Second nationality experiment

[Koetzer]

(inspired by Geoffrey Kondogbia playing for Central African Republic) 

As a fan of managing in smaller nations, I was always frustrated with one thing - if there is a player with double nationality, he will most likely wait for a callup from a bigger nation even if he's far away from its level. So, I decided to make this experiment and see if it leads to any surprising results.

DB setup – current internationals and continental reputation players from all continents (45k players at start).

Rule of experiment – each year in August a player will switch to the secondary nationality if:

• He’s uncapped for the senior team at the age of 23 (or for youth teams at 20)
• He’s good enough (in CA or PA) to be selected for the second nation
• This nation plays official games (so for example Caribbean non-FIFA nations are also counted as they can qualify for Gold Cup).

Season 2022/23

The first pool of changes included almost 600 players, the best of them are:

Spoiler

    

Africa and CONCACAF nations benefitted the most, though even some big European nations got new names (mostly Brazilians).

World Cup

All-European final four with England winning their second trophy against France (at least something matched the real life).

Only USA, Senegal, Cameroon and Poland featured newly naturalized players (I guess it needs some time for everyone to appear in national pools), however none of them got past the second round while Qatar and Japan managed to reach quarter-finals without any help.

Asian Cup

India and Indonesia had the biggest boost before the season, which helped them to reach playoffs. Qatar defended their title against Uzbekistan, the only ‘new’ player in the final was Waldemar Anton from Stuttgart.

Gold Cup

Quite a surprising outcome, though eventual winners from Costa Rica didn’t get any improvements to their squad. Runners-up Jamaica had nine new players including Ivan Toney who became the best goalscorer (6) and had the highest rating (7,56). Martinique (also with nine new players) lost in quarter-final, but managed to overtake Mexico in the group.

[Koetzer]

Season 2023/24

Changes

Spoiler

  

France and England lost quite a lot of talents. Some players already featured in that list last year, but regained their old nationalities and continued to wait for the call-ups. Fun fact – Montserrat now collected all three Willocks in their squad  

African Cup

Congo (with Kolo Muani and Brice Samba among new players) reached the final though Ivory Coast managed win the title at home with Sessegnon as a regular starter and few other newcomers in rotation. For teams like Burundi and Sierra Leone, qualification itself was a good achievement, hardly possible with the regular squad.

Euro

No unexpected qualifiers (except Georgia, but they didn’t get any boost in this two seasons), and I didn’t expect sensations from the tournament itself, but instead… Austria and Croatia in the final, and the only goal scored by Robert Ljubicic who wasn’t capped by Croatian team and moved to Austria before the first season!

Copa America

Venezuela reached the final with Samuel Shashoua in their squad (I think I’ve changed his nation to USA at first, but he chose the third option instead).

OFC Cup

No surprises, there’s not many players with Oceanic roots to make any other team competitive against New Zealand.

[sherwinriga]

Interesting experiment out there, which will be great if I want to see any Southeast Asian countries have players with second nationalities, which I'll keep an eye on it per year! What a great way to start an experiment that is very interesting to see players having second chance to play in another country! 

[Koetzer]

Season 2024/25

Changes

Spoiler

 

It’s strange how Choudhury hasn’t played a single game for Bangladesh over two seasons!

African Cup

Ebere Eze became the MVP as Nigeria won the trophy at home, and three other semi-finalists had almost half of their squads added in this experiment. Waiting for some surprises in the World Cup qualifiers.

Gold Cup

Too bad that Guadeloupe can’t qualify for the World Cup (and Confederations Cup isn’t held anymore)! With Saint-Maximin and sixteen other French players they surely could make some surprises there. Jamaica, Martinique and Curacao also used a lot of new players to reach later stages.

[Koetzer]

3 hours ago, sherwinriga said:

Interesting experiment out there, which will be great if I want to see any Southeast Asian countries have players with second nationalities, which I'll keep an eye on it per year! What a great way to start an experiment that is very interesting to see players having second chance to play in another country! 

