Whether France wins this year's World Cup or not, it has already taken first place in at least one face of the global soccer showdown. France has more of its homegrown players competing for other nations than any other country.

At the 2014 World Cup, there were 25 French-born players representing other countries — 16 alone for Algeria. That's not only enough to field another full team for France, but also five more players than are actually on the French team, Les Bleus, in Brazil.

France's generosity is largely thanks to a rule change by FIFA, soccer's governing body. In 2010, FIFA loosened the rules about player nationality. Now, players who have appeared for a country's youth team, or have only played in exhibition matches, may apply for a one-time switch to another country. "That's a big difference, says Laurent Dubois, a Duke professor and commentator on world soccer. "The generation before had to make up their minds when they were 15 or something."

Before the rule change, debates about race and identity in soccer were largely academic — players could either play or not play for their country, or wait to go through an often-lengthy citizenship process in an adopted country. But since 2010, players have been able to switch their allegiances. And nowhere have players done so more readily than in France. This map shows where they have gone:



France is becoming an ever-more-multiethnic society, sparking sometimes-violent arguments on the role of race and religion in almost every facet of French society. Soccer is no exception. French fans endlessly note and debate over players who do not sing the national anthem. Star striker Karim Benzema, who has scored three times for France at this World Cup, told So Foot magazine in 2011 that, "Basically, if I score, I'm French. And if I don't score or there are problems, I'm Arab."

The French Football Federation even once discussed limiting the number of places for minority players in the country's famous youth training system. Players as young as 12 would have been passed over to make room for more white players.

The proposed quotas sparked an uproar in France, but also led Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who was born in France to Cameroonian parents, to tell the Guardian that "the country does not want us to be part of this new France." Assou-Ekotto chose to play international soccer for Cameroon.

"I have no feeling for the France national team; it just doesn't exist," he said. He contrasted his alienation from French society to the feelings of his black English teammates at Tottenham Hostpur, the Premier League club where he played for years.

"When people ask of my generation in France, 'Where are you from?', they will reply Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon or wherever. But what has amazed me in England is that, when I ask the same question of people like Lennon and Defoe, they'll say, 'I'm English.'"

Assou-Ekotto is known for being particularly outspoken — he was recently sanctioned for his stand on another racially-charged topic, the "quenelle" gesture. Most other players have less to say on issues of identity.

French fan El Yamine Soum thinks that says a lot about their priorities. Soum was born in Algeria, but has lived in Paris since the age of two. He follows both national teams but makes particularly sure to stay up to date with France. "I always follow them."
He says his fandom was sparked after France's 1998 World Cup victory starring Zinedine Zidane, the soccer legend born to Algerian parents in Marseilles. "It was interesting to see, symbolically, a Franco-Algerian winning the World Cup. So, for me, it's something important."

Soum thinks nationality is secondary for most minority players in France. He believe they make their decisions mostly because they want to compete in big tournaments, not because of conflicting identities. And, he says, French soccer fans understand those choices.

"Today, football is a market," he concedes. "Imagine, for people like Bentaleb, they are young, 20 years old, and they can play a World Cup."

He means Nabil Bentaleb, the young midfielder who, like many Franco-Algerians, played for France's youth teams. But after an unexpected breakout season at Tottenham, he decided to represent Algeria. Just months after his first Premier League start, he also started all three World Cup games for his adopted country.

Source: http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-06-30/frances-cosmopolitan-society-shines-world-cup-other-countries-too

Interesting, right?

France doesn't seem inspire the devotion of it's professional football players.

Nice thread

EnlightenedSoul: Interesting, right?

