do u have to play for the country of citizenship?

Question

if i was a football(soccer) player and was gonna play in thw world cup for the first time, do i get to pick which country i play for (assuming they want u to play on their team ect) or do i have to play for the country that i live in and that im legally a citizen of???

Answer 1

you have to be a legal citizen/ have a passport to play for a country. You can choose what country to play for if you have mulitple citizenship, but once you play for one of the countries you are elligable to play for after you are 21, you must play for them for the rest of your life.

Many african players are faced with the desicion of playing for their african country or France. Also many brazilians opt to play for portugal. The best examples of this are Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Answer 2

Players can be included in the national team for the country where they are citizens or one of their parents is a citizen. Check out the link below to an article that includes this paragraph.

The world soccer authority FIFA allows players to play for the country of their citizenship or the one of their origins. This creates oddities: Dakar-born Patrick Vieira marshals France's midfield, while Paris-born Khalilou Fadiga stars for Senegal. In addition, the ability of emerging players to make professional migrations seeking fame and fortune sometimes tempts soccer federations to recruit for the national team by fast-tracking the citizenship of promising players. In recent weeks, a Dutch effort to expedite the citizenship process for Ivoirian striker Salomon Kalou fell afoul of that country's new chill on immigration.

Answer 3

You have to have legal citizenship, whether it be by birth, by your parents or grandparents, or by acquiring citizenship after living there so long. But, according to FIFA rules, once you cap for one team at senior level, you cannot switch national teams.

Answer 4

You do!