The world of international football is full of players who are playing for their teams but it’s questionable if it is the right team. Dual nationality or family heritage are the main reason why some players are in one national team and not in the other. A huge number of footballers of African origin are playing for European national teams just because they were born there. But, some of them decided over time to switch alliances, mainly due to the fact that FIFA rules allowed them to change their mind (for whatever reason), as long as they played for their native county only at youth level (or international friendlies). It will be a special Tuesday for Zaha as the Elephants clash with the Three LionsThere are many footballers who played for two countries over their careers, but also there are those who had three different countries. Alfredo Di Stefano, a football legend is one of those, as Real Madrid star played for three national teams: Argentina, Colombia and Spain. The other one was former Inter Milan player and current Red Star Belgrade coach Dejan Stanković, but his path was totally different. The Serb actually played for only one country, but that country disintegrated three times and he was a ’collateral damage’. Stanković debuted for Yugoslavia, then continued with Serbia and Montenegro and finished with Serbia. But most of players who changed countries stopped at ’only’ two and here are some of the most famous ones. Wilfried Zaha(©AFP)Current Ivory Coast player, Wilfried Zaha used to be a promising England youngster, who debuted in the senior squad in 2012, and continued in 2013. But those two caps appeared to be his only times he played for England. He switched over from to Manchester United from Crystal Palace the same year and his career has gone in a different direction. He spent the next three season on loans (two of them to Palace) but didn’t impress enought to get another England call. So, in 2016 he switched over to Ivory Coast and kept playing for Crystal Palace under Roy Hodgson, the same man who gave him a chance when he was the England manager.Zaha will face his former team on Tuesday, when England and Ivory Cost play a friendly match, and his former under-21s boss Gareth Southgate, who once tried to persuade him to stick with England.”I remember going to a hotel, Palace were playing away, and meeting with Wilf but at that point he had made his mind up. I can understand it because he had been four years without playing. I remember being asked at the time and we were asked about a few different cases and I said players have to have the desire to play for England. That was slightly tweaked a bit I would say so that created a little bit of an atmosphere with Wilf and Steve Parish for a while” Southgate explained ahead of Tuesday’s friendly.Diego Costa(©AFP)Diego Costa is a Brazilian, and he chose the right moment to declare for Spain, who were world champions and back-to-back European winners at the time: on the eve of the 2014 World Cup, hosted by Brazil!Former Chelsea man got a call from Luiz Filipe Scolari in 2013, but less than a year he was out and into the Spanish squad. Costa played in Atletico Madrid at the time, got the Spanish nationality in July 2013, and opted to play for them, since he only played in friendly matches for Brasil, so he was eligible. It’s fair to say that Scolari was furious:”A Brazilian player who refuses to wear the shirt of the Brazilian national team and compete in a World Cup in your country is automatically withdrawn. He is turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil”.Costa went on to represent his new country 24 times and scored 10 goals, but didn’t leave his mark in the team which won nothing since 2012, before he came along.Kalidou Koulibaly(©AFP)One of the rare victories won by the African continent over Europe. One of the best Serie A center back Kalidou Koulibaly was initially a Frenchman, as he was born in France. He was playing for France national team and was in the under-20 squad which played in a World Cup in Colombia in 2011. Unlike some other players, Koulibaly was actually a target for senior team and coach Didier Deschamps was interested, but Napoli defender decided to play for Senegal, from which his parents came to France as immigrants.”I don’t have any regrets because I want to write the story of the future of Senegal football and I hope I’ll be able to do that” Koulibaly explained his decision. Captaining the Lions of Teranga, Koulibaly has one AFCON title under his belt. Napoli defender was the player who scored the first penalty in the AFCON 2021 final with Egypt, which had to be decided in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 score in 120 minutes. Meanwhile, France won a World Cup and Nations League in recent years.Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang(©AFP)From France youth player to all time Gabon striker. That’s the national team history of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who started in his native France (was born in Laval), but had only one cap. He was also invited to play for Italy U19 and also considered to play for Spain, as his mother is Spanish. Auba always stated his love for Spain and desire to play there, so now he is in Barcelona, instead of the national team. Former Arsenal captain decided in the end to represent Gabon, since his father once captained the national team. Apart from being his country’s best ever scorer, Aubameynang was part of the team which had the best ever AFCON result, qualifying for the quarter-finals in 2012.Declan Rice(©AFP)Watching the World Cup 2018 live and receiving a call from England were enough to persuade Declan Rice to switch alliances. West Ham captain was initially a Republic of Ireland youth player through his grandparents (in fact, U17 player of the year in 2017), and was called to play in friendly matches with the senior team. Rice made his debut in 2018 in a friendly against Turkey, but was omitted from the team five months later. Manager Martin O’Neill explained that Rice was approached by England and at the end of the year, new Ireland boss Mick McCarthy told Rice he had the potential to be a future captain. But, former Chelsea youth academy player ultimately decided to play for England.”Honestly, the World Cup was buzzing… I was actually in Dubai. There was a massive football fan zone with a massive dome and it was crazy. It was mental. I remember watching the Panama game, the Tunisia game, the Sweden game. It was incredible. The singing before the game, the national anthem. Just being a part of it. I was a fan for that tournament. So, to be part of this tournament is unbelievable” the 23-year-old explained, having starred for the Three Lions at Euro 2020 to get an even better taste of a tournament.It’s worth noting that Manchester City’s Jack Grealish also played for Ireland at youth level, but rejected a senior call-up, qualifying through his grandparents and is now a part of the regular England set-up.
