7 Foreign Born Players at the 2018 World Cup

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It’s no secret that plenty of footballers don’t represent the nation of their birth.

For example, when Wales reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016, nine of their players were born across the border in England, meanwhile Portuguese legend Eusebio was born in Mozambique and even the World Cup’s all time leading scorer Miroslav Klose, famed for his goal scoring heroics with Germany, was in fact born in Poland.

There are then a huge number of players at the 2018 World Cup not representing their native countries, but we’ve whittled it down to a random list of seven high-profile, interesting or notable inclusions.

Here are 7 foreign-born players at the 2018 World Cup

7. Ivan Rakitic – Switzerland

Both Ivan Rakitic’s native country of Switzerland and his national team of Croatia got off to good starts in the World Cup, as Switzerland drew with Brazil and Croatia beat Nigeria. Rakitic was born in Switzerland to a Croatian family, and lived there until the age of 19 when he moved to Germany. The Barcelona midfielder represented Switzerland at three different youth levels, right up to the U21’s, before switching his allegiance to Croatia in 2007. Now aged 30, Rakitic has won 90 caps for the Croatian national team, and is one of the teams star players.

6. Fernando Muslera – Argentina

Uruguay’s goalkeeper Fernando Muslera runs with the ball during the Russia 2018 World Cup Group A football match between Egypt and Uruguay at the Ekaterinburg Arena in Ekaterinburg on June…

A good while back, I did a video on the seven cities producing the best footballers right now (I know, that sounds interesting right, you should probably watch it after this….), anyhow, when talking about the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, I got a lot of angry responses for saying Fernando Muslera was born there, since he is Uruguay’s number one. Well, I wasn’t lying, but it appears to be a little-known fact. The talented Galatasaray shot stopper moved to Uruguay at a young age, and he will reach a century of caps for the country at this World Cup.

5. 17 of Morocco’s Squad – All Over the Place

When I said in the introduction that there were a lot of foreign-born players at the 2018 World Cup, I wasn’t kidding, and no other country comes close to Morocco on that front. Just six of their 23 man squad were actually born in the country they represent, with Morocco having had a targeted plan of snapping up French and Dutch born players with Moroccan ancestry. Their star men like Medhi Benatia, Hakim Ziyech and Nordin Amrabat were all born outside of Morocco. Morocco appeared to have assembled a gifted group of players, but they lost 1-0 in their opening game of the finals to Iran.

4. Gonzalo Higuain – France

Gonzalo Higuain of Argentina looks on during a training session at Training site at Stadium of Syroyezhkin Sports School on June 12, 2018 in Bronnitsy, Russia.

France have a vast array of attacking options from Antoine Griezmann to Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, but they could have added Gonzalo Higuain into to that equation. The 30-year-old Juventus hitman was born in Brest in France as his Argentine father was playing for Brest at the time. Higuain and his family left France when Gonzalo was only ten months old, returning to Argentina. Despite this, Higuain did initially reject call-ups from both France and Argentina, stating that he was unsure which nation he wanted to represent. In the end he went for Argentina, with whom he has won 70 caps and scored 31 goals.

3. Raheem Sterling – Jamaica

One of England’s key men in Russia, Raheem Sterling is the only foreign-born player in Gareth Southgate’s 23 man squad. The Manchester City star was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to Wembley in London at the age of five. The quick and tricky wide man began his career at Queens Park Rangers, before being snapped up by Liverpool and more recently Manchester City, where he was brilliant last season.

2. Diego Costa – Brazil

Spain striker Diego Costa shoots to score the first Spain goal despite the attentions of Jose Fonte during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group B match between Portugal and Spain at Fisht…

A well-known but notable one since Diego Costa was born in a top footballing nation in the form of Brazil and won 2 caps for his country, before switching allegiances to another top footballing nation in the form of Spain. A powerful, robust and often feisty centre-forward, Costa is a real handful on his day, and he put Portugal to the sword in Spain’s first group game. The former Chelsea striker became incredibly unpopular in Brazil when he made the decision to apply to FIFA about playing for Spain. After a torrid 2014 World Cup, Costa has scored 9 goals from 21 caps for the Spanish national team.

1. Thiago Alcantara – Italy

Another foreign-born player in the Spanish national team, and one that we suspect may be a little less well-known, is that of Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara. The wonderfully gifted former Barcelona man was born on the south-east coast of Italy, since his father, who was a Brazilian international, was playing in Italy at the time. Young Thiago moved to Spain at the age of five, again due to his fathers career, and it was there that he remained until his move to Bayern in 2013. Thiago represented Spain right from under-16 level, so there were never any disputes about which national team he’s represent, and he has won 28 caps to date.