Player Eligibility and Switching National Teams: Case Studies & General Discussion

Based on the rules above, you have to look at the dates (and I'm not sure if there wasn't some grandfathering done).
Holden started playing for US youth teams in 2004, when he was about 19, so under the rules in place at the time, no problem. Agudelo started playing in 2008, Opara in 2009, Gale in 2008 and Marosevic in 2008. Without knowing more on the specific dates AND the specific rules in place for exceptions, they were all pretty close to the switchover.

But of course, there have been other mistakes by USSF that weren't challenged... Bunbury & Potts, for example, so there is the possibility they weren't 100% legit.

 

Albania has looked much better in recent years. You Swiss must be doing something right.

 

Well you are certainly correct in that the US might have done all this and just not been challenged. It is also interesting that in the 2009 team there were three such cases but since then it's been O'Neil and Zelalem.

I suppose that soon enough we will find out.

 

I'm a proponent of Kosovo gaining full UEFA and FIFA membership ... unsure though if Serbia's little friend, Russia, is eager to let Kosovo join in time for Russia2018 Qualifying ... already seems hard enough for Gibraltar who are full UEFA members and taking part in EURO Qs for the first time.

 

An article here from the New Zealand Herald relating to their Olympics qualification disqualification (Declan Wynne eligibility).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/football-soccer/news/article.cfm?c_id=86&objectid=11501453

 

Can anyone explain the situation with Gregory Sertic being denied to play for Croatia?

From everything I read, his situation is identical to Ludovic Obraniak (grandparent from Poland for Ludo/Croatia for Sertic), both played for French U-21 sides, both did not have foreign passports prior to applying for their new country, both received official Polish/Croatian passports, and FIFA accepted one and rejected the other. Anyone can shed a light on this for me?

 

The eligibility criteria were changed in June 2009.
Obraniak made the switch prior to the change (only by a few days). So because Sertic was not a Croatian Citizen when he first played for France u-21, he is not eligible to switch afterwards.

 

With the Rugby World Cup underway right now and Japan upsetting South Africa with the use of NZ, Fiji and Australian-born players, the sport is looking closely at their eligibility rules which aren't as complex as FIFA's, but require only 3 years of residency for a nationality switch (but not allowing anything like the "one-time switch").

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/rugby-union-world-eligibility-idUKL1N0XX0BL20150507

The most contentious rule, however, is the one concerning residency, which allows players to represent countries where they have lived for just three years.

The only proviso is that they cannot switch nationalities if they have already played at senior international level.

 

They have some very complex rules for the Olympic rugby sevens because the IOC require citizenship to represent a national team.

 

As far as I was able to investigate, Sertic only for France U21 in a friendly against Poland U21 in 2009 and also in the (unofficial) Toulon Tournament of that year. So no official match or competition.

This means that even a friendly match for a national team (Full, U23, u21, U20, U17) for a player without another nationality at the moment of that match forbids him of switching allegiances.

Meaning also that Christian Gimenez argument for being able to play for Mexico NT after featuring for Argentina U20 in 2001 South American Youth Championship (that it was friendlies matches since they were hosting the 2001 U20 WC) does not hold.

 

Correction: Where it reads "Sertic only", it should read "Sertic played only".

 

One very important question that has to be addressed... was his grandparent actually born in the territory that is now Croatia? Because of very fluid borders in that area, it is possible that the grandparent was born a Croatian but in what is now part of another country/FA.

 

Age issues with CONMEBOL and the U17s:

http://fusion.net/story/216325/ecuador-u17-world-cup-cheating/

 

From what I have read everywhere, the answer is a clear yes. His grandfather was from just outside Zagreb, which is indeed in present day Croatia (former Yugoslavia).

 

The only elegibility criteria changed in June 2009 was that a player could switch allegiances even if he was past his 21st birthday. Before that change, the player has to made up his/her mind before turning 21. Check the media release (toward the end) by FIFA.

Ludo only played a friendly against Spain U21 in August 17th, 2004 (here, in polish), before obtaining his polish passport in June 2009, allowing him to make the switch. (Check his entry in wikipedia)

In the case of Gregory Sertic, he played in the Toulon Tournament of 2009, with 4 appearence against Portugal, Argentina and Chile (twice) (here and here) and also in a friendly, curiosly, against Poland in August of the same year. (here)

Since the Toulon Tournament involves matches where points are disputed, it becomes a official competition, according to FIFA. He did not have a Croatian passport in that year (he got it until 2013), so FIFA forbids him to switch allegiances (see below)

It seems that for FIFA, elegibilty is limited by the different passports you hold before your first "official match" with a national team, with FIFA applying this measure even if the player is entitled to another nationality by heritage. (Here is the news clip)

But FIFA lacks a coherent policy regarding this policy, or worse, it appears to use different criteria depending on which federation is asking for the switch. Because less than one year before denying Serig switch, FIFA allowed a player with similar situation to Serig to change allegiances.

By similar I mean that he also played in a Toulon tournament for his country of birth in 1999, before applying and getting approval of FIFA to play for another country which he could not claim any heritage, in contrast to Serig background.

I am flogging an old horse here: the player is Christian "Chaco" Gimenez.

Beside his participation in the Youth South America Championship of 2001, he also played for Argentina in the Toulon tournament of 1999. The proof? here a archive webpage of the Argentinian newspaper "La Nacion", dated January 20, 2001, with him recalls the experience, but more important, here a Youtube video of the final of that tournament against Colombia, where he is taking the first penalty in the shootout (look at 2:58, you could see him wearing number 17).

So Serig (without a Croatian passport, but with a valid heritage claim to it) is deemed inelegible to play for Poland because he played for France in Toulon Tournament 2009, while Gimenez (wtihout a Mexican passport and not heritage claim to it whatsoever) is granted permission to play for Mexico, regardless of his partitipation with Argentina in the same tournament 10 years before. Why FIFA made two different rulings when faced with the same situation? Either its legal department and archivists are incompetent and selective (find proof of inelegibility in one case, miss or ignore similar facts in the other case) or... fill this space with your conclusion.

If anything, a reminder that an independent, impartial and efficient judicial body, without links to FIFA, is required to deal with these cases. (Sorry TAS-CAS, you fall short in this test).

 

The Toulon international youth tournament is not sanctioned by neither FIFA or Uefa.
Therefore whomever plays in it, representing whichever team they might want to play for, doesn't cap-tie any one, to any nationality.

 

For Sertic, the Toulon Tournament is immaterial because UEFA.com has his competitive debut as:

• National team: UEFA European Under-17 Championship (Elite round)
  29/03/06: France 3-1 Czech Republic

So his competitive debut for France was in 2006 at UEFA U17s.

That doesn't explain why he couldn't make a switch to another national team based on heritage, but Toulon isn't part of the discussion.

 

For those old enough to remember "cachirules" (follow the link), this appears as proof that FIFA of these years is not interested anymore in punishing cheaters, unless they are "small fish" (from Africa or Oceania). Certainly not when a judicial process could wreak havoc in the "all important" international calendar.