In spite of having a population of nearly 130 million, the Men’s Mexican National Football Team has enjoyed very limited success internationally. Yes, they have won the most number of Concacaf Gold Cups in history with 11, but they have only qualified to the FIFA Men’s World Cup quarterfinals twice, with one of them being in 1970, before the Round of 16 even existed. El Tri is a regular feature in World Cups and is a historical lock to make it through the Group Stage, but there is something missing, especially considering success in youth teams.
The disconnect between success with youth and success at a senior level is more than evident. The U-17 National Team has won two FIFA World Cups and reached two finals. The U-20s have reached a FIFA World Cup final and have achieved one third-placed finish. The U-23s have won an Olympic gold medal and an Olympic bronze medal as well. Instead of heavily investing in providing better opportunities for youth players, as well as reducing the number of foreigners allowed in Liga MX rosters, the Mexican Football Federation has historically turned to other options.
One of those is calling up players that weren’t born in Mexico to the senior national team. The first one in history, according to various Mexican media outlets including ESPN and Futbol Total, was Julio Lores, originally from Perú. Several names have graced the list, with varied levels of success, including Gabriel Caballero, Guillermo Franco, Leandro Augusto and many more. Albeit Mexican by birth but born in Canada, another name to add to the list is that of Marcelo Flores. The Arsenal youth prospect recently declared his intention to play for El Tri on a senior level. Here’s the background on the decision and what FIFA statutes say regarding the controversial call.
Marcelo Flores and his decision
Who is Marcelo Flores? A name you’re probably quite familiar with by now, Flores is the son of former soccer player Rubén Flores, and current Arsenal Under-23 youth player. Born in Ontario, Canada to a Canadian mother with English background and a Mexican father, his sisters Silvana and Tatiana play for Tottenham and Chelsea in the FA Women’s Super League.
Marcelo Flores pictured in an Under-20 match for the Mexican National Team in November 2021 (Image credit: @miseleccionmx)
Marcelo Flores, who plays as an offensive midfielder, signed his first professional contract for Arsenal in October 2020, joining the London-based club from local club Ipswich Town. Flores already had Gunner minutes under his belt, featuring for the Under-18s, and was shortly after named to The Guardian newspaper’s Next Generation 2020 list, which includes the best young prospects from around the globe. Flores was first called up by manager Mikel Arteta to join the first team for the April 4, 2022 Premier League match against Crystal Palace.
As for his international career, hold onto your seats,because this is a doozie. Flores was first called up by Canada to be a part of a January 2021 camp, but declined the invitation to remain at Arsenal. Six months later, the Arsenal attacker was still being wooed by John Herdman, who included him in the preliminary 60-man list for the 2021 Gold Cup. Flores wasn’t called up to the tournament, and only a few months after that, his name was included by Mexico manager Gerardo Martino in the squad to face Chile in a friendly in December.
Flores played a few minutes in that friendly, and then a few more in an April 2022 match against Guatemala, in Orlando. In mid May, he declared his intention to fully commit his international future to Mexico, leaving behind the strong Canadian option and the far-away English one as well.
This is part of the message Flores wrote on Instagram:
“I’ve always known this day would come. Despite being only 18 years old, for the past few years I have been aware of the footballing privilege I have in being eligible for three different national teams”, he started out, thanking his parents, narrating his life, and explaining the internal conflict of having to choose a country to represent at only 18.
“Being different (not born in Mexico) doesn’t make me less Mexican. Today I speak from the heart and feel the need to communicate something I’ve known to be true for a while that I think is important you hear directly from me: I will represent Mexico wholeheartedly for the rest of my professional life”, he added.
Since then, Flores has been called up to the Mexico 38-player roster that will face three friendlies in the United States against Nigeria, Uruguay and Ecuador, and two Concacaf Nations League games.
What does FIFA have to say about it?
MONTERREY, MEXICO – MAY 07: Rubens Sambueza of San Luis drives the ball during the playoff match between Monterrey and Atletico San Luis as part of the Torneo Grita Mexico C22 Liga MX at BBVA Stadium on May 07, 2022 in Monterrey, Mexico. (Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
At first, FIFA statues indicated that a player could represent any football association as long as they held the nationality of said territory. “Once a player had participated for the representative team of that football association in an official competition (at any level), they were tied to the “sporting nationality” associated with that football association”, according to the international organization.
An example: Let’s say that a Brazilian soccer player participated in a U-17 World Cup for the Canarinha when he was only 16 years old, playing in only one match of the tournament. If said player moved to Mexico and spent their entire career there, married a Mexican citizen and obtained nationality, they still wouldn’t be eligible to represent El Tri on a senior level. A real life caseof this topic is Rubens Sambueza.
The Argentina-born attacking midfielder has spent the past 12 years of his career in Mexico, starting in 2010 with Tecos, after playing a year for Pumas in 2007. Sambueza was never called up to the Albiceleste senior team, but did participate in the 2001 U-17 FIFA World Cup with them. Sambu shared a team with names like Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano, and only managed to play 65 minutes in the Third Place match against Burkina Faso.
