I think FIFA/UEFA should practice the rule a player is only allowed to play for the country, he/she's born in. If that country however hasnot selected the player for the national selection, apart from the player being injured, for the year in which the player will have his 20iest birthday and hasnot played him in that year or in the year of the player's 21st birthday, that player can choose to play for the player's second nationality country.
You do get a lot of people born in countries that didn't develop them though. Haaland is a product of the Norwegian football system rather than the English even though he was born here. Or in the other direction it'd be weird if Guehi couldn't play for England despite moving here at 1. The change i'd make is removing the grandparents link for eligibility, which always feels pretty tenuous.
Good point So there has to be added: he/she's born in and lived in at least until the player's 17th birthday.
Chances of any rule changes that don’t favour diaspora countries are pretty slim. It would require a situation where it was changed as part of a negotiation to prevent a FIFA split or such dramatic circumstances.
I do strongly believe the Grandparent rule has to be scrapped. Its becoming a joke at how badly its being abused. However there are also many examples of players born in a country, lived there very briefly before leaving, and also having no parents who were tied to that country they were born into. We're seeing this with African diaspora footballers all over; Yunus Musah and Folarin Balogun were born in the US whilst their African parents were there very briefly, before moving to Europe when they were still toddlers. Hence making them eligible for the US and this is unfair IMO.
It would get too complicated for FIFA I suspect if they had to asses if someone was in a county they were born in long enough. Oddly despite being born there American citizenship law means any kids Musah and Balogun might have (Don’t think either have any currently) wouldn’t be eligible for USA Citizenship as the that can only be passed on to a child born outside of the USA if the parent has lived 5 years including 2 after the age of 14. That’s not the law in the UK which is currently that if a British citizen born in the UK has a kid abroad they automatically British and one born abroad can pass it on if they have lived in the UK for 3 consecutive years at any point. Several famous non Brits have British passports that way.
That's only a relatively small number of players. They got no problems keeping track of players being transferred, so I would be surprised this would be an issue.
They don’t do that much checking to see if players are eligible. See the recent Maylasian controversy with fake heritage being submitted and nearly succeeding.
Its FIFA rules that ultimately matter over any country's citizenship laws. But yeah, under the current FIFA rules, Musah/Balogun's kids would be eligible for the US Currently, the only way I see FIFA could tighten would be to remove Grandparent eligibility. The other rules regulating kids who were A) Born in a country B) Raised there during childhood (after born in their home country) C) Having one parent born there Would probably be too difficult to tighten or govern more strictly to reduce any country gaming the system. Therefore the recurring cases where kids were born in a country when their parent were on holiday or staying for a short period, (before leaving during infancy) will still be open to abuse.
Sort of. Fits do require citizenship and only some countries grant rapid citizenship for sporting purposes. America is not one of those.
Rosenior: "I will be speaking to PGMO and the refs to get an understanding of why that happened today. We were told that in the rulebook you can be where you want and it is about timing. I just want to find a solution to this." https://t.co/nqe4bWrctt— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) March 14, 2026 I didn’t see this live but can someone explain to me how this happened? I mean I’m guessing the ref was just standing on the halfway line and Chelsea players then just surrounded him right? How can Rosenior then have the cheek to say he’s going to complain to PGMO to find solutions? Not really sure I’m liking Rosenior and his strange, trying to be clever behaviour but here’s an idea for you Liam, tell your players to do the huddle in your own half of the pitch surely.
He claimed "My players made a decision that they wanted to be around the ball, to respect the ball" Which frankly just makes it even more bizarre. We all want English managers to do well on here, but he's a very difficult person to like. I do also find it odd that in a sport that increasingly focuses on marginal gains, it apparently never extends to "don't preemptively piss of the referee".
He does sound bonkers doesn’t he. I mean what next, is he’s going to fly over Trumps spiritual advisor to do a crazy hammer hitting ritual on the pitch before the next game to give them some luck.
I know some of the media are doing pieces around Chelsea that many fans would regard as hit pieces, but I think they've got a point with this "culture of arrogance" stuff. Some of their players seem like complete weirdos tbh, and many of them act extremely petulantly and childishly on the pitch. A fan group recently met with a representative of the club to voice their concerns around the "project" and the nepotistic hires & what not, and they said that the club representative was extremely arrogant and dismissive of the fans. Seems like a top down issue at that club. It's definitely an environment you feel like you don't want our players to be too involved in.
No I meant that even if a player is eligible under a country's rules and gains citizenship to represent them. They must also meet FIFA eligibility regulations. FIFA rules still take precedent over any country.
The 2026 Finalissima between Spain and Argentina, initially slated to take place in Doha, Qatar, has been cancelled due to the war in the Middle East.UEFA, European football’s governing body, said that Argentina rejected multiple alternative options for the game to take place… pic.twitter.com/n5ydaiv75e— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 15, 2026
With Rosenior I think the problem is that he’s too serious and somewhat ideological to pull this persona style off. I thought he would tone it down but obviously not. Also, I think it was Gordon Strachan who said foreign managers can come in and say these almost whimsical and wildly elaborate things but if he said the same people would be saying “Is he drunk?”.
Did Igor Tudor think this was Arne Slot 😅 pic.twitter.com/YFnr6smV5W— Mr NBT (@JoeNBT) March 15, 2026
To be fair, I could quite easily make the same mistake, I mean he’s at least as bold as Slot. Who was that guy because he was standing there like a manager would.
Oh no and Tudor hasn’t realised. That makes it even funnier unless he genuinely went over to say hi to a Spurs employee but I somewhat doubt it.
Chelsea get an academy transfer ban but their first team ban is only a suspended one. Chelsea escape first-team sporting sanctions from the Premier League after being found guilty of making illicit payments during the Abramovich era. But there is a ban on signing academy players and the club still have an FA investigation hanging over them. More on @TeleFootball…— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) March 16, 2026 Breaking - Chelsea given £10.75m fine and transfer sanctions by Premier League. 74 FA charges still outstanding. pic.twitter.com/7M93dE9SdU— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) March 16, 2026