7 Footballers Who 'Discovered' New Nationalities

From Ben Brereton's fabulous recent transformation from an England youth team international to a senior Chile international, to Premier League full-back Matty Cash recently declaring for Poland, HITC Sevens takes a look at some of football's more unusual nationality switches.
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[@bethhodgkinson2786]

The story on Ben Brereton is madness. The lack of confidence he had before lockdown, to now going to play for Chile.. crazy story. As a rovers fan, we are loving it - the influx of Chilean support for rovers and enjoying watching him at international level. Crazy how football manager made a difference!

[@demashit]

Really can’t believe how football manager can change the world of football. Another favorite story about fm is firmino to hoffenheim

[@versatilpraxis]

Let's go Rovers a new supporter ftom Chile!!

[@Ron.S.]

My son plays for a category 3 academy and is a real good footballer. I doubt he’ll ever get the call from the 3🦁s and nor from Spain (his mother’s nationality). He could get the call from Argentina and Chile (one great grandparent from each country) but they’re great teams as well! So I came up with a solution! My grandfather was born in Rwanda! His father worked there for a Belgian company for a year. I sure hope he’ll be good enough for their national team!!! Go Rwanda 🇷🇼

[@sydnorth5868]

As a Rovers fan for 50 years: 1. I never for one moment ever expected that I would have such an interest in following the Chilean national team, and 2. I love the fact that any highlights of Rovers' matches on KZbin are followed by a comments section that is 50% written in Spanish!

[@Ron.S.]

@O.G FORT oh no… it was a Belgian colony. Many decades ago. The Belgians were very cruel to the locals who are such lovely people.

[@beatownsend9253]

As a rovers fan the difference in Brereton since he started playing for Chile is insane and shows what confidence can do for a player

[@hoze1235]

adding Diaz to his name made him better

[@alkzavaleta7876]

@@hoze1235 imagine what adding dinho would do to him

[@dackszn5690]

@@hoze1235 hopefully our defence all become diaz’ aswell

[@skoczek777]

Breretondinho

[@Chudsic]

@@dackszn5690 hahah

[@P3TER_Official23]

What's crazy to me is that Brereton is still 22 I thought he was about 27 years old

[@MaxLeCnkerant]

Just looking at his pictures I thought he was 35 😂

[@vanglhun]

As an Arsenal fan I clearly remember him in his early days when he literally fucked Mertersacker

[@12thMandalorian]

Who knew Ben Brereton could become different class just by adding Diaz to his name, he is like a footballer equivalent of Clark Kent

[@oldmanc2]

And now his name makes him sound like a real football player - not a bricklayer

[@Ese96Agoaye]

"Ben Brereton" to the tune of this song kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2Tao6afftyCf68

[@karlosdeevs]

@@Ese96Agoaye Can't quite shape the opening lyrics but here's how the bridge might sound 0:49 _Ben Brereton Diaz, come dine with me. I'll treat you to sunday roast with asado & chicha beer. Ben Brereton Diaz, you are the goat. You take on every shape and size to drive them home_

[@makogearsolid8002]

@Red eyed Wolf he already has a goal this season

[@christophernicolson5086]

Diaz is from his mum. That's how naming works in Latin countries. Most don't usually use the matrinymic everyday, but their name officially does.

[@bukayosraka]

He's not Matty Cash, he's Mateusz Gotówka🇵🇱🦅🇵🇱🦅🇵🇱🦅

[@l.hans0692]

cashowski

[@achtzehnhundertsiebenundac1186]

Matek Gotówka

[@Formerlypl]

🇵🇱 🦅

[@skoczek777]

~ "The Sun"

[@fleshen]

What's wrong in him playing for his mother's country 🇵🇱

[@FootballDrawn]

I was just researching for my video about when Ailton (Brazilian football player from Werder Bremen) was approached by Qatar to switch his nationality for $1.4 Millions per year, despite having never lived in Qatar. That made FIFA tighten the rules to prevent these cases. Lovely video as always ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

[@moumenrezaei1330]

👍

[@wilfordcolbert1333]

Good luck mate...Can't wait for it♥️♥️

[@moneyfeen420]

Dude was still a beast at a old age , he played for my uncles Sunday league team and he would just dominate all game 😂

[@bobbybobstar1496]

Mans out here begging it on someone else's video with no shame whatsoever 🤣🤣 TRYHARD FOOL

[@FootballDrawn]

@@bobbybobstar1496 it's a comment regarding the topic of the video. If you don't agree with it, that's your prerogative

[@unlimitedspessmans4918]

It's a shame I was never any good at football growing up, I'd be eligible to represent the mighty Gibraltar.

[@stone5048]

Eh. You’re probably good enough for Gibraltar anyways

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Are you a waiter?

[@eddixon2015]

@@stone5048 yeah I was going to say, that might not rule him out

[@justhuy7960]

@@eddixon2015 I've been at San Marino's level since 10 lol

[@Kilijumper]

ay mate were in the same boat kinda. Im german but Im actually eligible to play for san Marino through my grandfather haha. I would call myself a half decent footballer and it was always my dream to play for them once or at least at youth level. Well, obviusly didnt work out, the San Marinese is also pretty notorious for not being very open to "outsiders".

