The International Federation of Football Associations allows dual nationalities to change their national teams ... The biggest beneficiaries are "an Arab country"

FIFA has revived the international march of players with dual or multiple nationalities after it decided to allow them to change teams that had previously defended their colors, but with conditions.

During its 70th video conference, the International Federation endorsed the recommendations of the working committee that it formed in September 2019 to amend the laws governing the representation of players for their national teams, at the request of many national federations.

In its new amendments, the International Federation stipulated that the player should not have participated in more than a maximum of 3 matches with the national team with which he started his international career, including qualifying matches to international and continental competitions, before reaching the age of 21, in addition to not participating in an international tournament. Or continental, such as the World Cup or the European Cup.

In its previous regulations, the International Federation did not allow any player to change his national team, in the event that the first team represented in continental qualifying matches, even for one official match.

The new amendments to the International Federation represent a glimmer of hope for many football talents that were frustrated after they were excluded from the ranks of the teams that decided to represent them for the first time, most of them from the old continent, which were pinning great hopes not only on playing with a giant European team, but in order to raise their shares and marketing value. On the Transfer Market.

The rising talent, especially from the South American and African continents, suffers from great pressures when making the decision to represent their original teams or residency, given their young age and great ambitions, as well as pressures from representatives of the clubs they defend their colors and who expose them to blackmail to the point of threatening to lose their positions in the ranks of their clubs.

Morocco and Al-Haddadi are the most prominent beneficiaries

The former Barcelona player, Mounir El Haddadi, who has Moroccan roots, is the most prominent beneficiary of the new amendments, if not he and the Moroccan Federation of the Game, the most prominent advocates of changing the laws because of the case they have fought for since 2018 and rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ("CAS").

El Haddadi was born in Madrid to a Moroccan immigrant father who arrived in Spain when he was eighteen years old.

Al-Haddadi joined Barcelona's age groups in 2011 after playing one season with the Atletico Madrid youth, before making his way to the first team.

Al-Haddadi, 25, played with the first Spanish national team one game in September 2014 when her coach at the time, Vicente Del Bosque, joined him as a substitute in the 79th minute against Macedonia (5-1) in the European Cup 2016 qualifiers, at that time he was at the height of his footballing debut with the first team of the Catalan club. .

The match against Macedonia was the first and last for Al-Haddadi in the colors of the 2010 and European 2008 and 2012 world champions, and coincided with his loss of his place in the Barcelona squad, which he loaned to Valencia (2016-2017) and then Deportivo Alaves (2017-2018).

Al-Haddadi and the Moroccan Federation submitted a request to the International Federation to allow the current Seville player to change his sports nationality and to participate with the "Atlas Lions" in the 2018 World Cup, where he was drawn to face Spain in particular, Portugal, European champion and Iran.

Al-Haddadi's request was rejected by the International Federation on March 13, 2018, and he appealed to the Sports Arbitration Court, which rejected it in turn, noting that the decision issued by FIFA "has been confirmed, and the request to change Mounir Al-Haddadi's sports nationality from Spanish to Moroccan is still rejected."

Al-Haddadi and the Moroccan Federation breathed a sigh of relief by approving the new amendments, which will open the door for him to join the Moroccan national team early next month to play the two international friendly matches against Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on October 9 and 13, to accompany his colleagues in the Andalusian team, goalkeeper Yassin Bounou and striker Youssef Nsiri, who starred with him in Crowning the European League title "Europa League" this summer.

The amendments will also enable Morocco to benefit from other players who have previously defended other teams, most notably Aston Villa striker Anwar Ghazi, who played two matches with the Dutch national team in the European Cup 2016 qualifiers that failed to reach their finals, and the Belgian winger Zakaria El Bakkali, Anderlecht, who in turn played two games. With the Belgian national team (friendly and a match in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers).

Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news