Asian countries don't get as many good players here as Africa or Caribbean islands, unfortunately. Two biggest stars of SEA region play for Indonesia at the moment - Hilgers and Audero.

[Koetzer]

Season 2025/26

Changes

Spoiler

 

Portugal got a good Brazilian center-back but lost a promising striker to Angola. Ivory Coast seems to get the biggest improvement overall.

World Cup

A bit disappointed with lack of surprising qualifiers, despite the expansion only Uzbekistan, Guinea and Mali made their debuts, and none of them advanced to playoffs. Jamaica, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana topped their groups but couldn’t get past third round. Max Kilman (Ukraine) was the only player from this experiment to reach quarter-finals, and his goal almost knocked England out (Foden equalized in stoppage time)! 

Australia didn't get any new players, still their run to fourth place is remarkable.

[Koetzer]

Season 2026/27

Changes

East Timor got a player from Liverpool!

Asian Cup

Shinta Appelkamp scored in the final to help Japan winning their fifth title. Syria, India and Lebanon also used their new players well.

African Cup

Gambia had only three new players in the squad but still managed to win their historical first trophy! DR Congo finished as runners-up once again, Arnaud Kalimuendo became MVP and best goalscorer.  

Gold Cup

Guadeloupe won two in a row after advancing to playoffs only by scoring one more goal than Haiti. And despite all the improvement of island nations, Mexico must perform much better than they did.

[sherwinriga]

20 hours ago, Koetzer said:

Asian Cup

Shinta Appelkamp scored in the final to help Japan winning their fifth title. Syria, India and Lebanon also used their new players well.

First of all, I'm impressed on Southeast Asian teams, making it to the Asian Cup, especially to the Philippines, who are still don't have any player with its second nationality. I'll look forward to see more SEA player with second nationalities in the near future.

Then, I'm surprised that Japan had a player with second nationality in the competition, which is looked good for him!

I'll be surprised if there will be a Filipino Japanese footballer to enter into this experiment in the future because that would be more fun to watch as long as his potential would be looked good as these Japanese players. I'll look forward into the next year for SEA and possibly, Japanese players!

[Koetzer]

21 hours ago, sherwinriga said:

First of all, I'm impressed on Southeast Asian teams, making it to the Asian Cup, especially to the Philippines, who are still don't have any player with its second nationality. I'll look forward to see more SEA player with second nationalities in the near future.

There were several players moved to Philippines, not good enough to be on top pages. The best one so far is Angelo Bruckner, who came from Bayern academy and played a few games for Wolfsburg.

 

Season 2027/28

Changes

Rayan Cherki is actually the best player involved into this experiment during all seasons! Cuba and Central Africa got some serious improvement this time.

Euro

A boring outcome, among the final four only Portugal had a couple of former Brazilians involved in this experiment.

Copa America

After finishing as runners-up four years ago Venezuela won their first ever title! The best naturalized player in their squad was Daniel Maldini (not a superstar like his father and grandfather, but the first player in this family to win an international trophy). Australia eliminated Brazil, continuing their run of surprising results after 2026.

OFC Cup

Fiji got a point from New Zealand in the group, but lost to Tahiti and failed to advance. The final was predictably one-sided.

[Koetzer]

Season 2028/29

Changes

Eliesse Ben Seghir leads the list while Ghana seems to get the best improvement overall. Barbados, Sierra Leone, Suriname and Comoros are getting some players from top clubs too.

African Cup

The defending champions and runners-up finished bottom of their groups, and the trophy was contested by teams, mostly unaffected in this experiment (only Egypt had one backup player in the squad). Though Angola with Tiago Tomas at front and a lot of other ex-Portuguese players managed to win their first ever medals!

Gold Cup

Three in a row for Guadeloupe, and the golden goal was scored by one of the first newgens in this experiment – Allan Anatol-Arconte. Decent results for Suriname, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

[Koetzer]

Season 2029/30

Changes

The last generation of real players (born in 2006) joins the list. Zak Lovelace will boost an already strong Jamaica squad, while Curacao, Togo, Equatorial Guinea and Libya get their new superstars.

