FIFA World Cup 2018: 10 superstars who will not be playing for their country of birth

#7. Kalidou Koulibaly

Koulibaly was born in France and plays for Senegal

The France team is full of players with roots in Africa and Koulibaly could have easily become one of them. However, in September 2015, he chose to play for Senegal, the country of his parents, despite interest from France Manager, Didier Deschamps, to call him up to the France squad.

Koulibaly, who now has 22 caps for Senegal, played for the France team at the U20 level in 11 games.

Interestingly, after Koulibaly made his debut for Senegal, Deschamps sent scouts to watch him play for Napoli only to discover later that the player was 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."

The Napoli defender is slowly becoming one of the best defenders in the game at the moment and has been strongly linked with moves to multiple Premier League clubs.