[@zollolz]

That pic of Matty Cash’s Polish ID card killed me, Gotowka in Polish literally means cash or money😂😂😂

[@DL-nn1ws]

Should have included Lapadula. Same story as Brereton pretty much, Italian all the way but Peruvian mother. Someone on Facebook (at least that’s what I heard happened) discovered him when he blew up in Serie B. He got called up to the Italian NT first, and at one point was nearly considered a traitor here. Everyone laughed at him because his motivation was to go to the World Cup, which Peru did and Italy didn’t. But a few years down the line, he was nowhere near a call up from Italy, so he decided to just get Peruvian citizenship and play for the NT. He hasn’t starred as much as Brereton but my god, due to how popular he is you’d think he’s Jesus reincarnated. At first there was some sympathy towards him since no one ever passed him the ball, and he started fighting for every ball like if it was his goal in life. This gained him quite a bit of love, and he was pretty loved already. His popularity skyrocketed after a game against Ecuador in Quito, which is pretty darn high and there’s much less oxygen. Most players chicken out and just don’t run in order to not get exhausted, but Lapadula ran all 90 minutes after the ball and gave 2 assists to give us a vital win. And after challenging for the golden boot in the Copa America, he’s nearly reached national hero status.

[@dariogutierrez6716]

Yeah he's tremendous as well. Sadly for you guys he's a bit in the older side. Enjoy him!

[@DL-nn1ws]

@@dariogutierrez6716 He’s Jesus reincarnated, he could be 2000 years old and we’d still pick him

[@frankunodostres473]

I also mentioned him on twitter. one fun thing to add to the story: back when he was wanted by the peruvian FA he preferred to play for italy and "allegedly" wanted to make a deal that he has to be the main striker and asked for a guaranteed place in the starting 11 ahead of captain paolo guerrero. this didn't go well with many fans and the rest is history... but in the end everyone can be happy I guess. he is playing well, the fans went to the world cup and watched italy fail PLUS they have a great striker now. everything worked out well in the end^^

[@DL-nn1ws]

@@frankunodostres473 Yeah such a turnaround. From nearly hated to a joke to a national hero.

[@Tommybc96]

I remember his tattoo that caused a lot of controversy because a lot of people thought he messed up and got a Mexican/Aztec warrior when in reality it is a typical costume from his mum’s town.

[@anthonyjudeaggabao2302]

I love how Brereton got discovered. I remembered how a lot of Filipinos playing in England got discovered thru the game and one of them became our all time top scorer. Fun times. Edit: it’s Phil Younghusband. Him and his brother James did a lot to the national team.

[@Alacarte614]

Phil Younghusband? Always signed him from Chelsea in Football manager back in the day, and his brother James

[@ka.Eduardo]

Phil Younghusband is also the Philippines' most capped player. 52 goals and 108 caps for the Philippines.

[@musyarofah1]

Also Neil Etheridge

[@yungtrashlord]

ah yes the younghusband bros, i remember his brother james also eventually being called up and representing the pinoys

[@Someone_555]

And i think player like Areola is philphime

[@blackburnendpod]

Thanks for the mention! The story of Ben Brereton Díaz is a crazy story that has only just begun! #Vamos

[@SometimesCompitent]

My favorite is Maik Taylor. Born in West Germany to an English father and German mother, the family moved to Southhampton where Maik grew up. He spent most of his career in the first division/championship. He was nowhere near good enough to play for England or Germany but the home nations rules made him eligible for N Ireland where he won nearly 90 caps!

[@BOABModels]

Spain have also been pretty guilty of naturalising players and then selecting them for the national team - obviously there's historic examples like Di Stefano and Puskas. But there's more recent examples such as Marcos Senna, Diego Costa or Aymeric Laporte

[@morehbein6207]

Can you fault them though, especially for the Laporte case?

[@andrew7taylor]

@@morehbein6207 It's absolutely ridiculous that he wasn't capped until he was 27 years old!

[@musyarofah1]

The Di Stefano and Puskas case were fully political, esp. with such a looser law before. Whilst Marcos Senna and Diego Costa were actually normal (same with Liedson in Portugal)

[@lucaslonchampt613]

@@morehbein6207 I don't get why Deschamps kept picking Kimpembé instead

[@juanjoseph]

The first two have strong ethnic and cultural ties to Spain, while Laporte lived practically all of his life in Spain. Many of us actually thought Laporte was Spaniard when watching him play on the B teams. I remember going like "whaaat he's not 'la-porte" but 'lapoght'?". So it's not a "bad" use of second citizenship. It simply that latin americans are culturally and ethnically linked with Spain, and some people live their entire lives in a different country.

[@powderedground78]

Yes, always recall Chris Birchall playing against England in the world cup. Trinidad & Tabago had a decent side.

