Following suggestions that Mamelodi Sundowns forward Lucas Ribeiro Costa should consider switching allegiance to Bafana Bafana, Soccer Laduma investigates whether the Brazilian would be eligible.
Costa has emerged as arguably the best player in the PSL and it is somewhat of a shame that he does not play international football for a national team.
However, it is not surprising that the 26-year-old has not been called up by the five-time world champions, as Sundowns signed him playing in the second-tier league in Belgium.
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According to FIFA, a player may change his nationality, if he has not played a competitive game for his country of birth, either at youth or senior level.
Costa has not been capped either at youth level or senior level by Brazil, which means he can change his nationality. However, the former SK Beveren attacker, would first need to get citizenship from South Africa, to be close to being considered for Bafana Bafana, as per FIFA rules.
Foreign players in the country get citizenship after spending five uninterrupted years in the country and since Costa only arrived in Mzansi in July 2023, he will only be eligible for South African citizenship in 2028, where he will be 30 years of age.
And even if Costa was to qualify for South African citizenship, based on residence, he would not qualify for a permanent citizenship, which is required to get a changed international passport, according the amended rules by FIFA, which does not consider a naturalisation that can be revoked if a player leaves the country (citizenship through residence is not permanent in South Africa).
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In the latest FIFA document on the eligibility to play for respective countries, the governing body gave the following commentary:
14: "In 2007, FIFA discovered that a particular country had granted nationality which was valid only for as long as they remain resident in the country and lose that status if they leave the country permanently.
15: "This was a clear and obvious practice which jeopardized the integrity of representative team football. As such, FIFA moved to specifically regulate the type of "nationality" held by a player.
16: "The nationality held by the player must be both:
16.1 "permanent", in that it is not automatically lost or invalidated following a decision by the player to change his domicile and;
16.2 not conditional on the basis of maintaining a domicile in a certain country."
The only other realistic way Costa could get a permanent South African citizenship, i.e, be eligible for Bafana selection, is through marriage.
Most players who go through a naturalization process and change of nationality, particularly in Europe, do so through a link with one parent who has a permanent citizenship in a different country.
