players who don't play for their own country | ft. Pepe ,Neven Subotic,L...

Alfredo Di Stefano is among the high profile players to have changed their nationalitiesThe practice of professional footballers changing their nationality (in most cases from their nation of birth) to play international football has been in action for many decades now. For example, the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano played six times for Argentina, his nation of birth, before representing his adopted nation, Spain, 31 times.He was able to play for Spain after he acquired Spanish citizenship even though he had already represented Argentina in official games. But according to current FIFA rules, such a change can happen only if the player has not represented any country in their senior team’s official matches.Another famous example is that of former Barcelona player Deco, who was Brazilian by birth but acquired Portuguese citizenship following six years of stay in the country. Interestingly his first game for Portugal was against Brazil when he came on as a substitute and scored the winner.There are other cases where players represented the country of their origin even though they held the passport of another country and had played for that country’s youth teams. A perfect example is the case of Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic.Honourable Mentions: Marcos Senna (Brazil to Spain) and Marko Marin (Bosnia and Herzegovina to Germany)


Diego Costa ( Brazil Football team to Spain Football team )

Lukas Podolski ( Poland Football team to Germany Football team )

Neven Subotic (USA Football team to Serbia Football team )

Pepe (Brazil Football team to Portugal Football team )

Pepe became a naturalized Portuguese citizen like Deco after being born a Brazilian. At the age of 18, Pepe moved to Portugal to sign with CS Maritimo.

Even before Pepe opted to play for Portugal, he was never called up to represent Brazil in any youth category. However, according to his father, Pepe was contacted by coach Dunga in 2006 about a future call-up, which the player declined as he had already made up his mind up about joining Portugal’s senior side once he became eligible.

Thiago Motta ( Brazil Football team to Italy Football team )

Thiago Motta is yet another Brazilian who changed nationality to play international football after having played for Brazil in the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Although he played for the U-23 side, it was a full international competition and hence the international cap gained was recognized by FIFA. But, he was never actually called up to play for the Brazil senior side.

Jonathan de Guzman ( Canada Football team to Netherlands Football team )

Kevin-Prince Boateng ( Germany Football team to Ghana Football team )

Kevin-Prince Boateng is the half-brother of German international Jerome Boateng. He was born and brought up in Germany and started his professional career with German club Hertha BSC.

Prince-Boateng played for Germany’s youth football teams at the U-19 and U-21 levels, but he was indefinitely dropped from the U-21 squad in 2007 for breaking the team curfew. Later in 2009, he was selected again for the U-21 Football Championships, but he told the German authorities he was no longer interested in representing Germany.

Cacau ( Brazil Football team to Germany Football team )

Claudemir Jeronimo Barreto or commonly known as Cacau, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Although he spent his younger days in Brazil, he was never called up to Brazil’s youth squads.

Later he signed for fifth division German side Turkgucu Munchen, before working his way up the ladder into the Bundesliga with Nurnberg. Cacau’s performance for Nurnberg impressed Bundesliga giants VfB Stuttgart and he signed for them in 2003 and played with Die Roten till 2014.

Miroslav Klose ( Poland Football team to Germany Football team )

Miroslav Klose was born in the Silesian city of Opole, Poland. His father, Josef Klose, was basically a German who remained in Silesia after it was awarded to Poland following World War II.

In 1986, an eight-year-old Miroslav Klose moved to Germany with his family and started his incredible footballing journey with village club SG Blaubach-Diedelkopf, who at the time were in the German seventh division.

Aiden McGeady ( Scotland Football team to Republic of Ireland Football team )

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