[@aarons745]

I love how random Ben Brereton’s story is. Born in Stoke, playing in Blackburn ends up representing Chile

[@EssyOnYT]

Knew this was gonna come out after the Matty Cash debut 😂

[@MikeeGavin]

Tony Cascarino's story was an interesting one. Played for Ireland as his Maternal Grandfather was Irish, but found out in his mid 20's that his mum was actually adopted, so there was no bloodline back to Ireland at all. at that point he'd already been to a world cup with Ireland, and it was too late to look back! 😂

[@funkmasterdub]

I've just left a very similar comment!

[@owenchong2490]

As someone who's half Trinidadian, learning about Birchall was super cool. Glad to see my country represented, thanks for the video!

[@Halcryder]

Not exactly the highest profile example of a weird one, I would like to introduce the Singapore National Team's Mirko Grabovac. Born in then-Yugoslavia, Grabovac moved to Singapore after primarily playing in the lower leagues of Croatian football in 1999. After a pretty promising start in the S-League (which is a pretty rubbish league, mind you), where he was top scorer for his first 2 seasons, Grabovac was drafted into the national team as part of what was known as the "foreign talent scheme". He won 12 caps and scored no goals, despite having ended his career after 226 goals in 239 appearances in the S-League (Singapore are one of the big whipping boys of Asian football after all). He then renounced his citizenship to return to his native Croatia. Interestingly, he returned to Singapore as head coach of his former club in 2018, a move that was met with disapproval, having previously renounced his citizenship a decade prior. He lasted a single season, before having been sent pack back to his home nation.

[@user-kk4zw5jo4t]

Great story. See also Alex Duric, the Bosnian-Australian-Singaporean.

[@justhuy7960]

2000's Singapore is probably king of Southeast Asia, we in Vietnam lost to them so many times that left us devastated for years :)

[@EagleEye517]

Malaysia has a guy from Kosovo in their national team at this moment. Forgot his name tho.

[@mofaizanuar8220]

@@EagleEye517 Liridon Krasniqi. Malaysia also has a Gambian and a Brazilian in the team, Mohamadou Soumareh and Guilleherme De Paula

[@afiqhaiqel8252]

@@EagleEye517 now they have dion cools

[@wwehdizzle]

Maik Taylor would be a great mention if you do another one of these. Born in Germany, qualified by the Home Nations rule and was Northern Ireland's first choice goalkeeper for 10 years

[@user-kk4zw5jo4t]

Often wondered about Maik. Did he have any familial connection to NI whatsoever? Or another Van Den Hauwe?

[@encorefootball]

@@user-kk4zw5jo4t Stolen from Wikipedia "Taylor was born in Germany to an English father and a German mother. As a British citizen who was born abroad, FIFA eligibility rules at the time of Taylor's first international selection entitled him to represent any of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom at international level. He opted for Northern Ireland, despite having no family connection to that country."

[@shane0707]

Wait, so me, as an American with an English parent and an Irish grandparent, can play for USA, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland?

[@blackhawk2040]

Think you missed Rogelio Funes Mori. Was denied for years to switch to Mexico because be was capped with Argentina. Don't think he has any ties to Mexico. Just played for Monterrey and became Mexican. Funny that he plays for Mexico and his TWIN brother plays for Argentina lol

[@___________________.]

Born in Argentina, grew up in the US, plays for Mexico

[@MrSniperfox29]

Every time one of the Caribbean nations qualify for a world cup, every single non-capped black player in England suddenly changes nationality.

[@philwill0123]

Would say every English player who doesn't think they will get capped by England, declares for any other home nation until they get a sniff of playing for England, then change back. Fact is, if you play in championship and are eligible for two countries, why deny opportunity to play international football hoping the England manager will pick you?

[@MrSniperfox29]

@@philwill0123 Actually it was more of the players who wait until X has qualified and then leaps at the opportunity to swap nationalities, having not actually bothered to help them get to the tournament to begin with. Funny how they wait until a tournament is happening to suddenly find their roots

[@pierfrancescocosta6336]

Hello Alfie! Just a quick note: Luìs Monti was an Argentinian international before joining our national team (just like Raimundo Orsi), so he actually was on the losing side in 1930... Anyhow (or I should say, Eddie Howe), it looks like another very interesting video!

[@drnando275]

exactly! He's the one that infamously said that he would have been killed if he would have won the world cup 1930 or lost it in 1934...

[@leeshaumark]

Number 1: any half decent Irish player finding out they're English or any shite English player finding out they're Scottish 🤔

[@skoczek777]

RIP Irish Guy

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Che Adams did once eat a Tunnock's Tea Cake, so he couldn't be more Scottish.

[@ctid7037]

@@ianmacfarlane1241 his family

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@ctid7037 His family what?

[@Phoenix-eo5yp]

@@ianmacfarlane1241 he ate his family not that cake

[@jasontakhtadjian]

Lucas Zelarayan is a more recent example of this, switching from Argentina to Armenia

[@jairmorales2017]

What?

