Eligibility Rules, Okay

[geysir]

Clearly he is leading everybody on until such a time as he can realise his dream of playing for Northern Ireland.

That means we can pinch him at the 11th hour.

[Charlie Darwin]

That means we can pinch him at the 11th hour.

The FAI have already despatched Don Givens to slap him in the face and question his commitment.

[geysir]

He's Albanian,
give him 2 slaps.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Clearly he is leading everybody on until such a time as he can realise his dream of playing for Northern Ireland.

Well they'll take anyone...
#Hypocrisy

[Newryrep]

Very much agreed, but this residency clause remains a threat to smaller countries and their respective Diaspora as has been cited many times before.

is not and never will be eligible* according to

http://sport.stv.tv/football/interna...y-for-england/


'home' nations opted out of the residency clause apparently, only their education clause is valid (5 years before 18)

* unless they rip up their gentlemans agreement

Still not the first FA to not have a clue about eligibility

[Stuttgart88]

Arteta was never eligible. He had played underage for Spain, which in itself didn't count for anything, but rule 18.1 subsection a (as was in place at the time) said that at the time he played underage for Spain he'd needed to have been eligible for England too. But he only "qualified" for England years later, through residency.

If that young United fella has played underage for anyone I expect that would apply to him too.

I think the article numbers have changed but the rules have stayed the same. Danny?

[geysir]

Arteta was never eligible. He had played underage for Spain, which in itself didn't count for anything, but rule 18.1 subsection a (as was in place at the time) said that at the time he played underage for Spain he'd needed to have been eligible for England too. But he only "qualified" for England years later, through residency.

If that young United fella has played underage for anyone I expect that would apply to him too.

I think the article numbers have changed but the rules have stayed the same. Danny?

The article is nr 6 for single nationality - multi association eligibility, but the UK associations have made their own version (the UK agreement) and dropped the residency path to eligibility, almost completely.
You don't see that in the FIFA statutes but the UK agreement is legal tender. It's virtually impossible for a player with no UK bloodline connection, to be eligible to play for any of the UK teams. If this agreement was not in place, the UK associations would be acting like savages, kidnapping, grabbing, tapping up any UK born player who just happened to reside in their part of the kingdom.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Its just the attitude of some English commentators that bugs me, like Januzaj couldn't possibly turn down the chance to play for England. There should be more time spent by such people finding out what the player might actually want.

[Stuttgart88]

Even if he was a complete mercenary with no connection with any country, you'd think Belgium would be the more rational choice. Obviously he's not a mercenary and he's not eligible for England anyway, but just saying...

[ArdeeBhoy]

So we're saying, eg.England, can never claim a player on residency grounds?
Fair enough (& morally right IMO), but could Cudicini not have been called up at one time?

[NeverFeltBetter]

Even if he was a complete mercenary with no connection with any country, you'd think Belgium would be the more rational choice. Obviously he's not a mercenary and he's not eligible for England anyway, but just saying...

He's a good player. I hope his sympathies bring him to Belgium for just that reason, since he'll be an international non-entity with the other crowd.

And let's not even talk about Albania.

[geysir]

Everywhere around Europe, there will be people throwing a pair of football boots up onto overhead electricity lines, in support of Albania and Januzaj.

[Charlie Darwin]

Is the home nations agreement published, geysir?

[bwagner]

Is Stuart O'Keefe any links to us does anybody know?
I watched Shane O'Neill yesterday for Colorado , decent shift

[geysir]

Is the home nations agreement published, geysir?

It's not in any obvious place.

