Mo Farah backs Wilshere on National Eligibility comments

Mo Farah

Mo Farah, an overzealous Arsenal fan, has joined Jack Wilshere in opposing the practice of sportsmen switching nationality to compete under a flag of convenience.

Wilshere had recently provoked a debate by quoting,”the only people who should play for England are English people”.

According to the Mirror, his comments followed the disclosure that Belgium-born Manchester United teenager Adnan Januzaj could play for England from 2018 under Fifa’s five-year residency requirement as he has yet to commit to another country.

The Arsenal midfielder later tweeted and clarified his remarks. He tweeted that he disagreed with footballers “going to a new country when u r an adult, & because u can get a passport u play 4 that national team”.

After his tweets, England’s South-African born star batsman Kevin Pietersen angrily challenged him as of whether he considered Mo Farah and him as “foreigners”?

Mo Farah, who was born in Somalia but has been living in Britain since the age of eight, finally broke silence on the matter yesterday and said, “I think in my situation, it’s completely different because I grew up in Britain and have done everything here.

“When I run for my country, I’m very proud to run for my country.”

He also told that it does annoy him when adult athletes change the country whom they represent.

“There’s people out there who switch nationality,” said Farah.

“There’s Kenyan guys who last year or two years ago were running for Kenya and then they switched to Qatar and Bahrain and other countries.

“Yes I do have a problem with that.”