[@b-don7930]

@@jairmorales2017 Yep, both Him and Briasco, currently on Boca, switched to Armenia, but both have Armenian family members. I think Briasco's grandmother and Zelarrayan's grandparents

[@slurpii4669]

Lmao imagine choosing Armenia over Argentina

[@jasontakhtadjian]

@@slurpii4669 He wasn’t coming close to the Argentina squad. He’s 29. If he was going to be selected, it would’ve already happened. But with Argentina’s offense, he had no chance

[@slurpii4669]

@@jasontakhtadjian oh now it makes sense, thanks for the context

[@Geckle124]

As far as I know it seems that Yunus Musah was born in New York City when his Ghanaian mother was on vacation. Grew up in Italy and then England but cose to represent the USA. He was born in the USA but it was a pretty lucky coincidence he was born there (as a US fan)!

[@Geckle124]

Could have represented England, Italy or Ghana

[@Ron.S.]

My son plays for a category 3 academy and is a real good footballer. I doubt he’ll ever get the call from the 3🦁s and nor from Spain (his mother’s nationality). He could get the call from Argentina and Chile (one great grandparent from each country) but they’re great teams as well! So I came up with a solution! My grandfather was born in Rwanda! His father worked there for a Belgian company for a year. I sure hope he’ll be good enough for their national team!!! Go Rwanda 🇷🇼

[@footballstats9127]

That s not good enough. He needs to have a granparent born there not a great grandparent

[@Ron.S.]

@@footballstats9127 what about Gibraltar then? England + Spain?… They’ll take him for sure. Let’s say he’ll play in League 2 or maybe even 1, that’s an amazing footballer for Gibraltar

[@footballstats9127]

@@Ron.S. i doubt any english footballer can just play for gibraltar

[@Ron.S.]

@@footballstats9127 I checked… you must study there 5 years as a child… Millwall wants him (at least a category 2) but his rubbish League 2 team wants £9000 for him! He’s just a young teenager. They will never pay it. And I won’t drive one hour to south London.

[@asimplenoob6798]

Ben becoming a hero for Chile incredible

[@luishernandezblonde]

You can also pay attention to the case of Medhi Benatia, raised in France but later joined Morocco. Before joining the Moroccans, he was a graduate of France's elite football school, Clairefontaine. And plenty more cases like Hakan Calhanoglu (Germany -> Turkey), Harry Souttar (Scotland -> Australia), Jorginho (Brazil -> Italy) or Kieffer Moore (England -> Wales). And all of them began to have some taste with it.

[@maciejbala477]

Are you the former Polish player?

[@retroeshd3708]

There has also been a very interesting call-up to the Bulgarian U21 national team recently. Sylvester Jasper, an Englishman who’s eligible to play for Nigeria but who has represented England at youth levels and currently plays for Colchester(on loan from Fulham), was recently called up to the Bulgarian U21 national team due to his mother hailing from a Bulgarian city.

[@mintywebb]

So his mother was Bulgarian, which would offer dual nationality...

[@krumkrum476]

@@mintywebb "from a bulgarian city" so what, ur only bulgarian if you are from the countryside? Lol

[@MasonGreenWeed]

@@krumkrum476 Bulgaria didn't have city, they live on horse like their ancestors in Mongolia

[@krumkrum476]

@@MasonGreenWeed lol source?

[@mrchun4018]

The legend that is Birchall! Will never forget what he did for us to make the 06 world cup 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹

[@machineman19]

"Me Mum"

[@B3Band]

Is that the cup where they drew England?

[@demohd5defeat366]

He's my friends dad 😂

[@A_Baguette_]

Watching the Chilean announcers trying to pronounce "Brereton" is very amusing. His name has an emphasis on the wrong syllable and un-Spanish pronunciations of R and B and on top of that, a schwa that doesn't exist in Spanish.

[@___________________.]

I mean British announcers do the same thing all the time with Hispanic names

[@djsilversun]

@@___________________. Not just Hispanic names, pretty much anything that isn’t British

[@___________________.]

@@djsilversun for real

[@A_Baguette_]

Yeah, but Spanish only has a couple sounds that don't work in English and the British announcers are usually pretty good at them. Some of the worse American announcers can get pretty and tho.

[@A_Baguette_]

Agree to disagree. That being said MLB announcers are better than MLS and EPL

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

Some people just 'feel' Jamaican.

[@machineman19]

It looks bad on the Jamaican Federation too as he played for Jamaica without showing any proof.

[@TheStuartGibson]

Great video, I'm glad the only mention of Ireland and Northern Ireland was an adopted Canadian

[@FinnieMc]

Van Den Hauwe rejected the Belgium call up when it became clear it meant he had to do his military service if he accepted. Imagine Belgium in the 80s with Van Den Hauwe on left back and Eric Gerets on right back ...

