Bayern's Musiala in Germany-England tug-of-war

Jamal Musiala has a tough decision to make. Germany, the country of his birth, and England, where he grew up, are both vying for the 17-year-old, who is quietly establishing himself in Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich team.

It's an internal conflict in which both the heart and the mind play a role: Where do I have the best chances as a player? Which team offers the best shot at winning titles? Where do I feel most comfortable?

An outsider with Germany

Musiala was born in Stuttgart to a German mother and a Nigerian father. When he was 7, his family moved to Croydon, south London, where he lived for nine years and trained at Chelsea for eight. Though Musiala made two appearances for Germany's U16s, he currently plays for England's U21s — and he has always felt more comfortable playing with England than Germany.

"He grew up as a footballer at Chelsea and there he played with many other English players, so he's always felt more comfortable playing for England," Musiala's former youth coach Andrew Martin told DW last year. "When he played for Germany, he felt like an outsider purely because he wasn't on that circuit and he didn't know any of the boys."

However, in 2019, Musiala accepted an offer to move to Bayern Munich, in a country to which he also has a certain connection.

Not everybody says yes to Germany

Like Musiala, many German players have competed for other associations in their youth. For instance, six players on Germany's last squad had dual nationality: Mahmoud Dahoud (Syria), Leroy Sane (France), Antonio Rüdiger (Sierra Leone), Nadiem Amiri (Afghanistan), Jonathan Tah and Serge Gnabry (both Ivory Coast). They, as well as others like Emre Can and Mesut Özil, who would have been eligible to play for Turkey, or Karim Bellarabi, who has Moroccan citizenship, all opted to play for Germany.

But a few prominent players have also rejected Germany's call. Jermaine Jones played in friendlies for the national team and was in the provisional squad for Euro 2008, but then decided to play for the US. Nuri Sahin, Hamit and Halil Altintop all preferred the Turkish national team. Ömer Toprak and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting played for Germany's youth team but then found themselves in other national teams.

Berlin-born brothers Jerome and Kevin-Prince Boateng embodied the divide by making completely different choices: While Jerome opted for Germany, his brother, for various reasons, chose to play for Ghana — even though he did not speak any Ghanaian language nor had he ever been to the country.

FIFA revises eligibility rules

So when are you eligible to play for a nation? You don't necessarily have to be born there, as the examples of former German internationals Gerald Asamoah (Ghana), Lukas Podolski (Poland) or Cacau (Brazil) show: An adult player who adopts a new nationality and has lived in a country for at least five years, despite neither he nor his parents or grandparents having been born there, is eligible to play for that country. A player may only apply for a change of association once.

FIFA revised eligibility rules at its 70th Congress in September 2020. The new rules came into force immediately.

The updated rules stipulate that players are now allowed to change national teams if: They have not played more than three senior international matches (including competitive matches), were not yet 21 years of age at the time of their last assignment, have not participated in any continental finals or World Cup matches, the last match (including friendlies) for the old association was at least three years ago and they already possessed the citizenship of the new association at the time of the first competitive match assignment for the old association.

'The decision is his'

It‘s a complicated situation for the young Musiala, who could theoretically play for Germany in the World Cup qualifiers, play a maximum of three games and then still be allowed to play for England in three years' time.

However, a three-year break is not an option for such a talented and exceptional soccer player. And so Joachim Löw must wait patiently for Musiala's decision.

"I think he knows one way or another that I want to select him," Löw said. "The decision is up to him."

This article has been translated from German by Michael Da Silva.