World Cup

Six teams made their debuts this time – Venezuela, Albania, Cape Verde, Mali, Burkina Faso and Suriname. Four of them advanced to playoffs, and Albania was leading 2-0 at half time against the eventual winners and hosts Spain with goals from Gladbach duo Weiper and Gruda! Tino Livramento helped Portugal to reach their first World Cup final.

[Koetzer]

Season 2030/31

Changes

First big wave of newgens, with big names joining Suriname (Kompagnie) and Bolivia (Flores).

Asian Cup

Japan defended the title at home, Appelkamp is still their regular starter. The only other player from top four teams to change nationality was Qatar’s veteran Angelino. Surprisingly Tajikistan reached the quarter-final without any boost!

African Cup

Tiago Tomas scored seven goals and lifted the first continental trophy for Angola! The biggest surprise was Central African Republic reaching quarter-final with Oumar Solet as their best player.

Gold Cup

Jamaica became another new trophy winner with Jonathan Rowe’s five goals!

[corinthiano]

This is a great experiment! Love how the Caribbean is dominating CONCACAF!

[Koetzer]

Season 2031/32

Changes

 

The best players stayed in Europe (special attention to Sam Llewellyn with PA 197!), however some really exotic nations also got improvement, like Dominica, Seychelles and Cambodia.

Euro

Spain won second major trophy in two years, Israel made in into semi-final (they only had two naturalized players, both over 30 and not actual team leaders).

Copa America

After two surprising final appearances from Venezuela things returned to normal state here.

OFC Cup

New Zealand lost a game… only to get a massive revenge in the final.

Another notable achievement – Indian goalkeeper Rohan Luthra became the first player in this experiment to play 100 games for his country.

[Koetzer]

Season 2032/33

Changes

Former Man City prospect Harrison gains American passport, while Moldova, Trinidad & Tobago, Somalia, Pakistan and Lesotho get their new leaders for years.

African Cup

Angola was close to defending the title, losing to Ghana in overtime. Sierra Leone with their best player David Kalokoh achieved highest ever result reaching quarter-final, while some regular title contenders couldn’t even advance from groups.

Gold Cup

Mexico and USA returned to the top (though reaching the final wasn’t easy for both).

[Koetzer]

Season 2033/34

Changes

Daniel Nyobe moved to Cameroon, and not many small nations got really good players this time. Only Suriname (especially as goalkeeper position is usually a weak spot for these teams) and Bolivia are worth mentioning.

World Cup

Serbia became the first new world champions since 2010, defeating Belgium (also first ever final for them)! Lazar Samardzic and Emil Girones played in the final. Jamaica reached quarter-finals, only losing to the future champions on penalties. Dean Chin obviously played a huge part in this result with four clean sheets. Debuts for Thailand, Guinea-Bissau and Curacao weren’t too remarkable.

[Koetzer]

Season 2034/35

Changes

A worse list in terms of abilities than last years, the most interesting player here is former English youth international Ibrahimov moving to his homeland Azerbaijan.

Asian Cup

First ever trophy for China with the only naturalized player – Spanish striker Ivan. Uzbekistan didn’t have them at all, but both other semi-finalists surely benefited from this experiment, getting players like Ali and Amyn in their squads. Defending champions Japan couldn’t even advance to playoffs!

African Cup

Ghana defended the title with 8 goals from Justin Diehl! Despite this heavy loss, it’s still a historical achievement for Togo (led by Wisdom Amey).

Gold Cup

USA won the first trophy since 2021, still a good result for Jamaica and the best ever run for Suriname (Muringen is their best player). Guadeloupe declined after retirement of their leaders and stopped at the group stage.

[sherwinriga]

20 hours ago, Koetzer said:

Asian Cup

First ever trophy for China with the only naturalized player – Spanish striker Ivan. Uzbekistan didn’t have them at all, but both other semi-finalists surely benefited from this experiment, getting players like Ali and Amyn in their squads. Defending champions Japan couldn’t even advance to playoffs!

