FIFA rules allow a player to change the nation he represents for a number of reasons.
To do this, players must be eligible for playing for the nation to which they switch.
There are five different sets of circumstances in which a player is eligible to change nations.
A new rule introduced in 2021 allowed players who had played up to three senior international ceilings before the age of 21 to change countries.
Previously, the rule indicated that players could not change nations once they had won a senior ceiling in a competitive match.
The midfielder of England Declan Rice benefited from this rule during the passage of the Republic of Ireland.
Rice won three senior ceilings for the Republic, which all came to international friendly matches, before choosing to play for England in 2019.
Former Chelsea striker Diego Costa also exchanged nations in Spain in 2014, after playing for Brazil in two friendly games in 2013.
Among the last players to change nationalities are two goalkeepers at the high -level African nations before a season which includes the 2025 African Cup of Nations and the 2026 World Cup.
Panathinaikos’ goalkeeper Alban Lafont, who appeared in the French team in September 2022, went to Côte d’Ivoire earlier this month.
The caretaker of Granada Luca Zidane, son of the Ballon d’Or Zinedine Zidane, went to the representation of Algeria, having represented the sides of the young people of France 30 times between 2014 and 2018.
