All over the world there are many footballers who decide not to represent their native country for different reasons. In Europe there are many stars who have chosen not to play with their country's national team, and prefer to do so with another nation where they also have a chance.
Thus, in the following list we mention 10 great footballers born on the European continent who made the decision to represent a team that is not from their native country.
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Hakimi He is one of the best right backs in the world, he was born in Madrid, Spain, but he made the decision to represent the Moroccan national team, a nationality he has by descent since his parents are from that country.
Since then, the footballer has played in two World Cups, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.
He played in the lower categories of the Netherlands national team (U19, U20 and U21). Finally, in September 2015 he chose to play for the Moroccan national team, the country of birth of his parents. He has been a World Cup player in the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Qatar 2022.
Firstly, the striker chose to represent Spain, the country where he was born, from the youth ranks until he reached the senior level in 2021. However, due to the absence of calls, he ruled out Spain and preferred to change his team with Morocco.
The French defender received Spanish nationality from the Council of Ministers. On May 24, 2021, he was included by Luis Enrique in the list of the Spanish team that would compete in Euro 2020 (held in 2021 due to the coronavirus), later he also went to the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
He had previously represented France from the U-17, U-18, U-19, U-21, but for various reasons he was never able to debut at the senior level until he chose to represent Spain where he trained as a footballer.
The Liverpool midfielder was born in Italy and has Brazilian ancestry through his parents, but since 2005 he began training in Spain with La Masia of FC Barcelona and years later he chose to represent La Roja.
He has played with all the youth categories in Spain since the U-16. With the Spain Under-17 team he became European champion in Turkey in 2008. At the absolute level he participated in the 2016 and 2020 Euro Cups, as well as the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The historic FC Barcelona midfielder was born in Switzerland and represented the Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 categories, but ended up leaning towards Croatia, with whom he debuted in 2007. He played with the national team in the Euro Cups in 2008, 2012 and 2016, in addition to the 2014 and 2018 World Cup.
He was born in Spain while his father was a footballer for the Unió Esportiva Lleida. He has been international with the Serbian national team in the U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21 youth categories, with which he made a total of 37 games in which he scored eight goals.
He has represented his team in the 2018 World Cup in Russia and Qatar 2022.
The forward was born in Sarcelles, France, to an Algerian father and an Algerian-Moroccan mother. When he was five years old, his father and mentor Ahmad died of a heart attack. Despite being born and raised in the French country, he has been international with the Algerian team.
He made his international debut on May 31, 2014 and played in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 African Cups.
Born in England, he is the son of Claudio Reyna, captain of the United States team that played in four World Cups. He is also the grandson of Miguel Reynawho was an Argentine soccer player who played for Atlético Independiente and Los Andes in that country.
He is of Argentine-Portuguese descent through his paternal grandparents and of Irish-American descent through his maternal line.
Queen was born in Sunderland, England, while his father played in the SunderlandEdit, and began his international career playing with the United States youth teams, but after impressing with Borussia Dortmund, he attracted interest from the national teams of Portugal, England and Argentina. Ultimately, he chose to play for the United States and debuted at the senior level in 2020.
He began his international career representing the United States team in its U-15, U-16 and U-17 categories.
He was born in Leeds, England, when his father Alf-Inge Håland played for him Leeds United in the Premier League at the time. In 2004, at the age of three, he moved to Bryne, Norway, his parents' hometown.
Haaland participated in the 2018 European Under-19 Championship and a year later in the Under-20 World Cup in Poland until on September 5, 2019 he debuted with the Norwegian national team in a qualifying match for Euro 2020 against Malt.
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