This is the orig agreement from 1993
UK Agreement

The last part
'A player who holds a current British passport but whose natural parents and natural grandparents were born outside the United Kingdom is eligible to play for the home country of his choice'
applied to Channel Islanders etc. However, I think in theory, under that wording, a foreign born player could get a UK passport after 5 years UK residency and declare for one of the Associations. But at some stage after 2003, the 4 association got together to fine tune that part of the agreement, to rule out the possibility of gaining eligibility though acquiring a UK passport. At least matters were clarified by 2008 when there were calls for Nacho Nova for Scotland and Arteta for England,

[DannyInvincible]

Arteta was never eligible. He had played underage for Spain, which in itself didn't count for anything, but rule 18.1 subsection a (as was in place at the time) said that at the time he played underage for Spain he'd needed to have been eligible for England too. But he only "qualified" for England years later, through residency.

If that young United fella has played underage for anyone I expect that would apply to him too.

As far as I can tell, Januzaj hasn't represented any international team at any level as of yet, neither competitively nor in friendly. Irrespective of that, however, it appears he'll never be eligible to play for England unless he can fulfill an internal British associations requirement for five years of education in the UK country for whom he wishes to play. Satisfying such a requirement is extremely unlikely at this point of his career.

I'm thinking that even had Arteta not lined out competitively for Spain at under-age level before later acquiring British citizenship (not sure if official acquisition was ever confirmed, but that's besides the point), he'd still have been ineligible to play for England as he hadn't fulfilled five years of education in the country.

STV's Grant Russell wrote the following on the Januzaj matter: http://sport.stv.tv/football/242115-...y-for-england/

However under the terms of an agreement between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Football Association have no hope of capping Januzaj should the opportunity present itself in 2018.

The "home nations" voluntarily agreed to opt out of the residency rule in 1993. FIFA's statutes state that "associations sharing a common nationality", as is the case with the four nations, can make an agreement to remove the residency clause. Said agreement exists between the four associations.

As an alternative, the four nations can make a claim to naturalise a player if he received a minimum of five years education on the association's "territory" before his 18th birthday.

The rule allows Andrew Driver, born in England, to represent Scotland. It was first successfully used by former St Mirren man Andy Dorman, also born in England but who has now gone on to represent Wales.

Januzaj hasn't received the required length of education in England, having spent just two years in the country, and the rule does not apply to him.

All said, he could acquire British nationality and the Football Association could attempt to make a case to claim him. It would require a major change to an agreement which the home nations have chosen to stick to previously, despite the prospects being raised of Manuel Almunia playing for England, or Nacho Novo for Scotland.

In any case Januzaj, aged 18 and seemingly on an upward curve, will likely be playing international football for one of the many nations he is currently eligible for before England are anywhere near able to present a case in March 2018.

Not that there has been any suggestion from the player himself that he'd even consider playing for England anyway. I suspect such fanciful talk is more indicative of English arrogance than anything else.

I've sent Grant Russell a tweet in the hope he might be able to direct me towards a publication specifically or officially documenting the internal agreement between the British associations.

I think the article numbers have changed but the rules have stayed the same. Danny?

That's correct. The latest revisions to FIFA's Statutes and Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes came into force on the 31st of July this year, although the regulations governing eligibility to play for representative teams did not change. They've been numbered 5 to 8 in the last three publications since August of 2011, as opposed to 15 to 18 in the 2010 edition and publications prior. They can be found on page 63 of the 2013 edition here: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/AFFe..._E_Neutral.pdf

[ArdeeBhoy]

Just clarifying, that Arteta/Cudicini could never have been called up either, on the basis of this '93 opt-out.

[geysir]

Just clarifying, that Arteta/Cudicini could never have been called up either, on the basis of this '93 opt-out.

There's nothing in that 1993 agreement that definitively rules out the right of a player with an acquired British nationality, being eligible and declaring for any of the 4 associations.
At some stage after 1993, the 4 associations had to meet and agree on an interpretation that ruled out foreign players who could acquire British nationality through residency.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Ah, fair enough.

Anyway, anyone care to put even The Guarniad out of their misery...
http://www.theguardian.com/football/...zaj?CMP=twt_gu

[Fixer82]

I hope the kid lines out for Albania if that's where his heart is and not Belgium because it will give him more chance of playing major tournaments.