Every football player wants to compete in the World Cup, and many will stop at nothing to make that goal come true. even if it requires a last-minute change of allegiance.
But what if we told you that’s not the only reason footballers swap nations shortly before a tournament?
They do this for many different reasons-
Here are 7 footballers who switched countries right before a World Cup tournament.
1. Diego Costa
FIFA World Cup 2022
Costa was born and raised in Brazil, so naturally, everyone just expected him to represent Brazil on the international stage. That’s the greatest national team in football history after all. And he started out doing that actually.
He was called up to represent Brazil in 2013 and played games against Italy and Russia. But later that year, Diego Costa was granted Spanish citizenship, and the Royal Spanish Football Federation went to FIFA and asked for permission to call Costa up to the Spanish national team.
Costa himself then sent a letter to the Brazilian Football Confederation expressing his desire to represent Spain internationally. And since the games he played for Brazil were only friendlies, FIFA permitted him to switch to the world champions at the time. And the timing was pretty crazy, too, because he dumped Brazil just about a year before the World Cup was to kick off in Brazil. So, as expected, during the 2014 World Cup, he was booed by the home fans who felt betrayed by him and his choice.
Spain would go on to be eliminated in the group stage. But Costa couldn’t really have escaped humiliation that year, because we all remember what happened to Brazil in the semi-final, don’t we?
2. Riyad Mahrez
FIFA World Cup
Mahrez was born in France to an Algerian father and an Algerian-Moroccan mother. And of course, like many French-Africans before him, he could have opted to represent Les Bleus, but he chose Algeria instead for one reason in particular – his father.
His late dad, before he died, told Riyad to represent the Algerian national team, and the former Leicester man made sure to grant his dad that wish. And just months before the 2014 World Cup,
3. Anwar El Ghazi
Anwar El Ghazi is of dual nationality. He was born in the Netherlands and is of Moroccan descent. And guess who helped him pick the country to represent internationally! Cristiano Ronaldo. The former Aston Villa man idolizes Ronaldo, so back in 2016, he met the Portugal captain and asked him which country he should represent. CR7 told him to pick the Netherlands because that would give him a higher chance of playing in international tournaments.
4. Inaki Williams
Inaki was born in Spain to Ghanaian parents, and you already know what that means. He was eligible to represent either Spain or Ghana internationally. His first choice was Spain.
He made his debut for the Spaniards in a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016. But after then, there wasn’t much in the way of call-ups to Spain. So, in 2021, Ghana was looking at getting him to switch, and in reply to that, this is what Inaki said: “My parents are from Accra and I really enjoy going.
But I wasn’t born or raised there, my culture’s here, and there are players for whom it would mean more. I don’t think it would be right to take the place of someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%.”
That statement felt like a rejection for the Ghanaians. But in July 2022, just months away from the World Cup, he declared himself available to be chosen by Ghana for the upcoming tournament. And he was picked.
First for friendlies in September, and then in the final list of players heading to Qatar. Now, Inaki Williams and his younger brother, Nico, will both be at the 2022 World Cup but will be representing different countries, as Nico was called up by Spain.
5. Tariq Lamptey
Lamptey is another guy who switched allegiances to Ghana just in time for the 2022 World Cup. He was born in England to Ghanaian parents, and you could tell that he was holding up for a call-up to England’s senior team after having represented the country at youth levels.
But if you have seen the abundance of talent England have at right back, you’d understand why Lamptey finally switched allegiances to Ghana just in time to be selected for the 2022 World Cup.
6. Kevin Prince Boateng
The Black Stars of Ghana are really hot cake, aren’t they? Because even before Lamptey and Inaki, there was Kevin Prince Boateng, who ditched Germany for Ghana just before the 2010 World Cup. He had represented Germany at the youth level, having been born in Berlin, but in 2009, he told the German authorities that he was no longer interested in representing Germany, saying that he feels more Ghanaian.
He switched to Ghana in May 2010 and was called up to represent the Black Stars at the World Cup in South Africa the following month. However, his younger brother, Jerome Boateng, stuck with Germany and went on to win the World Cup in 2014.
7. Mario Fernandes
Mario Fernandes was born in Brazil and lived in Brazil until 2012 when he moved to CSKA Moscow.
In 2011, he was called up by Brazil for a friendly, but he turned it down, saying he was going through some personal issues at the time. So, his debut was delayed by 3 years. He eventually played for Brazil in a friendly game against Japan in 2014,
and that would turn out to be the only game he played for the 5-time world champions.
He acquired Russian citizenship in 2016 and switched to play for the Europeans just in time for the World Cup on home soil in 2018. At that time, he had already stayed in Russia for more than 5 years, so he was eligible to represent the national team.
