International free-for-all

Because FIFA changed the switching nations rule. Jermaine Jones switched from Germany to the USA yesterday, I think he's the first rather high profile player (he has friendly caps) to jump. Edgar Castillo (Club America) was born in the US and may jump from Mexico.

Who else is doing it? I'm thinking the next Trinidad squad will include Bobby Zamora.

France is going to be hit really hard by this.

I was shocked when I saw he had caps already for Germany.

Apparently FIFA are saying he can change because those caps were only friendlies.

Jermaine Jones for some reason is treated like Ashley Cole in Germany by his old club, so he does have a traitor like reputation. With regards to the new rule it looks, sounds and will be one of the dumbest things ever.

ShearerM4;2683531 said:

I was shocked when I saw he had caps already for Germany.

Apparently FIFA are saying he can change because those caps were only friendlies.

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Yea, only official (matches with only 3 subs, basically) matches count. I'm not sure the Olympics do either, which could open Canada a door for Jonathan de Guzman if they want him back, but they aren't fond of him for obvious reasons.

That's stupid. It's going to undermine international football. Mind you I think club football is taken more seriously (Barring the World Cup) in any case these days - certainly it's more attractive for TV.

Stupid rule....

Did epic traitor Giuseppe Rossi play in a "competitive" match for the Azzurri?

Will do during the Confed. Cup.

nigerianmiracle;2683555 said:

Will do within during the Confed. Cup.

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God I hate that little asshole.

I don't see anything wrong with this rule

Jamaican sprinting legend Merline raced for Slovakia in 2004 and i didn't see anyone moaning about that.

Hope Jamaica could steal some more players playing in England :lol:

Bobby;2683529 said:

Because FIFA changed the switching nations rule. Jermaine Jones switched from Germany to the USA yesterday, I think he's the first rather high profile player (he has friendly caps) to jump. Edgar Castillo (Club America) was born in the US and may jump from Mexico.

Who else is doing it? I'm thinking the next Trinidad squad will include Bobby Zamora.

France is going to be hit really hard by this.

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J Llyod Samuel will definatley switch over to T&T since he's actually full Trinidadian, he just got a bit excted a few years back and England were thinking of using him.

I think the pros outweigh the cons here. Like Mikey said, it undermines int. football, but for the player to be able to switch is a good thing especially when the player is capped once and never get called up again when he has the chance with another country (where he'll actually play more).

Siawash;2683657 said:

but for the player to be able to switch is a good thing especially when the player is capped once and never get called up again when he has the chance with another country (where he'll actually play more).

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I really don't think that's the point of it all though. I guess money must have some say in it all, but surely you should feel like there's one nation and one only you want to represent. I'm personally a bit all over the place nationality-wise and that's certainly how I'd feel.

Yeah its the same with me. I live in the US but was born in Holland and if I played pro football, I would 100% play for Holland. BTW my parents were born in Afghanistan.

it is an alteration, but it doesn't change too much from the looks of it ...

I'd like to see Article 18 and its stipulations though, because the news release posted on fifa.com is very limited and therefore not too clear ...

from what I gather, you can change allegiance if you haven't made your senior debut (but have presumably played at youth international level) ... but friendlies don't count as internationals because they are not competitive? and the Olympics are U-23 (not U-21), and they include overage players too, but football at the Olympics is not administered by FIFA, so representing your nation at the Olympics would have nothing to do with your allegiance within the FIFA framework?

ye, lots of little details missing ... if anyone has a copy of article 18, please PM me ... I did download a PDF of the 2006 version I found, but it seems to be completely outdated, so don't PM with a link to the 2006 version ...

with regards to "traitors": if you have dual nationality, then you are a citizen of two different countries ... choosing one over another doesn't make you a traitor to one or the other, it just means that you're internationally more well-rounded ...

Siawash;2683660 said:

Yeah its the same with me. I live in the US but was born in Holland and if I played pro football, I would 100% play for Holland. BTW my parents were born in Afghanistan.

