By Solomon Wise
October, 2024
Football can bring out someone’s good or bad character, most football players normally possess two passports depending on the football club they are playing and the birth country they are from. In this article, we are going to have a look at which player left their country of birth to play for another country despite being considered as a traitor.
ERLING HAALAND – MANCHESTER CITY
The Manchester City striker as many fans refer to him as the goal machine was born in England (Leeds, West Yorkshire). His father Alfie Haaland played for Leeds United in the Premier League at the time, Erling later moved to Bryne in Norway and started playing football at the age of five in the academy of club Bryne. Despite being born in England Erling chose to play for Norway national team.
JAMAL MUSIALA – BAYERN MUNICH
Jamal’s father is a Nigerian who moved to Germany and married there, Jamal was born in Stuttgart Germany. At the age of seven, they moved to England and joined the Chelsea academy to develop his skills, Jamal was very talented, and even the youth coaches were impressed. Everyone thought he could be one of the best generations of England footballers. Still, in 2021 Jamal decided to play for Germany as his national team which left the England team disappointed but he was just right because he was born in Germany.
BUKAYO SAKA – ARSENAL
Both of Saka’s parents are Nigerians from Yoruba, they migrated to London in the 90s and the right winger was born in 2001. Saka has represented England in the youth levels many times until it was time for him to choose which National team he will be playing for. The Nigerian Football Association wanted Saka to play for them but England also could not let him go that easily so they offered him a place in the National team and Saka chose England over Nigeria.
KYLIAN MBAPPE – REAL MADRID
His father Wilfred Mbappe is from Cameroon and his mother is from Algeria. Born in 1998 Mbappe started his senior career in 2015 with Monaco and right now he is recognized as the best youngest player because of his achievements. Cameroon, Algeria and France wanted Mbappe to play for their Country as the National team but he made up his mind to play for France where he was born after the Cameroon Football Association demanded a high fee for Mbappe to play for the country.
PEPE – RETIRED
Pepe was born in Brazil and moved to Portugal at the age of 18 years for football trials in Maritimo. Pepe fell in love with Portugal and never looked back ever since.
DIEGO COSTA – GREMIO
Costa was born in Brazil but moved to Spain in 2006, he was able to play for the Brazil National team but after an impressive season in Atletico Madrid in 2012 he was called to play for Spain National team the following year for friendlies. Costa was granted Spain citizenship in 2013 and decided to play for the Spain National team which made the then Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari very furious and removed him from his selected team. Costa received death threats from Brazilian locals from the decision he made to play for Spain.
JACK GREALISH – MANCHESTER CITY
Jack was born and raised in Birmingham but moved to Republic of Ireland through his grandparents, he played for Ireland throughout his youthful career before declining a senior call-up to represent the National team. Jack always wanted to play for England and opted to move back to England he helped England U-21 win in 2016 and later he was called for a senior place in the squad which he accepted.
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Solomon Wise is a videographer with over 7 years of experience. When not writing on Respbet he works for various projects in graphics design and videography