France doesn't seem inspire the devotion of it's professional football players.

i think it has more to do with individual players and their capacity,bentalab mention for example if he has chosen to play for france am 100% sure he wont hav played all the france world cup matches he wont even make d 23 list sef i guess dats why he chose to play for algeria where he will get more playing time.players like benzema and zidane are from algerian origin but dey are exceptional and will surely start if dey play for france i guess dats why dey chose france over algeria cos dey will hav playing time and can win trophies with france unlike with algeria.my opinion

ninja4life: i think it has more to do with individual players and their capacity,bentalab mention for example if he has chosen to play for france am 100% sure he wont hav played all the france world cup matches he wont even make d 23 list sef i guess dats why he chose to play for algeria where he will get more playing time.players like benzema and zidane are from algerian origin but dey are exceptional and will surely start if dey play for france i guess dats why dey chose france over algeria cos dey will hav playing time and can win trophies with france unlike with algeria.my opinion

I can see that.

I can agree with your opinion, but I also feel they have secondary reasons for deserting France.

EnlightenedSoul:

I can see that.

I can agree with your opinion, but I also feel they have secondary reasons for deserting France.

u maybe right sha

Who wants to play for a country where you are not accepted, most Africans playing from France are from countries with weak teams, then you have the antillais.....

CAMNEWTON4PRES: Who wants to play for a country where you are not accepted, most Africans playing from France are from countries with weak teams, then you have the antillais.....

I just thought it was interesting. I've seen Africans rep other Western countries happily enough. French racism must be something else.

Have you been?

If you watch a France game, you will notice that they do not even sing the national anthem even if they were born and raised in France,
+ that racist coach and his so called theory about black not using technique and understanding tactics ..Laurent blanc WTF
Anyway France is being colonized, and did I hear a "nique la France ".

EnlightenedSoul:

I just thought it was interesting. I've seen Africans rep other Western countries happily enough. French racism must be something else.

Have you been?

Yeah ...

France are the biggest cowards and racists on earth, with their assimilation policies or pseudo anti communautarisme ...they project you an image of what is France supposed to be yet won't let you access it..they do everything to frustrate the Africans living there...now they created a new terminology ..francais de souche ...lmfaom

CAMNEWTON4PRES:
Yeah ...

France are the biggest cowards and racists on earth, with their assimilation policies or pseudo anti communautarisme ...they project you an image of what is France supposed to be yet won't let you access it..they do everything to frustrate the Africans living there...now they created a new terminology ..francais de souche ...lmfaom

That's too bad
I'd like to visit and see it for myself some day. My mom was born and grew up there, but she hasn't had any crazy stories to tell us. It appears things have gotten worse. Perhaps immigration issues and etc?

Things are not getting worst...the Africans they did not integrate are now banging @the socio economic door, they want their part of the cake, and they are no longer cowards/sucking it up, the later is what shock white the most .. like I said the sooner they accept France is a multi ethnic country ,the better for them, they used to think most Africans going there do it out of love or because they want to emulate them, imagine the idiots harassing people in the streets and buses because of their skin color, their ID being checked over and over again ..me I dye watch

I wanted Algeria to beat Germany and beat France only for the riots it would have cause all over the country

France for Africans

Karim Benzema" if am scoring and playing well am a French man bur wen am under performing am an Arab"

[url][/url]http://api.ning.com/files/wdDZeipuIRydeFO-o32jfjGVFK5H7DEvHdNew3CRBmmFjYGmg-B1KXAU-R3CYL3tDZJSc67U*jacIZY9Fc*dCLMOOySBoVMA/circleloadinganimation.gif

[img]http://cs4.pikabu.ru/images/big_size_comm_an/2015-02_2/14232238373499.gif[/img]


[img]http://media./media/y0gE05sedxfC8/giphy.gif[/img]

onyeomaonyeoma: Karim Benzema" if am scoring and playing well am a French man bur wen am under performing am an Arab"

Yeah the French look down on the West Africans and North Africans that live there. Majority of Africans living in France are from those two regions.

I know it's a bit late but WE WON

Come at us brah!

And there were 5 German-American players in the US team. What can I say, Germans bring excellence everywhere

ArtanK: And there were 5 German-American players in the US team. What can I say, Germans bring excellence everywhere

Lol stop bragging! I gotta say I was impressed with Holland too.

Yh, NL was hacked. Something like six months of data was lost, and it reset everyone's account to January. Your account might've actually undeactivated.