[@michelle-louiseburrows2248]

That's actually correct. At the time, Belgium had compulsory military service (they don't now) and, given he was born in East Flanders, Van Den Hauwe was definitely eligible. However, according to his book, which is an excellent read by the way - and I say this as someone who supports the red half of Merseyside - he turned down Belgium because of that reason and the fact he was part of Everton's greatest ever team, which he definitely didn't want to miss out on winning the league and the European Cup Winners Cup by doing a year of square bashing in Flemish. Pat still works for The Blues to this day having resettled on Merseyside.

[@areader2253]

Yunus Musah is a very interesting story. He was born in New York while his mother was there on vacation, grew up in Italy, and England, and has absolutely no ties to the US.

[@RoM-po5md]

Born in the US. Enough said! What other ties do you want?

[@areader2253]

@@RoM-po5md Do you even understand what we're discussing here?

[@mantagegrullin]

@@RoM-po5md On a VACATION u know, i know that a person who was born in the us is recognized as an american in general, no exceptions, but it is pretty weird to play for a country just because you was born in there and there are no connections with that country

[@blackmantis3130]

@@mantagegrullin it isn't weird at all. Alot of countries do this. They have been for years.

[@stone5048]

Inter Miami had a player declare for Chile this year bc of his mom (he’s from South Carolina) and get called up. Then the day before the match he changed his mind and went back to Miami.

[@westerosi27]

As a chilean I can't say I blame them, but he would've been a good addition to our attack. Hope he changes his mind and comes back later, but I don't think it will happen

[@stone5048]

@@westerosi27 I think he's struggling mentally as his club form absolutely dropped off a cliff after that saga w Chile

[@posteador]

@@westerosi27 I don't think he would have been good enough for Chile anyway. The Championship has a higher level than the MLS.

[@rohanquinn]

Joy to watch Brereton’s improvement since becoming Brereton Diaz

[@DGAMINGDE]

I have not played for a different nation as my call up for St. Vincent and the Grenadines unfairly still hasn't arrived at this point. However I still suggest: Day 23: Top 7 protest clubs (FC United of Manchester, AFC Liverpool).

[@skoczek777]

Can we find you on transfermarkt?

[@Blazeboy2999]

Atp should be able to walk right into the starting xi...

[@ballsinspector]

thought i was replying to someone else's comment, my apologies

[@DGAMINGDE]

@@skoczek777 I'm not even playing football the country is just a meme for my channel XD

[@pabloAT98]

In Chile we love Brereton !!!

[@alonsovasquezmaulen7182]

😎👌🏼👌🏼

[@randomdogger5278]

Lol the David Regis thing was hilarious. Considering it took my aunt 15 years to get approved for immigration to the USA.

[@studentNEET319]

That's cause the US isn't benefitting from your aunt

[@mondingo67]

Malouda case is different. French Guyana is a French department. Malouda was born there and grew up there until his late teens. So he can represent French Guyana...he didn't discovered a new nationality by playing for French Guyana since there is no French Guyana passport. He is French.

[@10mibrahim]

This content is the reason I subscribe

[@chriswoodtoarsenal]

0:08Luis Monti played for Argentina in 1930, not Uruguay

[@juanjoseph]

Honest mistake, given Uruguay is an Argentinian province

[@___________________.]

Alfie, If you do a part 2 you should include Joe Gaetjens. Played 3 games for the US at the 1950 world cup and scored the winner against England despite not being a US citizen and having played for the Haiti national team before (and after) his US caps. Could actually probably make a pretty interesting 7 from just US players

[@___________________.]

@Insert Name Here would be a great topic for Alfie

[@statesecretmusic]

Not only that, he ended up back in Haiti where he was kidnapped and murdered by François Duvalier's secret police "Les Tontons Macoutes" Bizarre, tragic story

[@therealuncleowen2588]

David Regis played every minute for the USA at the 98 World Cup. IMO, he'd married an American and therefore, there was nothing shady about his being there.

[@nikhilsrl]

Right 😉

[@rovers1875]

Imagine brereton goes to the world cup with chile

[@blackmantis3130]

Imagine he doesn't.😂😂

[@OfficialFingazMC]

Good to see Birchy on here. A Vale lad and I went to school with him.

[@PPablinho]

Glad you mention Ben '10' Brereton. In Chile we love him even when he didn't even speak spanish, and now is one of the top goalscorers in the Championship thanks to his confidence. We could have another chilean descendant playing for the team called Robbie Robinson, but at the last minute he decided to go back to USA and his carrer come to decline, unlike Brereton who plays 100% for a country which he never lived but felt like home Maybe in a future part 2 you need to mention Gianluca Lapadula, born in Italy but peruvian descendant, he played for the Italy B Team to later decide to play for Peru in 2021, and like Brereton in Peru they love him

[@habivore47392]

Bro Robinson was the #1 pick in the MLS draft after attending university. Not bad. Look at someone like Cyle Larin for how high the ceiling can be

[@Mptreeby]

Owen Hargreaves was a shout!!

[@murat7176]

Marcio aurelio was born in brasil in 2007 i think he changed his name to mehmet and did get the turkish passwort, he played a key role on the euro 2008 run. He did play like 8 years in turkey.

