Top Football Players Who Changed Their Citizenship

The practice of professional footballers switching nationalities to appear for another country isn’t new.

We’ve seen it in recent years with the likes of Diego Costa and Wilfried Zaha.

FIFA’s rules regarding switching allegiances aren’t straightforward, but Article 8 of their regulations has all the relevant information.

It states: “Only players who have: more than one nationality; acquired a new nationality; or are eligible to represent more than one association due to their nationality can change national team.”

The legendary Alfredo Di Stefano did it. He made six appearances for Argentina in 1947 before switching allegiances to Spain in the 1950s.

 

Players can request to change their national team association only once, subject to the following conditions:

Article 8.1. explains that such individuals may “only once” request to change their national team association, subject to the following conditions:

“a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at “A” international level for his current association, and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current association, he already had the nationality of the representative team for which he wishes to play.

b) He is not permitted to play for his new association in any competition in which he has already played for his previous association.

So, without further ado, we’ve picked some players who have played for one association (sometimes at senior level) before changing allegiance.

Leroy Sane 

African Heritage: Senegal

Adopted country: Germany

Antonio Rudiger

African heritage: Freetown 

Adopted country : Germany

 Ousmane Dembele 

African heritage: Mali

Adopted country : France

 Ngolo Kante 

African heritage: Mali 

Adopted country: France

 Tammy Abraham 

African heritage : Nigeria 

Adopted country :England

 Kylian Mbappe

African heritage : Cameroon

Adopted country:France

 Angelo Ogbonna

African heritage: Nigeria

Adopted country : Italy

 Marcus Rashford

African heritage : Ghana

Adopted country : England

 Maraoune Fellaini

African heritage: Morocco

Adopted country : Belgium

 Mario Ballotelli 

African heritage: Ghana

Adopted country : Italy

 Luis Nani 

African heritage: Cape Verde

Adopted country: Portuga

 Adama Traore 

African heritage: Mali

Adopted country : Spain

 David Alaba

African heritage: Nigeria 

Adopted country: Austria

 Memphis Depay 

African heritage: Ghana

Adopted country: Netherlands

 Bukayo Saka

African heritage: Nigeria

Adopted country : England

 Paul Pogba 

African heritage: Guinea

Adopted country: France

 Stephen Elshaarawy

African heritage: Egypt 

Adopted country: Italy

 Hal Robson Kanu

African Heritage: Nigeria

Adopted country: Wales

 Jerome Boateng

African heritage: Ghana

Adopted country: Germany

 Dayot Upamecano

African heritage: Senegal

Adopted country: France

 Dele Alli 

African heritage: Nigeria 

Adopted country : England

Steven Tatenda N'zonzi

African heritage : Zimbabwe

Adopted country: France

Jamie Vardy

African heritage : Zimbabwe

Adopted country : England

Trend Alexander Muchemwa Anorld

African heritage : Zimbabwe

Adopted country 

England

Yes, of course choosing to represent European countries at the international level comes with it's own benefits, but some of these players should be encouraged to show more consideration to their African roots as it will undoubtedly strengthen the quality of African football.

If there is any player you would love to see in the post kindly drop in comment section..