The Multi-Eligible Player Recruitment Thread (2026 WC Cycle Edition)

It is. This all could, and probably should, be clarified. But I guess until it is, it's fun to obsess over!

 

Comments reported this week seemed to confirm (but not detail, unless I missed it) some contact from U.S. Soccer and a general (but not necessarily permanent) preference to stay with Germany. Doesn't seem particularly surprising to me, but obviously he's of interest. The clock is obviously ticking, though, if he is in fact on the fence for 2026 in any meaningful way.

 

Among a few recent formal switches of some degree of note, Tunisia just picked up an '04 named Ismael Gharbi who first played YNT ball for France, the country of his birth, but which did not cap-tie him, and then appeared for Spain, for which he competed in official UEFA YNT games.

 

Russia picked up two Moldovan players, per FIFA. It's rather interesting, at least to me, since according to Transfermarkt both guys are only eligible at MNT level now (having played for Moldova in UEFA U21 competition), neither seem to have extensive adult resumes, and Russia is like 100 spots above Moldova in the FIFA rankings.

 

If they can't, I guess Jordan and Qatar are gonna pick up a couple of easy wins over the break!

 

On the CONCACAF front, Curacao has picked up a couple of guys in switches from the Netherlands who play at reasonably good levels.

 

Not YNT-eligible and not switches, but Ian Fray and Kyle Duncan are on Jamaica's latest callup list.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DN8hTRPDuv3/

 

It's not always about us, but sometimes it is! FIFA has announced that Marcus Ferkranus, who was cap-tied to the U.S. at U20 level, has switched to Australia.

 

CONCACAF recruiting is gonna be super fun to watch through 2026, I suspect.

🔴 Odsonne Édouard a donné son accord pour jouer pour Haïti avant la fin des éliminatoires de la Coupe du Monde 2026 !

Selon Dynamique Info Sport, l’attaquant du RC Lens a dit oui quant à une éventuelle convocation parmi les Grenadiers très prochainement. 🇭🇹 pic.twitter.com/Cv4S6ePwH5

— Caleb Jephte Pierre (@Caleb_Jephte) September 10, 2025

 

The presence of Vargas on Mexico's roster would seem to indicate either that FIFA cares more about whether you played for a country in a specific cycle (rather than whether you already played at the same age level broadly) or... something else.

https://miseleccion.mx/noticias/6147/Convocatoria-Oficial-de-México-Sub-20-para-el-Mundial-de-Chile

 

This guy Etzaz Hussain has had an interesting career. Born in Norway, he spent some youth time with Manchester United, has had a long career in Europe, played for Norwegian YNTs at almost every level, and finally has just switched to Pakistan at 32. Looking at TM he seems to have had a number of Norwegian YNT caps that must have required a switch, but he never made it to the MNT, and hadn't played for the country in any capacity in more than a decade.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etzaz_Hussain

https://www.transfermarkt.us/etzaz-hussain/profil/spieler/141658

I get that this isn't super relevant here, but I do find these stories interesting. Skip up to the previous post if you'd rather stay on topic.

 

For kicks I'll note that while Zidane's younger son is on France's U20 roster, his older son Luca has just (like as of this week) switched to Algeria.

 

FIFA says '08 Isaac Tortola has formally switched from the U.S. to Canada, presumably for the purpose of the upcoming U17 competition. He played for us at the 2023 CONCACAF U15s, so maybe this is a sign that that competition was indeed cap-tying; on the other hand, it could just be that Canada did it "by the book" to make sure there weren't any paperwork issues. (And we have seen at least one case where it appears that a guy filed a switch who didn't really need to, so maybe that was the case here, too.)

Separately, Curacao has booked a couple more switches from the Netherlands.

 

Wait a sec -- Tortola was on Canada's roster for qualifying, wasn't he? Surely if he needed to switch, he would've done it before that tournament?

https://www.concacaf.com/en/under-1...ncacaf-under-17-qualifiers-rosters-confirmed/

 

Relatedly -- anyone else tracking this? It's pretty juicy.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed sanctions on the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and seven players – Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Tomás Garcés, Rodrigo Julián Holgado, Imanol Javier Machuca, João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo, Jon Irazábal Iraurgui and Hector Alejandro Hevel Serrano – for breaches of article 22 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (FDC) concerning forgery and falsification.

The FAM had submitted eligibility enquiries to FIFA, and in doing so, it used doctored documentation to be able to field the above players.
​

https://inside.fifa.com/legal/judic...all-association-of-malaysia-and-seven-players

 

Suriname got another guy from the Netherlands, a big striker with a reasonably interesting journeyman career who now seems to be in Denmark. And Haiti got a guy from Belgium.

 

And by the way -- it looks like we are halfway through the final stage of CONCACAF qualifying right now. Three groups, winners go to the tournament, two more teams head to the playoff. If it were over now I believe it would be Suriname, Jamaica and Honduras.