[@timsmith1323]

That’s very impressive playing international football at only a year old lol born on 2007 but playing in the euros in 2008

[@murat7176]

@@timsmith1323 nah bro that is a other sentences haha

[@timsmith1323]

@@murat7176 that makes zero sense dude you’ve put he was born in 2007 and played at the 2008 euros that’s a year apart

[@murat7176]

@@timsmith1323 amk in 2007 he changed his passport to a turkish one

[@user-kk4zw5jo4t]

@@timsmith1323 The full stop goes between "brasil" and "in"

[@bhobg]

Outstanding as always!

[@colinwalker6994]

This happens in other sports, and IMHO, once you've pulled on a shirt to represent a country at any level, you shouldn't be able to suddenly switch country. And I do include Jack Grealish in this, even though I think he's a great player and he was amazing when he played for us as young kid.

[@singalexsong]

He should never have played for Ireland I the first place. Its like Roy Keane playing for England.

[@dairebeare7839]

@@singalexsong he played GAA as a kid, it’s not like his family had no Irish ties

[@DannyGOaLChannel]

Brereton is a Blessing 🇨🇱❤🌹

[@JackManEveryday]

Remember when everyone wanted Almunia as England goalie 🤣🤣

[@qasimdin7438]

arteta could've played for England aswell as nzogbia

[@pacco9532]

Cudicini as well

[@mattuno9892]

Ty: Bellingham will do bits for the German national team.

[@zirbto5749]

Yes he will be a great squad player who never plays. (there are already gündogan and goretzka in his position)

[@joefuller1207]

@@zirbto5749 Gündogan is 31, he’s not going to be around forever.

[@mattwebb7984]

jude bellingham has already had his first cap for england

[@zirbto5749]

@@joefuller1207 why not stay with England far better chance to get into the first team

[@shanemcgaley8322]

@@mattwebb7984 he can still switch allengencies since he's under 21 and has less than 3 caps. Ruling came in last year by Fifa.

[@zer0theher030]

Should've included: Janusz Michallik - born in Poland to Polish parents, 44 caps and 1 goal in the USA national team; almost drafted into WC1994 USA team Emmanuel Olisadebe - born in Nigeria, not related to Poland at all, yet had 25 caps and 11 goals in the Poland national team (including a goal against USA during WC2002). He earned citizenship because his former club coach - Jerzy Engel - got a job as a national team coach and Engel wanted Oli as his main striker.

[@frequentlyoffline3917]

Janusz moved to the U.S. as a teenager, and Olisadebe was uncapped at junior level for Nigeria and became a naturalized Polish citizen.

[@djalland1]

The Van Den Hauwe reason was one I was aware of. Having been born in Germany to English parents I knew that I could represent any home nation (and Germany) when I was younger. I mean, I say "could", but that ignores the fact that I am really, really bad at football, but you get the point.

[@natewunderman4597]

I had the occasion to briefly interview David Regis in 1999 after a USNMT practice during Bruce Arena's first reign with the squad. One of the main issues the squad had with him was that he was pretty much monolingual in French, and no one in the Yanks set up spoke it at all.

[@arturorr9833]

you should check out the Funes Mori bros, the set of identical twins that play for different nations :s

[@___________________.]

I don't know if there's enough, but 7 brothers who played for different national teams would be good. Jerome and Kevin-Prince Boateng and Alex and Christian Roldan are the only other two examples I can think of.

[@fritzguldenpfennig2486]

Obviously we need a part 2.

[@mikhailarcade3254]

Paulino Alcantara also played at 3 national teams: Spain, Catalunya,The Philippines

[@MightyM84]

Surprised Tony Cascarino didnt even get a mention

[@PadreDePato]

Have you had a Guinness once? You’re Irish now!! 🇮🇪

[@jayhughes162]

As for Brererton, 'now goes by diaz' right lets get this right mr journalist, he chose to add his mothers name as it is a spanish tradition he didnt just suddenly decide to add Diaz disrespectful as your tone implies

[@jordan_roadhouse4798]

Sheeeet! Ben Brereton and Matty Cash. Both involved in a quality performance for Forrest against Arsenal a few years ago, 2017/17ish i think, and knew both should have good careers. Young lads and gave a great show of themselves that day.

[@joshhirst8762]

As a Brentford fan I remember watching Nico Yennaris play a few years ago, and he switched his name to Li Ke and internationality to China and became the first naturalised player to play for China

[@jordan_roadhouse4798]

I remember that kid, came from Arsenal. Think he was Cypriot of something back then.

[@abrarmuhtasiim6612]

We want a Part-2 of this video

[@chumolungma228]

This video could just be the entire Philippines national team (but then again, our laws do play fast and loose with dual citizenship, and we've got immigrants literally everywhere, so maybe the players' connections to the homeland aren't THAT tenous).

[@mintywebb]

Or England cricket team...

