Foreign Footballers: An Evolving Notion

In the world of sport, the notion of foreign players has its own particularities. Beyond sociological or geopolitical considerations, this statement is the product of an objective observation: from the perspective of sports law in general, and football law in particular, the definition of foreigners not only differs from that understood by other branches of law but can also vary depending on whether it is used in competitions between representative teams or in competitions between clubs.

Notion of Foreigner in Competitions Between Representative Teams

In terms of competition between representative teams, a “foreigner” is nothing more than an athlete who is ineligible to defend a given national team. Note that this approach does not directly consider common nationality law practices. Rather, it is based on eligibility rules, the purpose of which is to ensure the existence of effective identity ties between sports nations and players who play under their flags.

The formation of “national teams”, which is “a matter of purely sporting interest”,[1] and the facts of being a national of a particular state, or of having one or...

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