though (in simple English), is that yes it is possible to switch to another country so long as you meet the criteria. So, you may have represented one country at youth international level and decide to switch and play for another country at senior international level. Just make sure your switch has been approved by FIFA.
It’s very important to ensure that you are eligible to play for a national team before you are fielded in a competitive match (although this really is the responsibility of the Member Association), because a team that fields ineligible players can be sanctioned by FIFA, and this may include overturning results of international matches. Imagine playing in a World Cup qualifying match that gives your country the World Cup ticket, only to find out the result of the match had been overturned because YOU were not eligible to play for that country! You certainly don’t want that on your conscience 😩🤦🏽♀️.
If you have been through a nationality switch, supported any players with a switch, or had any experience of the FIFA Tribunal in relation to eligibility, please let us know how that went.
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To enjoy the full benefit of this post and some interesting comments, you can also view it on LinkedIn: