FIFA’s laws in relation to being eligible for a country you weren’t born in have been a topic of hot debate for Australian football fans, with a large number of players selected for the Socceroos who weren’t born in the country.
The Socceroos have done nothing wrong in terms of selecting players, who have yet to make a senior debut for the national side of their birth.
FIFA Eligibility rules state a player:
a) Must be born on the territory of the relevant association;
b) Their biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant association;
c) Have a grandmother or grandfather who was born on the territory of the relevant association;
d) Or lived continuously for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant association.
Scottish-born Martin Boyle, Harry Souttar and Jason Cummings had never even spent a day in Australia prior to their selection 18 months ago, while Croatian Fran Karacic could not speak a word of English at that point.
The multicultural world cup squad also contains players born in Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa, however Australia is only ranked sixth for having the most squad members born overseas
Martin Boyle (Photo by Getty Sports)
16 percent of the players in Qatar are representing a different country than their own. That’s 137 players in total.
All the African sides have a large contingent of French and Belgium-born players – Tunisia with 11, Senegal with 10, Cameroon with seven, Morocco with seven and Ghana with six.
This is not an unusual occurrence as the French language was brought to the African continent through Belgium and France’s colonialism in the 1950s, and is still spoken in 29 African countries.
Morocco is ranked number one in this department, with a staggering 14 players out of their 26-man squad born overseas.
This figure may seem high, but it is in context when you factor in that France as well as Spain had control of the country in the early 1900s. Several different dialects are also spoken in modern-day Morocco.
Wales could be a surprise packet in Qatar and they are also very high on the list, ranking in fifth place – with nine players born in neighbouring England.
In terms of which country has the most nationalities represented outside of their own, Canada is surprisingly the winner. The Canadians, who are making only their second appearance in 36 years, are represented by players born in England, Ireland, Scotland, Croatia, Ghana and America.
Across the tournament, there are also multiple big-name players born overseas not representing the country of their birth.
One of European football’s most in-demand midfielders, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, had the chance to play for Spain after being born in Catalonia but has been playing for several years with Serbia. England speedster Raheem Sterling was born in Jamaica but has chosen to wear the three lions of England. Aymeric Laporte was born in southern France but plays for Spain.
While one of the best young left-backs in the world, Alphonso Davies, could have lined up for Ghana, but will instead be playing for Canada.
Only four out of the 32 competing sides will be represented by players only born in their respective countries – Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. Where this gets interesting is Argentina and Brazil are many people’s picks to lift the trophy, with South Korea looming as a dark horse to go deep into the knockout section of the competition.
These are FIFA-mandated rules and judging by the World Cup squads, lots of other countries are benefitting from players born outside of their own continent. There is nothing wrong with Australia doing their due diligence, especially on talented teenagers who have multiple eligibility options
Ranking for players born outside their country of birth, playing at Qatar 2022 World Cup
1. Morocco
2. Tunisia
3. Senegal
4. Qatar
5. Wales
6. Australia
7. Cameroon
8. Ghana
9. Canada
10. Croatia
11. Portugal
12. USA
13. Serbia
14. France
15. Switzerland
16. Poland
17. Spain
18. Germany
19. Ecuador
20. Mexico
21. Uruguay
22. Denmark
23. England
24. Iran
25. Holland
26. Costa Rica
27. Japan
28. Belgium
Keith Griffen
Guest
Pick your best XI full stop. What would Australia be without the Balkans 2nd xi for that matter. There would be no socceroos full stop. An article like this is akin to Brett emerton and the 9am show with David and Kim!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Physicality is not more important than skill in rugby league and union. Who are the players regarded as the best of all time in those codes? Not the brutes, it’s the skilful players…
Joshua Makepeace
Roar Rookie
An interesting article. Like Roberto, I expected Qatar to top it easily. With what you mentioned about Francophile African nations having French-born players, I would add it works the same way, with many French players being born in Africa or having African heritage. Players such as Marcel Desailly (Ghanaian-born), Patrick Viera (Senegalese-born), Zinedine Zidane (Algerian heritage) and Kylian Mbappe (Cameroonian-Algerian descent) spring to mind.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Karacic did an interview on his debut in English.
Marcel
Guest
Raheem Sterling has lived in the UK since he was 5.... Suggesting that he is an import is more than stretch..... to make what remains a dubious point no matter how many times you run it up the flagpole Andy.
Ferno
Guest
Well, according to ABS, 29% of Australian population were born overseas. In BRasil, according to IBGE, only 0,3% of brazilian population were born overseas. I wish I had the time to perform a linear regression with the data of all countries. I believe it would have a good fit.
Tom of Brisbane
Guest
Eric? You there?
Simoc
Roar Rookie
That's because our best athletes specialise in thuggery which in sporting versions here are rugby league and rugby union where physicality is more important than skill. AFL is a lesser version. But if I was as talented a player as Kuol ( a Somali born in a refugee camp in Egypt) I would prefer $1m to display my talent Internationally over $200k to get picked on by the local rabble. When we get 11 of his standard we'll have a team that can display skill like Euro teams demand. That's from a spectators viewpoint. A united team can take down a team of stars (like France) because these guys have massive egos (like their massive salaries). So we have a chance of winning a game if we can score.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Someone’s nationality is interesting. I remember many years ago asking a student in my class what nationality he was, as we were getting numbers to gain a new English as a second language teacher. He wasn’t born in Australia, but his answer taught me a significant lesson. He looked at me with a puzzled look and said, “I am Australian”. In our multicultural country I am happy to accept any new Australians as Australians and if they’re good footballers it’s a bonus.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I'm surprised Qatar is only ranked 4th. It's such a fraud, I would have assumed it would win 1st place handsomely. In the case of the socceroos, people are focusing on the wrong issue. The Socceroos have always had players born overseas in the ranks, always had players who spoke broken English. As a nation of migrants, that's just the reality. We accepted that a long time ago. So the issue is NOT that we have players born overseas. The real issue is that most of these players are not really much chop in terms of being able to perform against the world's best. That's the real issue.