I'm surprised that the Philippines and Indonesia made through the knockout tournament while giving India a surprise ticket to the playoffs over Japan! This is looked promising than I have been thrilled for both Filipinos and Indonesians? I believe that the Filipinos have found new second nats in their books! Keep it up, ASEANS!

[Koetzer]

Season 2035/36

Changes

India got a potentially world-class midfielder, also a great improvement for Central Africa, Eritrea and Liechtenstein.

Euro

Spain repeated the success of Xavi/Iniesta generation, defending the title, and Israel continues to surprise. They don’t have any naturalized players, but high quality newgens (Sinay is the best) allow them to achieve impressive results. What’s even more interesting – both finalists played in the same group where all teams finished with equal points and were sorted randomly!

Copa America

Two in a row for Brazil, Chile reached the final with help from goalkeeper Rivera who previously played for Argentine youth teams.

OFC Cup

The hardest tournament for New Zealand so far. Vanuatu only had players from local league but managed to challenge the giants both in group stage and final.

 

On 15/09/2023 at 19:49, sherwinriga said:

I'm surprised that the Philippines and Indonesia made through the knockout tournament while giving India a surprise ticket to the playoffs over Japan! This is looked promising than I have been thrilled for both Filipinos and Indonesians? I believe that the Filipinos have found new second nats in their books! Keep it up, ASEANS!

Yes, Philippines get the best improvement from Germany, Braga and Ilustre are their best players now, few more newgens come from Spain and England. Indonesia has only one foreign newgen from Norway (surprisingly no one from Netherlands). And speaking of other nations in region, Thailand's Soonsup-Bell is so far the best goalscorer in this experiment.

[Koetzer]

Season 2036/37

Changes

I’d say it was the weakest group in all years (probably newgens tend to switch to their second nations more often?), the most interesting player here goes to Belarus.

African Cup

No big surprises (maybe except Algeria losing all three games), Ivory Coast won the title with Lancine Karamoko as their best player.

Gold Cup

One more boring final. Saint Vincent and British Virgin Islands played in the group stage, but it’s a clear bug – they actually lost in playoffs.

[Koetzer]

Season 2037/38

Changes

Mali got an elite striker Keita, while some other African nations (like Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea and Benin) also improved this year.

World Cup

After disappointments of 2010s generation and losing the final in 2034 Belgium finally won the trophy! Girones was included into the best eleven. Denmark beat hosts South Africa for bronze, both teams achieved it without naturalized players. Tunisia, Syria and Bolivia surely can be proud of their results.

[Koetzer]

Season 2038/39

Changes

Another great player joins Mali, also there’s a very good improvement for Vietnam, Philippines, Montserrat and Ethiopia.

Asian Cup

Saudi Arabia beat Iran in the final, but what a run for Philippines! Already mentioned Robert Giganto became MVP and the best assistant of the tournament, while the top goalscorer title was shared between Syria’s Khalil and Thailand’s Boonsing (29 international goals with finishing 5 )

African Cup

Senegal won the trophy this time, Togo reached the semi-final again with Yacoubou scored 6 goals.

Gold Cup

Three in a row for USA, not so expected final for Honduras and Trinidad reaching semi-final with Phillips as the best goalscorer.

[sherwinriga]

21 hours ago, Koetzer said:

Asian Cup

Saudi Arabia beat Iran in the final, but what a run for Philippines! Already mentioned Robert Giganto became MVP and the best assistant of the tournament, while the top goalscorer title was shared between Syria’s Khalil and Thailand’s Boonsing (29 international goals with finishing 5 )

Finally, it's about time for the Azkals to have a player with second NT, which is very nice to see this for the first time! I'm sure that the real-life PFF will expect to improve this as long as they have good budget to run through! Hopefully, all ASEAN nations will have at least one second NT player with a few countries that they didn't have yet! Other than that, keep it up!

[Koetzer]

Season 2039/40

Changes

Quite a weak intake, the best player here joined Jamaica.

