Originally Posted by Konstantinos Margaritis
The rules that govern the eligibility of a player to join the national team of a country by gaining its nationality, if no ancestral connection is applied, have already been modified to a more strict direction: namely, the residency requirement was extended from two to five years in May 2008. Nevertheless, this new regime does not seem to combat the problem at its source. In the author’s view, three more years of living in the territory of an association is not a grand affair in exchange for a possible participation in a World Cup and all economic prospects that this brings. At the very end, “continuously living” in the territory of an association, does not restrict the player from playing for a team in another association if the requirements are met.