EnlightenedSoul:

Lol stop bragging! I gotta say I was impressed with Holland too.

Yh, NL crashed. Something like six months of data was lost, and it reset everyone's account to January. Your account might've actually undeactivated.

The Dutch always disappoint in the later stages, they went all the way to the final and lost it four years ago but I hear people ditched American football went world cup mad in your country which is good.

So the hackers only wanted to delete NL history that's weird and no wonder why my account is still active, I noticed after I made this one but I can't recover it. I changed the password to gibberish then deactivated it plus I can't recover the email I signed up with either. Did all of that so I wouldn't sign in and waste time lol. Life of a procrastinator

ArtanK:

The Dutch always disappoint in the later stages, they went all the way to the final and lost it four years ago but I hear people ditched American football went world cup mad in your country which is good.

So the hackers only wanted to delete NL history that's weird and no wonder why my account is still active, I noticed after I made this one but I can't recover it. I changed the password to gibberish then deactivated it plus I can't recover the email I signed up with either. Did all of that so I wouldn't sign in and waste time lol. Life of a procrastinator

Yh, I suppose you could say that. I don't think it can ever take the place of American Football in our hearts tho

Walaal, you don't have to prove a thing. I'm just a born skeptic. I get you, I can be a bit of a procrastinator myself sometimes lol

EnlightenedSoul:

Yh, I suppose you could say that. I don't think it can ever take the place of American Football in our hearts tho

Walaal, you don't have to prove a thing. I'm just a born skeptic. I get you, I can be a bit of a procrastinator myself sometimes too lol

hand-oval-shaped-ball* that's what it should be called

I'm glad the interrogation is over lol. I don't want to add to your suspicion but I'm banned from most of the sub forums for a week perhaps Fulaman can tell me why.

ArtanK:

hand-oval-shaped-ball* that's what it should be called

I'm glad the interrogation is over lol. I don't want to add to your suspicion but I'm banned from most of the sub forums for a week perhaps Fulaman can tell me why.

I'm not too sure why you are banned. I think it is a security measure.

ArtanK:

hand-oval-shaped-ball* that's what it should be called

I'm glad the interrogation is over lol. I don't want to add to your suspicion but I'm banned from most of the sub forums for a week perhaps Fulaman can tell me why.

Blasphemy!

That was no damn interrogation And you're not off the spot just yet so you know

ArtanK:

hand-oval-shaped-ball* that's what it should be called

I'm glad the interrogation is over lol. I don't want to add to your suspicion but I'm banned from most of the sub forums for a week perhaps Fulaman can tell me why.

could this be mallam yusuf12 ?

Fulaman198:

I'm not too sure why you are banned. I think it is a security measure.

True, I guess it's for all those ad-bots.

EnlightenedSoul:
Blasphemy!
That was no damn interrogation And you're not off the spot just yet so you know

I would have bet money on you being more of a basketball fan than an American football fan, don't ask why.

I think I'll have to call my attorney for the remainder of this conversation
How have you been though?

adamskutty: could this be mallam yusuf12 ?

Yes it is me. I hope you are well my friend

ArtanK:

Yes it is me. I hope you are well my friend

welcome back bro, we all missed u.

ArtanK:

I would have bet money on you being more of a basketball fan than an American football fan, don't ask why.

I think I'll have to call my attorney for the remainder of this conversation
How have you been though?

Gr8 now I have to ask lol.
Alright alright, I'll rest my case I've been good tho wallahi. How're you?

enlightenedsoul won't u throw a party? yusuf is back

adamskutty: enlightenedsoul won't u throw a party? yusuf is back

Nah, no party haha. I'm glad he's back, but he didn't even bother to say goodbye lol!

Besides, how are you so sure?

EnlightenedSoul:

Gr8 now I have to ask lol.
Alright alright, I'll rest my case I've been good tho wallahi. How're you?

Idk, you just seem like one lol don't ask how

Wallahi I'm good too walal