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World Cup Players Whose Nationalities Differ From Their Team’s

World Cup Players Whose Nationalities Differ From Their Team’s

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The FIFA World Cup is a chance for international football stars living and playing abroad to return home and represent their native countries on the world stage. However, many players with dual allegiances face a dilemma choosing which side to play for. Still others try to circumvent the system and play for teams that they hadn’t previously expressed any allegiance to. In 2010, FIFA loosened the rules about player nationality to allow any player to apply for a one-time switch to another country provided they have a passport for that country, and have only played for other national teams at the youth level or in exhibition matches. Here are 10 players from the 2014 World Cup whose nationalities differ from their team’s.

Sources: BBC, QZ.com, PSMag.com, RoadsandKingdoms.com, WashingtonPost.com, Independent.co.uk, Online.WSJ.com, PRI.org

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Benoit Assou-Ekotto

Though he was born in France, Benoit Assou-Ekotto always felt a greater allegiance to Cameroon, the country of his parents. As a teen, he was encouraged to play for the France under-16 national football team, but never felt like a part of the country. In an interview with BBC in 2011, he expressed his feelings towards the France side: “I told them I don’t need to go because there is no point to wear the French shirt, I don’t have feelings with French players.”
Source: BBC

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Jermaine Jones

German-American Jermaine Jones was born in Germany and represented his country of birth at the under-21 and senior levels. However, Jones’s father, an American, gave him dual nationality, and he decided to debut for the U.S. side in the 2010 World Cup. Jones became extremely well known after the 2014 World Cup — his curling strike equalizer against Portugal in the group stages helped the U.S. move on to the round of 16.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Diego Costa

A Brazilian native, Diego Costa was called up in 2013 by the country’s national team to play in friendly matches against Brazil and Russia, but his career with Brazil would be short-lived. Just six months later, the Royal Spanish Football Federation made an official request to FIFA to call up Costa for the Spanish national team, as he had been granted citizenship earlier that year. Costa chose to play for the Spanish side in October 2013.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Kevin-Prince Boateng

Kevin-Prince Boateng holds a German passport, and played for a variety of German youth teams at the beginning of his career. However, he announced in May 2010 that because he had yet to receive his first senior cap for Germany, he’d accepted an offer with the Ghanaian Football Association to join the Black Stars. Boateng’s father is a Ghanaian national. Kevin-Prince’s half-brother, Jérôme Boateng (same father) opted to play for the German side.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Romelu Lukaku

Though Romelu Lukaku was born and raised in Antwerp, Belgium, and chose to represent the country’s national team, his father is Roger Lukaku, a professional footballer who had been capped at the international level by Zaire. Romelu was named to the Belgium national team in February 2010 for friendly matches, but did not participate on the team in a World Cup until 2014. It was his goal in the 105th minute of his team’s match against the U.S. that moved Belgium into the quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Mamadou Sakho

Mamadou Sakho was born in Paris to Senegalese parents. He was raised in France and played for the French side from the youth level on up. Sakho was called up to the senior team in August 2010 by the team’s new manager, Laurent Blanc, and was named to the country’s 2014 World Cup roster by coach Didier Deschamps. The defender was critical in France’s 3-0 defeat of Honduras’s 5-2 victory over Switzerland, and 0-0 draw with Ecuador, allowing France to move to the knockout stage.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Julian Green

Julian Green was born in Tampa, Florida to an American father and German mother, and has thus possessed dual citizenship for life. After moving back to Germany with his mother at the age of 2, he began his international career with the German under-16 team. Green switched between German and American youth teams for some time, and even turned town American coach Jürgen Klinsmann’s initial callup to the U.S. national team in 2013. It wasn’t until 2014 that Green decided to file for the one-time switch, and represented the U.S. in the 2014 World Cup.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Thiago Motta

Thiago Motta was born in Brazil and made his debut for the national team in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Despite the fact that this was a full international competition, he was called up by the Italian national team in 2011 and was granted FIFA clearance due to his Italian ancestry –Motta’s paternal grandfather was Italian. Motta was named in the Italian national team’s roster for the 2014 World Cup, helping his team triumph over England in the group stage match, but losses to Costa Rica and Uruguay prevented Italy from progressing to the next round.

Commons.Wikimedia.org
Commons.Wikimedia.org

Steven Beitashour

Iranian-American Steven Beitashour was born in San Jose, Calif., but enjoys dual citizenship in both countries, as his mother and father are both from Iran. Though he was initially called up by the U.S. side in 2012 for an international friendly match, he was an unused substitute. In 2013, he was invited by the Iranian national team to be part of the preliminary squad for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, participating in a qualifying match against Thailand. Though Beitashour was named to the Iranian roster for the 2014 World Cup, he was an unused substitute for the country’s three matches.

Sampreinter.com
Sampreinter.com

Gabriel Paletta

Gabriel Paletta was born in Argentina to Italian parents, but represented his birth nation at the youth level, even helping to lead the under-20 team to the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship alongside Argentinian superstar, Lionel Messi. It wasn’t until 2014 that Paletta was called up to the Italian national team — eligible due to his ancestry– and was named to the 2014 World Cup squad.