They weren’t born there: How naturalization affects the rules of the 2026 World Cup
The 2026 World Cup promises to be not only a tournament where records will be broken in terms of the number of participants, but also a true laboratory for football globalization. Applications from national teams are becoming less based on where they were born, and more on their passport numbers. Players receive their pass after years of playing in European tournaments.
The most illustrative example is the team from Curaçao, a team that is making its debut in the World Cup. Under the leadership of Dick Advocaat, 25 football players will participate in the tournament. Only one of them was born in the former Dutch colony. The rest are Dutch nationals who have changed their national citizenship. Advocaat, who knows the local school system well, chose players who have proven themselves over time. For these players, Curaçao becomes a real opportunity to play in the world’s most important tournament.
However, the island team is just part of a larger trend. According to analytics, most of the players who don’t represent their country of birth are French nationals. 75 out of 289 players were born in France, but they chose to play for other national teams. Paradoxically, the “three-color” team uses only three naturalized players, preferring to rely on players from its own academy.
Social media has already reacted to this trend. Huus Tille, who represents the Netherlands, was born in Zambia. Erling Holand (Norway) and Michael Olise (France) are both English nationals by birth. Valdemar Anton, a central defender for Germany, was born in Uzbekistan. These facts confirm that modern football identity has long gone beyond geographical and ethnic boundaries.
FIFA continues to adjust the rules regarding changes of national citizenship, trying to balance integration with protection of national traditions. But the trend towards globalization is irreversible. Club football has mixed cultures for decades, and now national teams are reaping the benefits of this policy. For fans, this is a reminder of what determines a person’s nationality today: where they were born, their bloodline, or their choice made on the field? The 2026 World Cup will give us an answer. But one thing is already clear: football has become a game without boundaries.