Euro

First ever continental title for England, no unexpected teams in later stages.

Copa America

Argentina won the classical final, Colombia scored eight against Chile!

OFC Cup

Anyone doubted?

[Koetzer]

Season 2040/41

Changes

Bolivia got one more quality player who previously represented Argentina.

African Cup

Senegal defended the title, Guinea Bissau reached quarter-final with Sergio Mane as the best goalscorer. His international stats are really impressive – more than a goal per game, though he’s not the top scorer overall in this experiment (see below).

Gold Cup

Jamaica ended the USA domination with a late double from Gibson. Ross Phillips has 87 international goals now, maybe with weaker Caribbean opponents he would be able to reach the hundred mark before retirement.

[Koetzer]

Season 2041/42

Changes

Rob Cann is an incredibly good player for Montserrat, Faroe Islands and Aruba also got some decent improvement.

World Cup

England won the trophy without a single goal conceded in playoffs! Belgium played in three finals in a row now, Chile defeated Colombia for first ever World Cup medals. Comoros had a tough debut, still a good achievement for a small island nation to qualify ahead of stronger African teams.

[sherwinriga]

Very interesting to see Comoros making history as the smallest nation to ever qualify to the World Cup, which I believe that they have some surprising players with second nationalities, which I'll have to keep an eye on them if they'll be lucky enough to get past beyond the group stages for sure!

Are you planning to repeat this for FM24? I hope that you'll be preparing for this in a month as long as you want to follow the same format, which will be great that I'll watch out for that!

[Koetzer]

On 03/10/2023 at 18:49, sherwinriga said:

Very interesting to see Comoros making history as the smallest nation to ever qualify to the World Cup, which I believe that they have some surprising players with second nationalities, which I'll have to keep an eye on them if they'll be lucky enough to get past beyond the group stages for sure!

Are you planning to repeat this for FM24? I hope that you'll be preparing for this in a month as long as you want to follow the same format, which will be great that I'll watch out for that!

Actually Curacao is even smaller and made debut earlier. No idea about FM24 yet, maybe when I get tired of regular saves.

 

Season 2042/43

Changes

Not the best bunch overall, Grenada got a good player with amazing name (and yes, he’s really brave!)

Asian Cup

One more trophy for Japan and no unexpected teams in later stages.

African Cup

Guinea-Bissau only lost the final in shootout, Sambu won the best goalscorer title with 8 goals. Mane isn’t their first choice now but still managed to increase his goal count to 91 (Philips retired after this season with 93). One more remarkable thing is Lesotho qualifying to main stage for the first time (Ratsiu from Celta is their best player).

Gold Cup

Mexico returned to the top.

[Koetzer]

Season 2043/44

Changes

Top players joined Togo and Nigeria, also Ewen Tchen became the best player so far to join an Oceanian nation (he could be third best in New Zealand squad).

Euro

Italy won the first trophy since 2021, not too surprising as they have the world's best player right now - Davide Stazi (187/198 at 33 so he probably was even better at the peak)! A great result for Denmark despite this defeat.

 Copa America

First final since 2011 without both Brazil and Argentina, and Uruguay won it that time too!

OFC Cup

Of course, one top player wasn’t enough to change anything, Tahiti couldn’t even advance to playoffs.

[Koetzer]

Season 2044/45

Changes

San Marino got obviously the best player in nation’s history, also a good improvement for Switzerland, Japan and Belarus.

African Cup

Ghana defended the title, Angola with a new generation of Portuguese players made it to the final. Sergio Mane retired after this season with 93 goals in 100 international games, so shared a record for players in this experiment (not overall though).

Gold Cup

Jamaica won the trophy, El Salvador reached semi-final and that’s where a really surprising number was found. Orellana (not a naturalized player, came through a local club) broke Ronaldo’s world record with 135 goals for the national team!!!

[Koetzer]

Season 2045/46

Changes

The best player here moved from Argentina to Israel. Ethiopia and Hong Kong also got their new leaders.

