The times in soccer are well and truly changing, and nowhere is that more evident than in the national career of head coaches. Before, the players who graduated from college would be pursued, and that was said, now it’s different. On top of this, head coaches must now spearhead the process of identifying the best young prospects around the world who could eventually represent their national team. This task is becoming increasingly complex, as coaches will now have to navigate the eligibility of second- and third-generation immigrants, as well as players who have spent little or no time playing in their country of origin. This makes identifying talent and ultimately deciding who can represent the nation more challenging than ever. Additionally, as the hidden transfer window of international soccer, when the player’s movement is front and center, it creates something;
In the past, the teams of national players were much more static, even if there were divisions, even in the same family. We have had some concrete examples, like the Boateng brothers, who chose to represent two different national teams. While Hieronymus represented Germany from 2009 to 2018, winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup, his brother Kevin Prince chose to play for Ghana, as they both grew up in Berlin, Germany. The brothers were selected for different national courses through family careers, with a German mother and a Ghanaian father, and they made different decisions. This was mainly how he resisted at the time: for whom you played, and sometimes you wanted to do, but it was very much the exception to the rule. However, as the society we live in has evolved and changed, national teams have had to adapt.
The French and German nationalities are widely regarded as having worked most aggressively in this area over the past decades. For example, the German national team integrated the second generation of Turkish immigrants. A notable example is Mesut Ozil, who represented Germany from 2009 to 2018, when he retired from international football following a significant backlash over a picture of him and teammate Ilkay Gundoğan meeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Both players were part of Germany’s squad at the 2018 World Cup, where the defending champions were eliminated in the group stage. As often happens in these situations, it became a political issue in the country, and both players were heavily criticized.
Switzerland, perhaps more than any other team, has come to rely heavily on second-generation immigrants and has built one of the most consistent national teams around Europe with a team built with this mindset. Other countries were much more conservative about the trust of second-generation immigrants in their national teams, but at one point they were all forced to change their approach, as is now happening in most countries in the world.
Hide the transfer window
France has long been focused on this area, actively seeking to identify and develop the best young talents to represent their national team. One example that exists is Michael Olise, born in England to a Nigerian father and a French-Algerian mother. Despite living and playing in England all his life, he has represented the French national team since he was 18 years old, making his debut for the first team in 2024, and playing in the 2016 World Cup under Didier Deschamps. This is an example of how national teams are now working to find the best players on a daily basis.
Italy may have been a nation resistant to this approach, but they are also beginning to lean towards finding talent wherever they can find it, and current coach Roberto Mancini has tried to accelerate the process. When the president of the Italian national team first called Mateo Retegui, an Argentinian striker with Italian roots, as many South Americans do in that country. Retegui was ‘discovered’ by Mancini himself, and later he joined Genoa before going to Atalanta, where he scored 25 goals in 36 goals before joining Al-Qadisiya in the summer of 2025. Mancini’s decision to call Retegui also became political and recently new rules were established in the Italian state of descent, as it is now strictly limited to the first two grandchildren or great-grandchildren (parents in Italy is no longer automatically limited to the first grandchildren (parents) to apply for Italian citizenship.
Recently, Mancini started the Italian national team as the manager’s second start, raising an internal debate in the country after the first calls. Alessandro Romano, who previously played with the Swiss national team, received his first call-up alongside Issa Doumbia, Eddy Kouadio and Mohamed Ali Zoma, preventing other national teams from potentially calling them in the future.
However, there was an interesting example of how this now hidden international transfer window works: Mancini also tried to call up Nicolò Tresoldi, the Italian-born striker who plays for Club Brugge. But the player decided to wait before deciding on his international future. Tresoldi is now part of Germany’s under-21 squad and plans to play in the 2027 European Under-21 Championship before deciding whether he wants to represent Italy or Germany at senior level. He has lived in Germany since 2014, and obtained German citizenship in 2022.
The new coach of the German national team told Jurgen Klopp that he is yet to decide: “It doesn’t mean that he has decided against Germany. or against Italy. We don’t want to put pressure on the players. It’s a delicate thing and whatever he decides we will observe him without rushing.” That’s exactly how international soccer has changed in recent years. Now, players have more options and can choose the national team that best suits their ambition, development, training staff and military system. Managers and federations have a major task not only to appeal and select players, but also to convince some of them to represent their national teams. Yes, times have changed.