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France won their second World Cup in Russia after an entertaining 4-2 win over Croatia in the final. After their triumph, there has been a lot of discussion on the number of players of African origin in the France squad.
Most of the players in the France squad were born in the country. The two exceptions are Steve Mandanda and Samuel Umtiti who were born in Zaire and Cameroon respectively. However, both players moved to France at a young age and opted to play for France.
Then there are also cases like that of Paul Pogba. The Manchester United man was born in France but is of Guinean origin and his two brothers, Mathias and Florentin, play for the Guinean national team.
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There were several players at the World Cup who were born in France but chose to represent a different country. In most cases, their country of origin. So, here are five renowned stars who could have played for France, but didn’t.
#5 Medhi Benatia (Morocco)
The Juventus man was born in France and even represented the country at the U18 level before switching his allegiance to Morocco, the country of his father.
At that time, Benatia was playing in the second tier of French football despite graduating from the Marseille academy and a career at the top echelons of European football was difficult to fathom.
In 2008, he went on to play for Morocco at the senior level but his club career only gathered pace in 2010 following his move to Udinese.
He has since gone on to play for Roma, Bayern Munich and Juventus, winning several team and individual accolades along the way. In fact, he is now considered one of the best central defenders in Serie A.
For Morocco, he has played 55 times, including at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He scored in a 2-0 win over Ivory Coast in the qualifying phase of the World Cup and the result ensured Morocco's participation in Russia.
Interestingly, Benatia was also eligible to play for Algeria as his mother is an Algerian.
#4 Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal)
Portugal’s Raphael Guerreiro was born in France to a Portuguese father and a French mother. He spent the entirety of his formative years playing in France before making his professional debut for Caen.
In 2013, he moved from Ligue 2 to Ligue 1 with Lorient and in the same year, he made his debut for the Portugal U21 team. A year later, he would make his senior debut for Portugal although he had language barriers.
His debut for Portugal was against Armenia and during the same international break, he would score the last minute winner against Argentina in a 1-0 win.
The Borussia Dortmund man was part of their Euro 2016 winning squad before going on to represent them at the Confederations Cup and the World Cup. The 24-year-old has so far played 28 times in Portugal colours.
Although Guerreiro was born in France, he is an ardent supporter of SL Benfica.
Guerriero's international teammate, Anthony Lopes, who is Olympique Lyon’s goalkeeper, was also born in France but plays for Portugal where his parents were born.
#3 Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia)
Khazri is definitely not as famous as the other players on this list, nor does he play for a club in the Champions League. However, the former Sunderland man enjoyed a good World Cup despite Tunisia’s failure to get past the group stage.
The 27-year-old is a native of Ajaccio and started his professional career with Bastia before going on to play for Bordeaux, Sunderland and Rennes.
In 2009, he represented Tunisia at the U20 level before playing for the France U21 team in 2012. He only played once for both sides.
In 2013, he switched his international allegiance once again by opting to play for Tunisia’s senior team. His record for Tunisia is impressive as he has scored 14 times in 38 games.
At the World Cup, he played all three games for the African nation, registering two goals and two assists. He scored and assisted a goal against Belgium in their 5-2 defeat and repeated the feat in their 2-1 win over Panama. The win against Panama was Tunisia’s first in the World Cup since 1978.
#2 Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal)
If Koulibaly did not choose to represent Senegal, then there is no doubt that he would have played for France at the World Cup.
In 2015, he chose to play for Senegal despite interest from France manager Didier Deschamps to call up the player to the French team.
The 27-year-old who has played 28 times for Senegal including at the World Cup, also represented France at the U20 level in 11 games.
Interestingly, after he made his debut for Senegal, Deschamps sent scouts to watch the player in action without realising that he is no longer eligible to play for France.
"I heard that a member of the French national team’s scouting team came to watch Napoli against Empoli recently but I thought it was for [Empoli’s Vincent] Laurini who is also French.
"When I arrived at Napoli, I knew that there would be an opening. I waited for a long time for my chance [with France] and I decided to play for Senegal. It was a choice from the heart and I’ve no regrets."
#1 Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina)
Gonzalo Higuain’s father was playing for French side Stade Brestois 29 at the time of his birth. However, he moved to Argentina when he was 10-years-old and continued his footballing education there with River Plate.
In 2006, then France manager, Raymond Domenech, included the player in the France senior squad but Higuain’s father informed Domenech that the player was not ready to choose which country he wanted to play for. This was true as Higuain also rejected a call-up to the Argentina senior team around the same time.
Eventually, he opted to play for Argentina and in the process became only the third foreign-born player to represent Albiceleste.
He has gone on to play 75 games for Argentina and scored 31 goals which makes him the country’s sixth highest goalscorer of all-time and the third among active players behind Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.
