The rules of international soccer have changed in recent years, allowing players to switch national teams, even if they have already played in an official competition for the first nation. According to FIFA eligibility rules, a player can change their national team provided that the appearance occurred before the player turns 21 years old. Article 9 of the FIFA Regulations governing the application of the statutes deals with the change of partnership. In the 20th century, FIFA allowed a player to represent any national team, as long as the player had the citizenship of that country. In 2004, in reaction to the growing trend towards naturalization of foreign players in some countries, FIFA implemented a major new ruling requiring a player to demonstrate a clear connection with any country they wish to represent.
FIFA has used its authority to annul the results of competitive international matches in which ineligible players participate. For the most part, you can't play for another country once you've already played for one, however, occasional exceptions are made. Article 6, paragraph 2, further provides that “irrespective of paragraph 1 of article 6, associations sharing a common nationality may reach an agreement whereby subparagraph (d) (of the above) is deleted altogether or modified to specify a longer term. After the match, his opponents Vanuatu filed a protest, on the grounds that Wynne was not an eligible player. The current FIFA rules have been used by many European-born players who played in age-group national teams or friendly matches and switched to African countries where they have ties through their parents or grandparents. The Committee considered the statement of this association that almost any player can obtain a passport from the Republic of Ireland to guarantee eligibility to play in this country. It is generally accepted that there are many players who have more than one nationality and whose attachment to a particular country or countries is intrinsically nuanced.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has explicitly recognized the need to create a regulatory space for situations involving players who, for example, may have been born in one country and then have grown up in another or cases where a player has parents from different countries. An emergency ruling by the FIFA committee determined that players must be able to demonstrate a clear connection to a country they were not born in but wished to represent. Change of nationality was allowed, as Rice had not played in an “official competition” at the international level for Ireland (i). In particular, FIFA has added three new exceptions where a player can change the national team in which he plays. Some nationalities may, at first glance, allow a player to play for more than one representative association. One of the conditions of this loyalty change is that at least three years have passed since the last time the player was sent by his first national team, which should stop any opportunistic changes in the national team. If home country associations had decided not to delete or alter clause “d” and instead used FIFA's default statutory clauses, players with a nationality of home country could transfer to a club in another country of origin and be eligible for that national team after a period of two years (provided that you have not been equaled or played in an official competition for a nation).FIFA's new flexibility even suggests allowing players to return to their original national team if they never actually play for second.
One of the main topics of conversation within the international game in the 21st century has been the practice of changing teams, which has been facilitated by FIFA.
