00:00This could be the entire World Cup team for England, but it's not.
00:03Some of the line-up were born here, some played at youth level,
00:06and some grew up and spent most of their lives here.
00:08Instead, they're all playing for other countries.
00:10In fact, nearly a quarter of the players at this World Cup
00:13are representing a country that they weren't born in.
00:15At first glance, that feels like England's loss and football becoming less authentic.
00:19But my colleague Adam Minter thinks that we're looking at it the wrong way.
00:22In his view, this World Cup is showing how national teams are changing.
00:25Take Filar and Balogun.
00:26Born in New York to Nigerian parents and raised in England,
00:29he had the eligibility to play in three nations and ultimately chose the United States.
00:33You see, FIFA rules require a passport through birth, a parent, a grandparent or other residency rules.
00:38Balogun had all three.
00:40He even helped lead the US into the World Cup knockout rounds.
00:42And he wasn't the only one with a chance to hurt us.
00:45Take London-born Semenyo Fagana, who kept us to a draw and now has the chance to top in the
00:49group.
00:49But Minter makes the point that countries aren't defined only just by the people living in their borders anymore.
00:54Diaspora communities matter too.
00:55They vote, they send money home, they keep family ties and cultural connections across generations.
01:01And increasingly, they play football for those countries too.
01:03That's why Minter says this isn't a World Cup loophole.
01:06It's the World Cup adapting to the world that we actually live in today.
01:09And FIFA loosening rules in recent years to allow players to switch nations,
01:12even if they've played a youth game for another country, is a good thing.
01:15I'm not complaining.
01:16Otherwise, we wouldn't have Declan Rice, who famously played for Ireland.
01:19So yes, England probably could field a pretty good team of players who chose to go somewhere else.
01:24But Adam Minter says that's not really an England story.
01:27It's the story of modern international football.
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