FIFA means business

[Lazie]

Fifa has introduced stricter rules to make it harder for players to switch nationalities and stop countries abusing the current system.
Before the vote, uncapped players could switch allegiances after living in a country for two years or if they had a parent or grandparent born there. World football's governing body have opted to extend that to five years.

[Gamma]

is it the countries who abuse the system or the players?

[Hortical]

It is a long way off from being implemented, and the policy is contrary to EU law. After Poland joined the EU, several hundreds of thousands of Poles moved to England in search of work. Once a person has a passport from one of the EU countries, they can work anywhere in the EU without restriction.

[Paul Marin]

In a way, you can see why they have done this. Jamaica could theoretically field a team of Brazilians by setting them up for 2 years in JA. I don't think that this is a bad move as it helps to maintain the integrity of any national team. That said, I do think that there should be a different standard if you have a blood line to a country, so someone who's parents or grandparents come from a country should be able to play for that country without a 5 year wait. Is this now out as well?

[TheDread]

It is a long way off from being implemented, and the policy is contrary to EU law. After Poland joined the EU, several hundreds of thousands of Poles moved to England in search of work. Once a person has a passport from one of the EU countries, they can work anywhere in the EU without restriction.

HUH! Did I miss something or are you confusing Blatters tirade with the 5 year citizenship rule?

[TheDread]

In a way, you can see why they have done this. Jamaica could theoretically field a team of Brazilians by setting them up for 2 years in JA. I don't think that this is a bad move as it helps to maintain the integrity of any national team. That said, I do think that there should be a different standard if you have a blood line to a country, so someone who's parents or grandparents come from a country should be able to play for that country without a 5 year wait. Is this now out as well?

It should not be a problem for JA because our law states that any person with a Jamaican parent is automatically a Jamaican citizen.

[Paul Marin]

Got it...so what happens if they have jamaican grand parents? Is that a problem?

[Gamma]

the would have to formally apply for citizenship