Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)
Englishman Mason Greenwood, 22, the new arrival to Olympique Marseille from Manchester United, is preparing to change his sporting identity by leaving the Three Lions, for whom he has only played one international match, and joining another team with which he is linked in terms of his origins and roots.
Greenwood has already begun to pursue this direction, as he hopes to revitalize his international career by playing for the Jamaican national team, the birthplace of his ancestors.
The Athletic revealed that the English Football Association sent the file submitted by the player to the Jamaican Football Association in order to obtain official approval to change his sports identity, as FIFA regulations allow any player who has not participated with the national team of his country of origin, except in one international match, to transfer his sports identity to the national team of another country to which his origins belong.
It is noteworthy that the only match Greenwood played for the Three Lions was against Iceland 4 years ago.
The newspaper said that Greenwood’s decision, who shone in his first two matches with Marseille and scored two goals, was motivated by the appointment of Englishman Steve McClaren as coach of the Jamaican national team at the beginning of August, and the latter encouraged him to take this step, as he had spoken to him about the matter when they were together at the Manchester United training ground, a few weeks before McClaren took over the task of coaching Jamaica.
For its part, the American ESPN network reported that this process is on its way to implementation, but no one can know how long it will take for him to actually become a player for Jamaica.
The network indicated that Greenwood, who was born in Bradford, must obtain a Jamaican passport, and the procedures for this could be lengthy, and therefore the Marseille star will not be able to attend Steve McClaren’s first official match in the Nations League against Cuba, which will be held on September 7, which is not enough time for Greenwood to complete all the procedures related to obtaining citizenship.
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