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Cudicini to play for Wales?


Joe Concacaf

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From the BBC's site:

Chelsea's Italian goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini could be a target for Wales manager Mark Hughes.

Cudicini qualifies to play for the home nations later this month having lived in Britain for the requisite five years.

"I'm sure Mark and his squad would consider it if the situation did arise," FAW secretary general David Collins told BBC Wales Sport.

Cudicini has already ruled out the possibility of playing for England.

He believes England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson already has enough goalkeeping options.

"I don't think England need a goalkeeper," said 30-year-old Cudicini, who has never played for his native Italy.

"They've got David James and two young goalkeepers coming up in [Paul] Robinson and [Chris] Kirkland. So I don't think Eriksson will be interested in me."

Wales, though, would certainly welcome an experienced and proven goalkeeper with open arms.

Current number one Paul Jones has been a dependable performer over the past few seasons - but, at 37, Jones' best days are behind him.

He will also be hampered by not playing top flight for the first time since 1997.

Martyn Margetson earned his first Wales cap in May's friendly win over Canada, but his prospects of first team football at Cardiff City are now in doubt following Tony Warner's arrival at Ninian Park.

Wales' two other choices, Darren Ward and Danny Coyne, also play outside the Premiership, so Cudicini could be the man for the job as Wales embark on their 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign.

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I think that the article may make some unjustifiable assumptions. He has to live in the "country" he wants to play for (or have an ancestral attachment) for two years. He may be eligible for a UK passport, but the FIFA rules may exclude him because he has not lived in Wales (just in London, in England last time I checked) for 2 years. Could be a grey area though.

From what I've seen, the association in Wales sometimes talks before it thinks through the whole thing (but nowhere near as bad as the CSA:D ).

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http://www.fifa.com/fifa/handbook/circulars/PS%20901%20EN.pdf

This is the copy of the official circular sent out by FIFA after their emergency "Ailton" meeting on March 16, 2004.

The relevant portion refers to the following requirement (short of birth/parent's birth/grandparents birth) to represent a country:

"has lived continuously for at least two years on the territory of the relevant Association"

The relevant Association would be Wales, not the UK.

Oh well, maybe he can play for England, England is definitely

short of decent goalkeepers now.:D

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The Regulations to the FIFA Statutes that governs the situation generally (which does not include the March changes, but does include the changes in October, 2003 "the "Kanoute ammendments", that allow one change in national teams anytime as long as not having played for an A senior team or any team after 21 of the first country):

http://www.fifa.com/fifa/statutes/statutesdocs/FIFA_statutes_10_2003_E.pdf

(see Part VII, Article 15 of the Regulations, at page 59)

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Yes they did.

But that was only for truly British players, in terms of blood link to the home country within Great Britain.

The difference is explained in this excerpt from a bbc article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/3522983.stm

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"The British agreement was signed in 1993 by Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It states that a player with a British passport can only represent a country with which he has a bloodline link, either himself, a parent or a grandparent.

The only exception is where a player has no such link to any of the four countries, and Taylor added: 'Any special cases will continue to be considered by the SFA Board.' "

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For foreign-born players like Cudicini and Amoruso (who may play for Scotland), it was understood that this arrangement wouldn't apply.

Amoruso did live in Scotland for more than two years when he played for Rangers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/scotland/3506567.stm

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