Subotic to become German

I can't wait till FIFA tells him no and we can all move on

 

Subotic no longer needs to come out and say what team he wants to play for. This makes it obvious, more so then it already was. Dissapointing, but thems the breaks.

 

Don't be surprised if FIFA says yes.

 

i will be very very surprised-it would put the current system into chaos. You can switch Federations if you were ELIGIBLE for a passport?

 

FIFA hasn't always played the rational role when dealing with issues.

 

i wont be in the least bit but it does break the current articles and I cant wait to see how this goes down

 

And who determines if you are eligible for a passport retroactively years later? The big soccer nations. They will be in control of who they want as citizens and who they don't for the sole purpose of playing national team soccer.

 

I think we need to say all Brazilians and Argentinians under 21 playing pro soccer are eligible for a US passport. (It doesn't mean we have to grant one if we don't want to)

 

You can't make a player want to play for the US.

 

according to the rules, he would have had to be a German citizen at the time he became tied to the US in order to change his association.

Article 18 clearly states:

If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new
nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative
teams due to nationality, he may, up to his 21st birthday, and only
once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to
play international matches to the Association of another country of
which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions:
(a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official
competition at “A” international level for his current Association,
and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an
international match in an official competition for his current
Association, he already had the nationality of the representative
team for which he wishes to play.

 

I have no doubt that Germany will get their way here, rules or no.

 

I agree. Either way, do we really want a player that doesn't want to play for us? Of course we definetly someone like but I don't want merceneries in our team.

 

The US needs to fight Germany at this... file lawsuit if need be. Neven is currently a US player and they shouldn't let Germany cheat them and illegally pick off their own player when they are not entitled to it. If Neven switches to Serbia or Bosnia, fine. That's how it goes by the rules. But the US shouldn't get pushed around by Germany here.

 

German nationality is traditionally based upon the principle of descent. There was a new nationality law passed in 2000 that was designed to make it easier for some foreigners to become German citizens.

According to the new law, "At the heart of the reform is the supplementing of the traditional principle of descent (jus sanguinis) by the acquisition of nationality by birth. For children born in Germany of foreign parents, this makes it easier for them to identify with their home country of Germany. They are given the chance to grow up as Germans among Germans."

However, I believe neither Neven nor his parents were born in Germany. So he was certainly not eligible for German citizenship under the usual procedures.

Having said all this I couldn't care less if Neven plays for Germany. I would prefer that he not play for the US. By his actions he has shown his heart is not really in it. I'd rather not win the World Cup with a team of mercenaries or even one mercenary.

 

I can understand this.. but I do want to see the rules upheld and Germany not take advantage of their power within FIFA to gain an unfair advantage. Like I said, if Neven goes to play for Serbia, so be it. But every US fan should be first right pi$$ed if he plays for Germany.

And he wasn't "eligible" for german citizenship when he played his first game for the US. When he lived in Germany, he and his family had refugee status and had to leave the country when his dad lost his job. It goes without saying that if you were eligible to become a citizen of a country you would never get kicked out of that country. Otherwise you would just become a citizen and stay.

 

The issue is purely academic as I could also give a aardvarks elbow where he *wants* to play. The fact is however, hes a US player and rules are rules. The rules for elegibility sanctioned by FIFA were put in place for a reason. If FIFA supports an action that violates their own policies, this tears the roof off the distribution plant that cans all of the worms. It could very well pave the way for the more prestigious footballing nations funneling all the prodigies into their national teams.

 

I'd trade him for Mike Hanke.

Mike already has an American first name.

It could work.

Just because Mike was on Klinsmann's WC'06 roster, it doesn't mean something can't be done.

 

Well if rules are really rules, then he is not a US player - yet. However, he most definitely is not eligible to play for Germany under the current rules.

 

actually, yes he is provisionally cap tied to the US. darn those u-17 games


even to play for serbia or bosnia, he'd have to petition FIFA to change associations because hes a US player. When he played an international match for the US (age doesnt matter) he got tied to the US. Since it was youth, he can change till 21.

 

My guess is the use of the word "nationality" is where the Germans would try and fight it. It doesn't actually say "citizenship" and they aren't necessarily the same thing.

I still think this is a big big stretch on the part of the Germans.

 

Doesn't matter.

 

Yeah, I don't see how Germany could swing this without violating something FIFA really needs to keep in place. If someone can come up with a way, I'm sure they'll try to push it through, but I can't seem to figure out how they could swing it no matter how the lawyers try to squirm.

 

I have the same feeling.

Germany will pull some strings.