Fast forward 12 years, and then-Mexico National team manager Miguel Herrera wanted to call Sambueza up for the World Cup. FIFA statutes didn’t allow the call, since the attacking midfielder had played a mere 65 minutes in a youth World Cup 12 years prior. That all changed in 2020, when the FIFA Congress approved new rules, allowing for a change of association even for players that had participated for a different national team.
Unfortunately for Sambueza, there are a few caveats to the new ruling, which would still prevent him from currently playing for Mexico. The first one is that players can only switch national sides if they have played three games or fewer for their original teams.
Even though the new statutes indicate that Sambueza could play for El Tri seeing as how he was less than 21 years old when plying his trade for La Albiceleste, what prevents him from wearing the Tricolor jersey is that he played in a match of a final FIFA World Cup tournament or confederation competition. The 35 minutes Sambu played against Burkina Faso in what ended up being a meaningless match ended up deeply hurting his national team chances for Mexico in the future.
Fortunately for Marcelo Flores, he never played an official match for Canada or England, and he holds nationality for all three countries, all before turning 21, which allowed him free reign to choose Tata Martino’s side.
Non-Mexico born players who represented El Tri on a senior level
COLUMBUS, OH – SEPTEMBER 3: Antonio Naelson #7 of Mexico advances the ball against the USA during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying match at Crew Stadium on September 3, 2005 in Columbus, Ohio. The USA won 2-0. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Now that we explained Flores’ past and present, and that we know the rules for changing a player’s eligibility, what is the process to do so? There are six main steps,according to FIFA.
The first one is the submission of a request by the new association. Then, the FIFA general secretariat reviews the request, and a decision is made by the Players’ Status Committee (PSC), which is intended to ensure compliance with FIFA regulations. After national teams are notified of the terms of the decision by the PSC (“accepted”, “rejected”, or “not admissible”), national associations can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
These rules apply only for players who wish to change national team allegiances, but there are 15 footballers that weren’t born in Mexico that played for El Tri due to them not being selected for their country of origin in an official match.
The first one was Julio Lores, a Peruvian-born player that represented Mexico in the 1935 Central American and Caribbean Games. Then came Spanish-Born Lorenzo Camarena, who lifted the 1932-33 Mexican league title with Necaxa and went on to don the Tri jersey in the same competition in 1935.
Antonio López Herranz, mostly remembered for managing Mexico in the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cups, was born in Spain but played for El Tri in the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games. Jorge Romo followed suit. Born in Cuba to Mexican parents, in a similar situation to that of Marcelo Flores, Romo played in the 1950, 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cups.
Spanish-born Carlos Blanco, who played for Necaxa, was part of the Mexican squad for the 1954 and 1958 FIFA World Cups. Carlos Lara, born in Argentina and former Zacatepec player, was a part of the Mexican National Team en route to the 1962 FIFA World Cup but missed the tournament due to injury.
A little over 50 years had to pass until we saw the next player not born in Mexico to represent the country’s national team on a senior level: Gabriel Caballero, the Club Pachuca legend that played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, starting against Croatia and playing against Ecuador and Italy.
After El Eterno came Antonio Naelson Sinha, one of the most technically gifted players for El Tri in the past 20 years. Sinha played in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, famously scoring against Iran in the opener of the tournament in Germany against Iran. Someone else who shared the same tournaments albeit with a varied level of success was Guillermo Franco. The Monterrey icon played in 2006 and 2010 but never managed to score in soccer’s top stage.
NUREMBERG, GERMANY – JUNE 11: (L to R) Pavel Pardo and Guillermo Franco of Mexico celebrate after teammate Omar Bravo scores the opening goal during the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Group D match between Mexico and Iran at the Frankenstadion on June 11, 2006 in Nuremberg, Germany. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
A flurry of unsuccessful players on a national team level followed. Leandro Augusto was called up by Sven-Göran Eriksson en route to the 2010 World Cup, as was Matías Vuoso, who saved El Tri from failing to make the 2009 Hexagonal thanks to a miraculous goal against Canada. Then came Lucas Ayala in a 2009 friendly and Damián Álvarez in a 2012 friendly, followed by Christian Giménez unsuccessfully featuring in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage.
The newest of the non-Mexico born players to be called up to the national team is Rogelio Funes Mori. The former River Plate man even made his senior debut for Argentina in a 2012 friendly but was never a consistent part of the national team rosters. Funes Mori has scored five goals for Mexico but is yet to be seen as a critical part of Martino’s side. Other players that have been rumored to be called up are Julio Furch and Matheus Doria, but nothing is official as of yet.
With a mixed bag of results for players not born in Mexico, it’s up to Flores to change that perception, but based on this talent and his results for the Arsenal youth teams, it’s not inconceivable to believe it’s possible.
Marcelo Flores training with the U-20 Mexican National Team in November 2021 (Photo credit: @miseleccionmx).
