Onuhoa’s potential switch raises questions over allegiance

Highly-rated Manchester City defender Nedum Onuhoa is considering switching his international allegiance from England to Nigeria in a bid to appear at the forthcoming World Cup. Onuhoa has already appeared for England Under-21s however he was born and raised in Africa until the age of seven.

Although Onuhoa has stated that he ‘hasn’t even been called up yet’ to the Nigeria squad, he hasn’t ruled out appearing for them in future as he weighs up his respective international chances with either country. Football’s world governing body, FIFA, instigated eligibility rule changes last year which mean that as long as a player hasn’t appeared for the senior side in a competitive match, excluding friendlies, he is free to choose which country he will represent.

Since the rules’ introduction, there have been numerous instances where players have been faced with the choice of switching international allegiance. In the UK and Ireland alone, players have had a selection of countries that they are eligible for. One of the most complicated recent instances of players attempting to exploit the rule change has occurred north of the border and involved a choice between England and Scotland for 22 year-old Andrew Driver.

Heart of Midlothian midfielder Driver faced a similar dilemma to Onuhoa in so far as they appeared for England Under-21s in the 2009 European Championships and both have been faced with multiple international options. Driver had committed himself to playing for Scotland and was set to make his debut in Craig Levein’s first match in charge, a friendly against the Czech Republic. As it turned out, upon further investigation from the SFA, Driver had only completed four years and eight months schooling in Scotland and not the required minimum of five years as stipulated in FIFA article 16.

The protracted and messy case of Andrew Driver will probably not be the only instance where an attempt to exploit the new rules becomes complicated. In the past there was the ‘grandparents’ rule whereby if a player could prove that one of their grandparents was from a certain country or territory, they would be eligible to play for them. This benefitted Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland side of the nineties however FIFA’s extension of the eligibility criteria only seems to further cloud the nature of international allegiance.

To solve what was once considered an England goal-keeping crisis, it was rumoured that Arsenal stopper Manuel Almunia might be persuaded to fill the number one jersey, simply because he’d lived in the country for five years or more. Such cases seem to make a complete mockery of the notion of nationhood and what it means to represent the land of one’s birth. In reality, this change might benefit the smaller home nations as those considered not quite good enough to represent England might decide they’ll have more fulfilling international careers if they choose Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Certainly, Driver must have weighed up his chances of international selection for England’s senior side and felt he had a better chance of recognition from Scotland, especially playing in the Scottish Premier League – a love of haggis and the Highlands probably didn’t influence his decision. It’s precisely this problem of an international lottery that will irk fans and lead to disharmony amongst a warring contingent of nations.

By William Geldart

April 8, 2010