Nationality switch eligiblity?

Hi. What are the requirements regarding a player switching nationality?

I am thinking about signing a Brazilian for my Australian club with the view to getting him to play for the national team in four years time. He is 24 and has never appeared for Brazil at any level.

He has to play in Australia for a number of years (I'm guessing 4 but you can check this at the bottom of the personal section in the player's profile.)

There's no guarantee that you'll be able to pick him for Australia. The player decides whether to take up a nationality or not.

Should also add that you can't convince him to switch.

Do you know of any age requirements? I have read that a player cannot switch allegiences after 21, but I'm not sure about that.

No he can switch whenever he likes as far as I know so long as he hasn't re[resented any other country. I think a player has to decide which national side to represent by his 21st birthday if he is already playing for a couple of different National teams at u-21 level.

While managing England, Sven Goran Eriksson toyed with the idea of bringing in a few players for the national team who were well over 21. Can't remember who though.

I dont think there is any age limitations, but I've find that a lot of the more gifted players do not 'switch' when they are older.

Thanks for your replies.

FIFA has removed any age limitations for switching nationalities.

Yes,even friendly games are now not considered as a problem for a player to switch national teams.Only full qualification/tournament games are taken into consideration for this.

Therefore,if a 25-year-old player played in 5 friendly matches for nation A he can still switch to nation B and play for them.