Representing your national team in a major football competition is the dream of every serious football player. However, now when the lines between nationalities are a bit blurred, we are getting more and more cases with footballers with dual citizenship.
Some of them have been born to parents who fled their home country and never saw the homeland, while others decided to switch allegiances due to the lack of opportunities within their own national side.
Unfortunately, we cannot count any Surinam-born players as most of them represented the national football team of the Netherlands due to Surinam introducing sports passports only in 2019. Nevertheless, here are some contemporary examples of players who represented multiple national football teams.
Declan Rice (Republic of Ireland – England)
We start things off with a very controversial example, which is that of Declan Rice. The former West Ham United captain was seen as the poster child for Irish football, as he represented the Boys in Green at youth levels. However, as many Irish-born players have done in the past, he saw an opportunity to play for England rather than his home country.
Rice became one of the fulcrums of both Arsenal and the national football team of England. He basically holds their entire midfield together and has become one of the most important players in Gareth Southgate’s squad. He has received a lot of backlash from the Irish fans. It is safe to say that they will never forgive him for his treachery.
Brahim Díaz (Spain – Morocco)
The current Real Madrid striker is the latest inclusion to the players that switched national teams. Brahim Diaz emerged from the Man City academy. He later went on to successfully play for AC Milan and now Real Madrid.
Under Ancelotti, he became one of the more reliable attackers in the squad. Thanks to the departure of Karim Benzema he has been given a lot more room to operate and provide a lot more finishes.
Diaz already had a cap for Spain and even scored on his debut against Lithuania. However, due to the enormous competition seen on the Spanish national side, Diaz decided that it was better for him to represent the country of his father. He made his debut for the Atlas Lions in 2024 in a 1-0 win against Algeria.
Steven Caulker (England – Sierra Leone)
Here is a blast from the past. Do some of you remember the name of Steven Caulker? He was a standout Spurs player back in the day. Caulker made a lot of promises but eventually failed to produce. He had his career resurgence with the Queens Park Rangers. But he failed to obscurity after moving to Turkey and appearing for Alanyaspor and Gaziantep.
He represented the Three Lions in multiple national football league teams levels and even made the Great Britain Olympic squad in 2012. Interestingly enough, he even made a single appearance for the English senior squad, scoring on his debut against Sweden.
However, Caulker decided to switch allegiances at 32 years of age and play for Sierra Leone. He even captained the side at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Caulker played in all three games of the competition.
Florent Malouda (France – French Guiana)
You rarely see the case of a multi-capped French star going back to his roots. But if Michel Platini was able to play for Kuwait, why wouldn’t Florent Malouda play for French Guiana? After making 80 appearances for Les Bleus and being absent for five years from the national team, Malouda became eligible to switch allegiances.
However, he could only do it in non-FIFA association tournaments. He made his debut in a friendly game against Barbados and later received a call-up for the forthcoming Gold Cup. Malouda actually started the Gold Cup match against Honduras. But being that it was a game played under the guise of CONCACAF, French Guiana were forced to forfeit their result.