World Cup

Fourth final in a row and second title for Belgium, Emerson won the Golden Ball. Japan managed to reach the final four, Angola and Bosnia also got some surprisingly good results. Gambia, the only debutants, lost both games in group.

[Koetzer]

Season 2046/47

Changes

A great year for Ireland with Sam Earl leading a group of four excellent players joining them. Other top players went to Ghana and Trinidad.

Asian Cup

Eighth trophy for Japan and another good performance from Philippines. Robert Giganto once again finished with the best overall rating and topped the assistants table.

African Cup

It’s the first trophy for Morocco since 1976! Tanzania had the best ever result with Suleiman as their leading player.

Gold Cup

After producing a lot of great Dutch players Suriname finally won the trophy itself! Surprisingly enough their best player came through a local academy.

[Koetzer]

Season 2047/48

Changes

Mali get a really top player unnoticed by Spain so far.

Euro

A classic English shootout loss. Ireland could convert their last season’s improvement into a great result, but lost to another surprising team Sweden in quarter-final.

 Copa America

The most reputable teams returned to the final.

OFC Cup

Solomon Islands without a single player from abroad defeated New Zealand in the group and only lost the final 0-1!

[Koetzer]

Season 2048/49

Changes

Nigeria, Mali and Suriname got the best players here, San Tome and Principe made quite an unexpected appearance in this list.

African Cup

One more trophy for Morocco. Despite Togo losing in the first playoff round, Mohamed Cisse finished the tournament with the best overall rating.

Gold Cup

A boring final of two biggest nations.

[Koetzer]

Season 2049/50

Changes

No outstanding players here, except this Ukrainian goalkeeper.

World Cup

This time England won the final shootout… against Ecuador (they had only one naturalized player as a backup, the team leader Zambrano came through a local club)! Philippines couldn’t get any points at their first World Cup, while other debutants Barbados (the best player is a center-back Chandler) managed to win a group on better goal difference!

 

And so it’s time to finish this experiment. In 28 years we got two new world champions (Serbia and Belgium) and new champions in every continent except Oceania (Austria, Venezuela, Gambia, Angola, China, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Suriname).

Most capped player: Rohan Luthra (India) – 199 caps.

Best goalscorers: Sergio Mane (Guinea-Bissau) and Ross Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) – 93 goals.

 

Best naturalized players by CA in 2050:

Rob Cann (Montserrat) – 172

Mohamed Cisse (Togo) – 170

Abdoulaye Diakite (Mali) – 167

 

Best players of smaller nationalities in 2050 (appeared without manual nation change):

Tyreek Gilzene (Jamaica, first club: Portmore Utd) – CA 180

Dondre Campbell (Jamaica, Waterhouse) – 178

Fabian Fredlein (Bosnia, Hertha) – 177

Simon Mwamba (Zambia, Zanaco) – 162

Mario Pedro (Angola, Sp.Cabinda) – 158

Alberto Rodriguez (Panama, CD Universitario) – 157

Aboubakar Nikiema (Burkina Faso, CF Rahimo) – 156

Gia Gelashvili (Georgia, Dinamo Batumi) – 152

Oybek Usmonov (Uzbekistan, Molde) – 151

Remy Goncalves (Luxembourg, Gent) – 151

 

Marios Adamou (Cyprus, AEK) – PA 178

Jean Marie Cineas (Haiti, Lens) – 164

Hamza Al-Kurdi (Syria, Tishreen) – 160

Matty Buffonge (Montserrat, Aston Villa) – 158

[sherwinriga]

What a way to end this terrific experiment on a high note! Now, I hope that you're going to compile for each region on who has the best naturalized players before planning to do it again in FM24, which will be two weeks away from now and I'm sure that you'll have some plans to do more experiment on this. I want to see how ASEAN nations would be like before planning to cap off FM23 more than just a good game, so that I'll remember them through their names that won't be missed for sure!

Anyway, hope that you'll be doing this again in FM24 because it's almost time for this!

[J-Hood]

This was a great experiment, loved seeing Jamaica do so well. What happened to Canada??