They can become a citizen if they have been here for five years, therefore they can get a passport meaning they can play for the national team. This is why the likes of Arteta and Almunia were previously being discussed.
No mate they can't unless they meet the other criteria, which is - 1. A Player who, under the terms of art. 5, is eligible to represent more than one Association on account of his nationality, may play in an international match for one of these Associations only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfils at least one of the following conditions: a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association; b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association; c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association; d) He has engaged in a minimum of five years education under the age of 18 within the territory of the relevant association.
So why was Arteta and Almunia discussed so much? And I don't just mean on football forums, the media were talking about it too.
Arteta represented Spain at youth level and to switch to England at senior level he needed to have had a British passport, which he didn't at the time - a fact not well known by media and pundits. Almunia has never been called up for international duty so didn't have the same problems but - he doesn't have English heritage and so he needed to have gone to school here for 5 years to be eligible for England - and he didn't so neither will ever be eligible.
Correction : There wasn't a single white player in the french team That was the year that the Front National (equivalent to the UK's BNP or NF) said it as was said above and publicly denounced the French FA. The french public and the press went to town on the racists and it became clear that most of these players were French, born either in France or in the French territories (Departements Outre Mer). They were 100% fully entitled to play for France as any white frenchmen and that the FN could go to hell.
So how have the Germans done it? I'm guessing it is through family ties since most of theirs (I believe) are from Poland?
Not sure if this is relevant - http://islamversuseurope.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/many-french-people-no-longer-support.html
Was it Chelsea that fielded the first all non-English side back in 1999? Might have been Arsenal but I'm sure it was Chelsea. Not much was made of that really, a few comments by members of the media and pundits and we just carried on. Big fuss about nothing really.
The FIFA rules are straightforward, if you've got a passport from Country "A" you can play for them, irrespective. The only caveat being that you've never played senior international football for another country. There's no such thing as an English or Scottish passport, so there's a separate agreement in place for the UK with FIFA, that does have the caveats that JB has stated. I think there was talk of a challenge to the current ruling, maybe that's what's confused the issue, as I understood it wrongly as well.
But to be able to get a British passport you have to have lived here for so long (talking about foreigners only here) so surely its easy to determine, which country have they spent that time in? (obviously, I don't actually know)
There is a big difference between club and country. Clubs have always had foreigners playing for them or managing them. Whereas the country represemts more national pride in the eyes of some. For example, some countries would never (well up to now) countenance having a foreign manager e.g Italy or Germany or even France. It took a very long time for Germany to have a non-white player whereas England had one several decades before them. The argument at the time in France was that the team with 11 players with black and arab ancestry did not represent France with its white majority and its European culture. But if your best players are non white do you discriminate to introduce an ethnic balance?
Germany changed it's citizenship rules in 1999 making it easier to acquire German citizenship, which was notoriously hard to get [Jews and WWII and such - complicated]. I think previously children born in Germany to non-German parents weren't even classed as German - now they are, provided that at least one parent has a permanent residence permit; and has been residing in Germany for at least eight years [bearing in mind this is for children born in the country!!].
Yes, but the mere fact of obtaining a British passport isn't enough on its own, due to the agreement the home nations chose to agree to.
Old but interesting article http://bleacherreport.com/articles/95886-the-german-national-team-polska-edition/page/5
The FIFA rules for all other countries is exactly the same as I posted above for home nations eligibility .... except at d) where you have to have lived in the country you wish to represent for five years - [and not been educated for at least five years] ... so slightly easier to comply. KKK - yes get here early
Interesting points these are. Wasn't there a big kick up with Barnes because he was a Jamaican- Englishman? Don't really have too much of that problem over here as we are effectively a melting pot. OUr national team is made of primarily your run of the mill Americans and German-Americans yet the youth teams are full of Valdes, Hernandez, etc and very Latin influence.
