Tottenham loanee handed Nigerian call

[mawspurs]

Nathan Oduwa, who has represented England at U17-U20 levels, is away with Nigeria for the first time and is training with the U23 squad with a possible place in the 2016 Olympic squad.

Read the full article at Vital Football

 

[Rocksuperstar]

I'm curious about the rules here - need a statto - i get that you can represent whoever you like at "junior" level and it's only when you pitch up your tent with a particular senior squad that you can't switch countries, but what's the Olympics count as?

My assumption is that, in spirit, as it's an amateur competition, Nathan could play for England at the Olympics and it be akin to an under 21's outing, so will have no bearing on if he wanted to declare himself Nigerian at senior level, but i dunno.

Anyone?

edit: it should be noted, the answer might well be in the article, but i can't be arsed to read it, and someone here will know. Cheers for your understanding.

Any chance you can flick the kettle on while you're at it as well? Ta.

 

[Spursidol]

I'm curious about the rules here - need a statto - i get that you can represent whoever you like at "junior" level and it's only when you pitch up your tent with a particular senior squad that you can't switch countries, but what's the Olympics count as?

My assumption is that, in spirit, as it's an amateur competition, Nathan could play for England at the Olympics and it be akin to an under 21's outing, so will have no bearing on if he wanted to declare himself Nigerian at senior level, but i dunno.

Anyone?

edit: it should be noted, the answer might well be in the article, but i can't be arsed to read it, and someone here will know. Cheers for your understanding.

Any chance you can flick the kettle on while you're at it as well? Ta.

The 'rules' were posted and debated ion the youth thread. The rules were amended after a challenge in courts so its as clear as mud as to whether an appearance in Olympics football (now regarded as a FIFA organised event) constrained a change to people's nationality - so its now not clear from reading them what they mean ! Only way is to ask FIFA a specific question - which is what we hope Oduwa's advisors will have done.

With luck he can change later back to England if he so chooses (which is the case at younger age groups), but as I say the rules are as clear as mud

 

[Chris_D]

It seems to be a complete mess in terms of hard and fast rules. I hope he's going to become a top player who can compete for a place in the first team but I'm not sure playing in the second division in Scotland will help him. I don't mind too much what country he chooses to play for.