French defender Aymeric Laporte, naturalized Spanish on Tuesday, is eligible to wear Spain's jersey with "immediate effect", a Fifa spokesperson told AFP on Friday.
The Manchester City player, 26, is now registered with the Spanish Federation and no longer French after the green light granted by the single judge of the Player's Status Commission, it was specified.
An initiative of Luis Enrique
This means that Laporte "is eligible to play in the representative selections of the RFEF - the Spanish Football Federation - with immediate effect", according to this source. Trained at Athletic Bilbao from 2010 to 2018 before his departure for England, Laporte was called up by Didier Deschamps three times for the France team between 2016 and 2020 but has never played a minute in the blue jersey.
According to specialist media, the initiative for Laporte came from Spain coach Luis Enrique himself.
The technician would have instructed the leaders of the RFEF to approach the player, so that he can participate in the Euro (June 11 - July 11) with Spain.
Luis Enrique must make public his list of 23 to 26 players summoned for the Euro on May 21, but reserves the right to delay the deadline by a few days, according to the press.
The lists must be sent to UEFA before 1 June.
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