Do world cup players have to be citizens of the country on the team they play for?

Answer 1

Yes, in the Regulations 2006 FIFA World Cup Chapter XIV, Article 24:

XIV. ELIGIBILITY OF PLAYERS, LIST OF PLAYERS
Article 24
Each association shall take the following provisions into account when selecting its representative team:
a) all players shall be citizens of its country and subject to its
jurisdiction;
b) all players shall be eligible for selection in accordance with the
Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes.

Any team found guilty of fi elding an ineligible player will forfeit the
match. Victory and the resultant three points will be awarded to the opposing team as well as the score of 3-0, or greater, depending on the score of the match.

Answer 2

Absolutely. All the players who play for other teams have their citizenship for the country they're playing for. And MichaelBee, those players who are part of the Euro pro teams or clubs don't have to be citizens for those. This only applies for global events, in this case, the World Cup.

Answer 3

All I know, if someone wants to represent a certain country he/she has to be the legal citizen of it. (I wish Sheva were Italian citizen eventhou he was born in Ukraine, so he will have bigger chance to play at the World Cup.. LOL!!)

Answer 4

Definitely, YES.
See Art. 36, Chapter XIII of the Regulations for Status and Transfer of Players
at http://www.fifa.com/fifa/handbook/regulations/player_transfer/2003/Status_Transfer_EN.pdf

Answer 5

Yes

Answer 6

yes. the player has to either be born in that country or become a legal citizen anyhow

Answer 7

Yea, for example if Ronaldihno wants to be playing for Mexico he has to go live there and become a legal citizen

Answer 8

No way. Look at the US team. Most of ours come from Euro pro teams.

Answer 9

I'm pretty sure there's a Canadian playing for England.

Answer 10

yes