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I have an irish grandfather so I'm eligable to play for Ireland - but I'd never consider it as I've never even been there! I'm English - end of.

Technically I could play for either England, France or Poland

I just need to get really good at the football. I'm thinking of bursting onto the international scene after I hit 30.

Xifio;2683708 said:

it is an alteration, but it doesn't change too much from the looks of it ...

I'd like to see Article 18 and its stipulations though, because the news release posted on fifa.com is very limited and therefore not too clear ...

from what I gather, you can change allegiance if you haven't made your senior debut (but have presumably played at youth international level) ... but friendlies don't count as internationals because they are not competitive? and the Olympics are U-23 (not U-21), and they include overage players too, but football at the Olympics is not administered by FIFA, so representing your nation at the Olympics would have nothing to do with your allegiance within the FIFA framework?

ye, lots of little details missing ... if anyone has a copy of article 18, please PM me ... I did download a PDF of the 2006 version I found, but it seems to be completely outdated, so don't PM with a link to the 2006 version ...

with regards to "traitors": if you have dual nationality, then you are a citizen of two different countries ... choosing one over another doesn't make you a traitor to one or the other, it just means that you're internationally more well-rounded ...

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Hey! This is what lawyers are for! Enter ShiftyPowers!

Here are the FIFA Statutes in PDF form. They can be found on this page, and they are the 2008 updated version.

Basically here's the pertinent language which can be found in the Section on "Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes" at Article 15.2 (found on page 64 of the PDF document above, and page 62 of the file).

"With the exception of the conditions specified in article 18 below, any Player who has already participated in a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or any type of football for one Association may not play an international match for a representative team of another Association."

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I don't know what the old version said (maybe you can help out on that Xifio), but according to this regulation, a player has to play in an "official competition" for an Association. That implies that friendlies do not count.

So I guess we all basically knew this, but whatever. It will probably make qualifiers against San Marino and Malta pretty important for capping dual nationality players.

EDIT: Upon closer read, it doesn't seem to differentiate between official youth competitions and official "A" competitions. Basically if you play for England in the U-20 World Cup (an official competition) you're locked into England for life at all levels, BUT you can petition FIFA for a one time Association change as long as you haven't turned 21 yet and haven't played for the "A" team in an "official competition". So as long as those conditions are met, you can play for Scotland, or whatever.

ShearerM4;2683730 said:

Technically I could play for either England, France or Poland

I just need to get really good at the football. I'm thinking of bursting onto the international scene after I hit 30.

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You'll be the English/French/Polish Roger Milla.

ShiftyPowers;2683553 said:

Stupid rule....

Did epic traitor Giuseppe Rossi play in a "competitive" match for the Azzurri?

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How's he a traitor if he holds an Italian passport and has Italian parents? I know he was born in the U.S, but his parents are immigrants and more often than not, children of immigrants tend to identify more with their parents' nationality than the place they were born. If he was 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation Italian-American, yeah I'd might understand the traitor thing. Not to mention, Rossi grep up in the Parma youth system and made his name in the Italian youth setup. Face it, he's an Italian. I'm sure when he was growing up, he dreamed of playing for Italy, not the US.

Rocky;2683971 said:

How's he a traitor if he holds an Italian passport and has Italian parents? I know he was born in the U.S, but his parents are immigrants and more often than not, children of immigrants tend to identify more with their parents' nationality than the place they were born. If he was 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation Italian-American, yeah I'd might understand the traitor thing. Not to mention, Rossi grep up in the Parma youth system and made his name in the Italian youth setup. Face it, he's an Italian. I'm sure when he was growing up, he dreamed of playing for Italy, not the US.

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He was born and raised in New Jersey, not in Parma. I don't care if his parents are speaking Italian at home, you get raised in a society and go to public school until you're 13 and that's what you are. It was a bitch move. I don't care if he dreamed of playing for Italy and not the US. I dreamed of playing for Germany, but if it was ever an option for me I wouldn't have let down my countrymen, I'd play for the USA.