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

Lots of speculation this morning that Leon Bailey would be called in for England (along with a little trolling from Leon), but he's not eligible.

Thanks to FIFA eligibility rules, Bailey would be free to switch allegiance to another country he is eligible for as he has not played a competitive game at senior international level. The winger has grandparents who hold British passports, but in order for him to be eligible for England, they would have had to be born in England.

Reports in Jamaica indicate that, while Bailey's grandparents are English, they were not born in England, and thus he would not fulfil the residency requirements to play for the Three Lions.

Butler's sister Laura claimed that his adopted background made him eligible, telling the Gleaner: "Our grandparent, Frank Lesley Holman, fought in World War II for the British Air Force, so he qualifies by that standard."

However, despite the British military background, the FIFA statutes indicate that the parental rules apply only to the biological ancestry of the player. Bailey would only be connected to Holman via adoption rather than biology, and only as a great-grandchild rather than having a grandparent-grandchild link, so would not make him eligible for England as a result.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/why-...-star-at-the-world/1gppbz4gkgoul1aecw1m9qy6hm

 

Hard to tell if FIFA view NL group games as an "Official Competition at A international level". Unlike friendlies, the NL games are indeed competitive but if they leave players cap-tied then there aren't many moments to "test the water" (which is possible in friendlies without ending up cap-tied). Some doubt remains as FIFA has given NL group games a very low I weight: 5 (friendlies outside the IMC) ... 10 (friendlies during the IMC) ... 15 (NL group games) ... then it jumps to 25 (Qualis but also NL finals and play-offs).

@Nico Limmat maybe the Swiss can shed some light on this issue, seeing they used Mbabu and Ajeti in their NL group game against Iceland (they were/still are eligible for other teams than Switzerland).

 

My humble opinion is that they should count as official cap- tying matches. Especially since there is a connection to Euro 2020 qualifying.

 

Hmmm.

That one is a bit more sticky in my mind. But makes sense.

 

You could argue that Concacaf having a Gold Cup every 2 years is unfair to those that only do one every 4 years. There are a lot of things a confed can do if they want more competitive opportunities at the youth or NT levels.

 

I know I'm an outsider but the increase in teams participating in the World Cup takes some of the fun and competitiveness out of CONMEBOL's current system. Maybe you could simplify qualifying by going back to a shorter group structure and covert the current ten nation qualifying system into a CONMEBOL nations league.

 

But then Brazil and Argentina would never play each other in qualifying.

 

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...el_jetzt-doch_bailey-spielt-fuer-jamaika.html

Apparently Bailey will join Jamaica. Good for the kid. Was about time that he became a full international.

According to the article he could be cap-tied in the CONCACAF Nations League.

 

That's an interesting point that I'd like to see a ruling from FIFA on. It is a CONCACAF competitive match. When, for example, Japan, plays in the Copa America, it's considered a guest team and no cap-tie applies to them, but should apply to any CONMEBOL team they are playing.

Of course, we never got a straight answer if the Copa America Centenario was cap-tying for all teams or only the CONMEBOL squads. Seems FIFA only gives detailed rulings when someone makes a challenge.

 

"According to the article" ... I simply translated what the author wrote. Didn't check Jamaica's opponents and so far I haven't read anything from FIFA that NL games leave players cap-tied. The author seems to think so but he probably didn't check Jamaica's opponents either.

 

Certainly won't be this month as he isn't playing. Apparently pissed because only he got the call up and not his brother.

I won't quote you the response his father posted on FB as that requires both a bathroom and two coffee breaks to get through. Long story short, this saga will continue for yet some time...

 

Care to share it or a screencap of the response?

 

The Dutch commentator said Danjuma (eligible for Holland and Nigeria) was cap-tied during the Holland v Germany NL game.

 

I think all A internationals should count, including "A" friendlies.