[@enzotansingco2199]

LMAO I knew I’d see this mentioned somehow. Younghusband, Greatwich, Schröck, Reichelt, etc. But if they’re proud of their Filipino parent’s heritage and want to represent the country, why not right? Besides, Gilas basketball naturalizes players who actually don’t have ties to the PH fairly often. Most Azkals go through getting dual citizenship, only Maroñon is actually a naturalized player

[@pastorgc14]

So brereton is are guy like there was so much hype about this guy and the crazy thing is that he debuted against Argentina in the Copa America fast forward the guy is everybody favorite player. When he learns to sing the national anthem I think people might cry and also he has a commercial with Pepsi

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

I was under the impression that Jack Charlton was the main instigator of this when he managed Ireland with his use of the 'Granny Rule', though a lot of other countries, like Scotland, quickly caught up.

[@mintywebb]

Wasn't John Barnes playing for England before that?

[@ianmacfarlane1241]

@@mintywebb Before Jack Charlton took over Ireland? Yeah, Barnes first cap was in '83, while Big Jack took over Ireland in '86. There were certainly a number of players playing internationally in that capacity, however Jack Charlton ran with it. Not that I'm criticising him, or Ireland, as the rule was there - he was just the first manager who really went with it. Everyone does it to an extent - the big, powerful countries might do less of it, but everyone is happy to use the rule. Surprisingly, I'm Scottish, and I'd love to see a strong Scotland team featuring 11 Scotsmen, (however you want to define nationality) but we're struggling even with the rule in place.

[@michelle-louiseburrows2248]

It is still the case today but Irish nationality rules extend to having a grandparent born in either Northern Ireland or the Republic. Therefore, a lot of Jack's team qualified through eithe rhaving a parent who was Irish or a grandparent in the case of, say , John Aldridge, who was Irish. I think it applies to all nationalities but I may be wrong. Certainly, Scotland and Wales have players who have grandparents who are Scottish or Welsh but were born in England. Also, in the case of Wales - and especially North East Wales - the nearest maternity hospital is in Chester. Which, of course, is in England.

[@camilomsn4807]

I’m a simple man I see my boy Ben in the video and I see it.

[@mitchellsmith300]

Day 26: Best non-FIFA affiliated national teams

[@brohdez8857]

The Basque Country, Martinique, Catalonia

[@mitchellsmith300]

@@brohdez8857 exactly

[@lalobo99]

We need to hear about all 50! This is a brilliant video

[@ringosimon1]

Easily enough here for parts 2 & 3. I especially like the Tony Cascarino story of playing for Ireland due to an Irish parent before finding out he was adopted.

[@philwill0123]

Thought it was his mother who was adopted?

[@murat7176]

A player for the german third division i forgot his name something like manuel fröhlich he did play gor chemnitz i think. He played in the last african nations cup for namibia

[@jordaineraphael1789]

When you're a South African Stoke City fan, who's rivals are Port Vale and all get mentioned in the video ❤

[@viper9152]

A south african that supports stoke, u must be lonely. Stoke lol Du u know other people that support them in south africa

[@Haw2stuff]

How did you end up a Stoke fan in SA 🤔😅😂😂

[@brianokello6723]

Another funny and unique one is Timothy Weah who plays for the United States Football Team while his father is the President of Liberia

[@LuigiLuigi728]

I thought Aymeric Laporte would be in this list, since he's such a great defender yet never got a cap for the French National Team, ended up transferring to the Spanish National Team just before the Euros, and even got Spain to go farther in the cup than France lol 😂 But I guess his case is not as strange as the other ones in the list lol

[@fabioorlando8787]

Exactly. Not as strange. He was born in the french portion of the Basque country, and grew up and became a professional footballer in Bilbao with Athletic, which only recruits pure Basque or basque-related players (which is his case), as you may already know

[@Boredoutofmywits]

@@fabioorlando8787 funny how this "longstanding tradition" of recruiting French Basques began after the birth of my oldest grandson

[@fabioorlando8787]

@@Boredoutofmywits i didn't say they always recruited french basques, i said Bilbao always recruited pure basques or basque-related players, which includes french basques. Bixente Lizarazu played there in 1997, and nothing can prove he couldn't have played for Spain if the France national team didn't call him up. Just like what happened with Laporte

[@Boredoutofmywits]

@@fabioorlando8787 they've done more tricks to pass players as "basque" (Even if thery were neither born ther nor raised there) that you can even imagine. Lizarazu was bought by president Arrate José María Arrate justyfing that it was "tradition" the first of a tradition in almost 100 years. A joke.

[@TheMrSheerbags]

Great to see a bit of information about our former Waterford FC manager Marc Bircham

[@fairusejuice137]

Ireland holds the record for being the only country to have two teams in the world cup. During the conflict years in Ireland the North and South had two separate teams that both played qualifications matches and some players even played for both teams. It's a wild story.

