National teams and change of citizenship – FIFA rules

Abstract

Globalization has also affected football. People are increasingly mobile, and football players often move to different countries. It happens that they also acquire the citizenship of a certain country or that after playing for one national selection they change their mind and want to play for another one, whose citizenship they have acquired or maybe they already had. Of course, it can also happen that a state ceases to exist, and that a new state or states are established on that territory. Certainly, these are very challenging questions, since the national teams are a matter of national pride. As a matter of fact, it is understandable why the rules are different comparing to club football. Simply, intention is to preserve the substrate of representative football, its essence. In the paper, the authors aim to provide, after the introductory considerations, an analysis of the provisions of the world umbrella football organization FIFA in this area. At the end, the authors summarize the results of the research and offer an appropriate conclusion.