What if Lionel Messi would have played for Spain or Zinedine Zidane for Algeria or Mesut Ozil for Turkey? Would they be able to earn the same amount of glory like they have earned by now? The question will forever be remaining unanswered.
In the past, we have seen many such incidents when legendary footballers represented more than one country. Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Juan Alberto Schiaffino, the list pretty long and in most of the cases, the reason has not always been the hunger for glory.
Not long ago, the curious case of Adnan Januzaj shook the world of sports media. Januzaj could have represented Belgium, Albania, Kosovo, Turkey or England, having his past and present associated with all the 5 countries in some way or another. Keeping 5 countries interested at the same time, Januzaj eventually decided to represent his birth land Belgium.
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Today we look at such 5 current football stars who could have represented 3 countries in international football but eventually chose to stick to just one nationality.
1) Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Imagine a Sweden team without Zlatan. Can you? Neither can us. Well not until that day when Zlatan finally decided to hang up his boots. Although in reality, this entire story could have been different altogether and Sweden would have to find a different successor for Henrik Larsson.
Šefik Ibrahimovic, Zlatan’s father was from Bosnia and his mother Jurka Gravic was from Croatia. So Zlatan was eligible to play for either of these two countries but instead he chose Sweden where he was actually born.
Zlatan’s parents parted ways when he was just 2 years old and have had a very troubled childhood. That was the most important reason of all why he didn’t choose to represent either of his parent’s homelands.
Though he did exceedingly well and made a legend of himself in Swedish colours, it is least to say that with current the Croatian team, he would have done even better.
2) Thiago Alcantara
According to Pep Guardiola, Thiago Alcantara is a very underrated wonder kid. The current Bayern Munich and Spanish international star spent 4 seasons at the Camp Nou but he was mostly overlooked at the star-studded team. So when his former manager took the job with the Bavarians, he made a priority transfer of Thiago to the Allianz Arena.
Thiago’s father Mazinho was a Seleção star during 1989-1994 and his mother Valeria Alcantara was also from Brazil. Thiago was born in Italy while his father was playing for Lecce. He moved to Spain when he was only 5 years old but returned to Brazil again in 2001 to join his boyhood club Flamengo. He then permanently moved to Spain in 2005 and signed for Barcelona and represented Spain in the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.
Technically he was eligible to represent Brazil and Italy but instead he chose Spain where he believed to have he could develop into a complete footballer.
3) David Alaba
The dynamic Austrian wingback is the new face of an attacking defence line. A regular starter and a star performer of the Bavarian giants, Alaba got his place into our list sheerly out of curiosity.
Alaba’s father George Alaba is from Nigeria and is a passionate musician. He first worked as a DJ before an international audience in the African Club but the initial lack of success brought him to Austria in the mid-90s and he was granted Austrian citizenship. He also became the first dark-skinned served Guard soldier here and later his passion turned him into a successful Popstar.
Gina Alaba, David Alaba’s mother is from the Philippines. This qualified David to represent any of the three countries. The Super Eagles have approached him several times over the years but Alaba was rigid in his stand. He believed his homeland is Austria and it is only fair to represent the Austrian flag over any genetic or colour diversity.
4) Patrice Evra
The veteran French full-back has left a wonderful legacy in his club as well as international career. Just like his club career spanned around three different countries, his international career could have also been a similar story.
Evra was born in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. His father was of Guinean descent and a diplomat by profession, while Evra’s mother Juliette Evra was from Cape Verde.
The Juventus defender’s family moved to Brussels in Belgium when he was only a year old as his father used to work at the Senegalese embassy there. After over two years living in Belgium, the family moved to France and settled in Les Ulis, a commune south of Paris.
Since then he has developed his taste for football and made sure of his priority to represent the French national colours. Ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Evra revealed that he had suffered racial abuse from supporters of the Senegal national team for choosing to represent France internationally over his country of birth. The situation might have been the same if he would have faced the Cape Verdean football team.
5) Shkodran Mustafi
The first goal scorer of Germany’s 2016 European Championship run was Shkodran Mustafi. The Valencia centre-back has earned his name from the early age for his powerful tackling and brilliant positioning sense in the opponent’s 18 yards box.
Although Mustafi was born in Germany, his parents Kujtim Mustafi and Fatime Mustafi are Albanian. That’s not the end of story. The family were originally from Macedonia. Hence Shkodran was eligible to play for either of these three countries.
It is a legitimate choice that Mustafi made to represent his birth land which might eventually earn him a fairly good international career but what isn’t sure is that he might have to face abuses from the fans of his parent’s land because of the choice he made. For now, Mustafi can enjoy playing for the World Champions and who would want to give up on that?