[@zimzimma5688]

There still is two separate teams, because Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are still two separate countries, both qualified for the same competition as recently as 2016 (euros). Anyone born on the island of Ireland as a whole can still to this day choose to represent either nation. That comes with a lot of baggage though. Many Catholic players born in Northern Ireland choose to represent the Republic of Ireland as the Northern Irish football team is seen as institutionally Protestant and Catholic players over the years have suffered abuse and discrimination from both within the institution itself and also from the almost exclusively Protestant fan base of the Northern Irish football team, which has often been as extreme as legitimate death threats on not only the players themselves, but also their families as well and that is for simply choosing to represent the Northern Irish football team as a Catholic.

[@killiansmyth9545]

@@zimzimma5688 Only players born in the north can choose either. You can't play for the north if you're born in the Republic

[@zimzimma5688]

@@killiansmyth9545 Yes you are right about that actually, my mistake.

[@astroboiy]

Great video man, I love these stories. Keep it up ⭐️🥇

[@powerviolentnightmare5026]

As personally unpatriotic person I would take any national team that wants me to play for them.

[@jamesduffy7549]

I wouldnt consider myself patriotic at all but I support/would play for the national team for some reason. I think its just from growing up and that

[@mattwebb7984]

Martin Boyle played his first game for Australia in Australia this week, first time he had been in Australia

[@chrisadlc1]

4:21 wait what’s with the caption? England did win the U19 Euros with Brereton top scorer and Mount player of the tournament.. I remember it was the year that England won like 3 youth tournaments(should do a video on it) signs of what was to come with the senior side reaching the Euros final this year

[@rockthahouse1]

They also didn't play Spain in that final. They played Portugal (and won, as you said)

[@ijenslin6292]

I’m so glad you made this video Alfie. As someone who is eligible for 3 different nations myself, I found this truly fascinating. Shame I’m dross at football and have no chance to actually pull a Chris Birchall

[@lukebowler3403]

Stafford has made it to the big time of KZbin 🙌

[@hiramhackenbacker9096]

Not football but rugby in the 80s. I met a guy from Quebec, Canada who befriended members of the French Guyanan rugby team whilst on holiday in La Paz Bolivia. The team was there to play the Bolivian national team. Most of the French Guyanan team got ill and they asked this guy, who was a tall athletic guy, to play for them which he did. He'd never even seen a game of Rugby before and had to be told the rules as they went along but now he's an international!

[@mel76877]

i think the Younghusband brothers of the Philippines should be here..

[@martyshirley7017]

Surprised Socceroo legend Tim Cahill wasn’t included in this video. At one stage he eligible to play for Soma, Ireland and England.

[@nonamebill7421]

Surely refusing a call up by the French national team in 1997 to go and play football for the USA is got to be one of the most boneheaded moves in sports history.

[@JoJosWorld11]

I never ever thought I would see my country Trinidad and Tobago in a HITC Sevens video 🇹🇹

[@nicknackpaddywhack2159]

Another one would be Josip Simunic. As a 17 year old chose to represent the Joeys as that was a requirement for the continuation of his Australian Institute of Sport scholarship. Bed and board 10 months of the year, equipment, sports science he could only dream of, flights and transport to international tournaments and training camps. This was due to his migrant parents struggling to provide anywhere near the institute's perks. Meanwhile his uncle had already organised a contract from the day of his 18th birthday with Red Star and papers to nominate for the Croatian national team after milking the Australian government for years. In a lovely twist, he received 3, yes 3 , yellow cards and finally a red in the final group match of the 2006 WC against Australia. Croatia needed to win the game but to Josips disgust a 2-2 draw saw him eliminated with a dose of karma. He retired from international football never reaching the last 16 in a major FIFA competition unlike the 18 loyal players, many of whom he roomed with for 3 years 😜

[@IHSpark7325]

Poll confused him with the Australian defender (Craig Moore) because of his Australian accent, hence he got the Yellow that shouldve went to Moore.

[@nicknackpaddywhack2159]

@@IHSpark7325 that was his first yellow card and was the excuse Poll offered as it was the biggest blunder of recent world cup history. Did the size, baldness and different shirt, not to mention that Moore has a Glaswegian accent from his long career in Rangers

[@steveforest8385]

Ryan Giggs once played for England at schoolboy level. His father was English and his mother Welsh. He was born in Wales and so chose Wales over England at senior level.

[@wolfmauler]

Fascinating video, great research as usual. I say, has Alfie done an Ireland XI ☘️, if everyone eligible played?

[@HenryCarr2005]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqq9maJoYtB0e7M

[@TheAvenger62]

Didn't know French Guiana could play international football since it's an overseas territory/departement of France. They use the euro and the european spacecentre is even located there !

[@___________________.]

It's not a member of Fifa but they play in friendlies and Concacaf competitions

[@qwertyuiop123453993]

You could do a video on footballers who have yo-yo'd between countries who were members of the british empire which is sad and funny at the same time

[@imgoodatwarcraft3]

My twitter comment of Boyle got mentioned! Him being interviewed as an Aussie is rather amusing but glad to have him.

[@hello-rj1xc]

Can you do something on footballers that are great for country but not club and the other way around?

[@martinheskins496]

Last week two players featured in the Australian team v Saudi Arabia in Sydney who were making their first ever trip to Australia to play for the team.