Why can a soccer player only play for their own country?

Question

for the World Cup but they can play for any country for European Championship?

andygurl..I thought there was a rule!

andylau_singer..there are people with dual citizenship...I have a Canadian and Italian citizenship so who do I play for??

Answer 1

I think there is some confusion with the question and with most of the previous answers.

FIFA World Cup is a tournament reserved to National Teams from all over the world.

UEFA European Championship is a tournaments reserved to National Teams from Europe only.

UEFA Champions League is a club competition reserved to the best European football clubs.

In competition reserved to National Teams, only players born in the Country
OR
those naturalized can play for the National Team.
If you have dual citizenship (Canada and Italy) you can choose to play for ONLY one of the two Countries, and once you play a game, you CANNOT play for other Countries (see Camoranesi). That is the dilemma of Freddy Adu (USA - Ghana) while G.Rossi have played with the Italian U21, therefore he will play for Italy, and cannot play anymore for the USA.
Again, that is related to the National competitions (e.g. FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, CONCAF Gold Cup, CONMEBOL Copa America, etc...) and players should be born or naturalized in the Country.

Another story is the Champions League (formerly European Champion Clubs Cup) where the best European Teams compete for the trophy.
Clubs can have player from any Nationality (the limit of foreign players depends from the countrie's football Federation) no matter what is the National Team they play.
For example: AC Milan have several players from the Italian National Team (Pirlo, Gattuso, Gilardino, Nesta, Inzaghi), Cafu, Kaka and Dida from Brasil National Team, Kalac from Australia, Kalaze from Georgia, Simic from Croatia, Jankulovski from Czech Republic, Seedorf from Netherland. AC Milan plays the Champion League with Real Madrid. Real Madrid has Casillas, Salgado, Raamos, Reyes and Raul who belong to the Spanish National Team, Cannavaro and Cassano from the Italian Team, Diarra from Mali, R.Carlos, Cicinho, Robinho, Ronaldo and Emerson from Brasil, Beckham from England, Van Nistelrooy from Netherlands.

I hope it helped to clarify!

Answer 2

What? Where dd you get this idea? A player can play at youth level for one country and when he gets to full international level can switch but once he plays at full level for that nation, that's it for life.

To determine the nation it goes by nation of birth, citizenship or ancestral ties (all the way back to grandparents). So, for instance, that traitor Owen Hargreaves despitre growing up in Canada plays for Land Of Eng becaus his parents are from there. How untypically of any immigrant to Canada. Anyway, the guy obviously was lousy at sports as anyone with any talent knows the real dough is in playing hockey. It's only metrosexual divers who choose soccer and leave millions on the table playing a sport where the athletes are much lower paid than North Americans playing the four major sporst here.

Answer 3

There is no rule to my knowledge that states you must play your domestic football in the country of your birth. Many players in Australia would not have been able to take the game forward here without the opportunity to play in other National Leagues. It is their job, hence the contract and the clubs pay their wages. WC is about playing for your country of birth or citizenship. All about pride. European Championship is a club tournament for that continent, not a National Competition, so contractual obligations apply.

No Juve no rule about where you play your domestic (club) football. Rules only apply to National representation.

Thanks soccer_mind...that's what I was trying to say...you said it better though...lol

Sorry Juve, when you said play for any country, I assumed you meant European Champions League.

Answer 4

The player can only play for a single country on the international level, regardless of the tournament. The player has to be a citizen of the country it represents and to live there for at least two years (source: FIFA regulations).
It doesn't have to be the country where he was born (lots of examples, such as: Olisadebe of Poland born in Nigeria, Vieira of France born in Senegal, Seedorf of Holland born in Suriname, Camoranesi of Italy born in Argentina, Santos of Tunisia and Alex of Japan both born in Brazil), but after representing a country on a certain age level (i think it's under-21, but it may be from an earlier stage) you can't switch your national team.
In the past there were plenty examples of players switching countries, but for last 40 years or so FIFA doesn't allow that in order to prevent "mercenaries" switching countries to the highest bidder.

Answer 5

Because they've got to represent their country. The World Cup is an International Championship, so every country will participate. For European Championship, it's only in Europe, so only countries in this continent will participate. But, I suggest you to play for Italy.

Answer 6

There are rules, here they are:
Regulations Governing the Application of Statutes

Chapter VIII. Nationality of Players

Art. 18

1. Any player who is a naturalised citizen of a country in virtue of that country's laws shall be eligible to play for a national or representative team of that country.

2. If a player has been included in a national or representative team of a country for which he is eligible to play pursuant to §1, he shall not be permitted to take part in an international match for another country. Accordingly, any player who is qualified to play for more than one national association (i.e. who has dual nationality) will be deemed to have committed himself to one association only when he plays his first international match in an official competition (at any level) for that association.

3. The only players exempt from this provision are those whose nationality has been changed not voluntarily but as the result of an international decree either granting independence to a region or ceding part of one country to another.

I.e. Camoranesi, Argentinian of Italian descent, often asked to be part of his team. Having Italian nationality too, and being esteemed from Trapattoni since Euro '04 preliminaries, he choose to play for Italy perfectly knowing that was a one way decision.

why---

Everyone knows football is the world most played and loved team sport, and it's ruled by money too. Financial interest. Now take look at those world athletics champions bios:
Rashid Ramzi, from Morocco to Bahrain
Saif Saaeed Shaheen, from Kenia to Qatar
They are the only 2 athletes I've found after a quick search, but there are many more Africans who are hired from Arabic Peninsula countries... sure you can easily figure it out how it can works in football... I totally agree with FIFA rule, to strip a mature champ from his country with the power of money is an opposite bahvior to sportsmanhip. I guess.

Answer 7

Players with two nationalities have the right to choose which one to maintain. However they must do so before participating in a national team for the first time. If they play in the boys national team they don't have the right to change side later. Its right for a player to choose which nationality to keep, e.g Sotiris Ninis parents are Greek-Albanians, he choose Greece because have more chances to play in EURO or in a WORLD CUP with the Greek National team rather than the Albanian one.

Answer 8

Robert Prosinecki is only player in the world that scored a goal for two different countries ( Yugoslavia and then for Croatia) !!!!!

Answer 9

i actually don't know
but i would think the players would WANT 2 play 4 their country

Answer 10

The same reason I don't play for Japan in the Olympics when im from the U.S. . The european league is a business, the players are paid. The World cup is for pride, national pride.