English-born defensive midfielder Hamza Choudhury played for Bangladesh in its 0-0 draw in a 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifier match against India on Tuesday. A Leicester City academy graduate, Choudhury, 27, had played seven games for the English U21 side in 2018-19. But being born to a Bangladeshi mother, and with next to know prospects of making it into a stacked English side, he switched his international allegiance to Bangladesh last year, before finally making his full international debut on Tuesday. Choudhury is not the only South Asian-origin footballer playing in a top European league. As such, it is not uncommon for sportspersons to represent countries to which they trace their ancestry, even if they were not born or have not grown up there. Take for instance Barbados-born cricketer Joffra Archer playing for England (his father is English) or England-born footballer Michail Antonio playing for Jamaica (where his parents are from). But Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cannot play for the Indian football team — even if they themselves are willing. Here’s why. A problem with regulations PIOs are people who held Indian passports at some point of time, or whose parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were born and permanently resided in India, or who are married to an Indian citizen or another PIO. Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) is a scheme for PIOs that gives them certain visa and other benefits. But this does not amount to dual citizenship — existing Indian laws do not allow individuals to simultaneously hold the citizenship of India and another country. For PIO or OCI footballers who want to represent India, they must first give up their foreign passport for an Indian one. This is because FIFA rules state that players who want to represent a country must bear its passport. “The only document considered to be valid proof of a player’s identity and nationality shall be a permanent international passport that explicitly, and in Latin characters, states the player’s full name, date of birth, place of birth and nationality,” according to FIFA’s Commentary on the Rules Governing Eligibility to Play for Representative Teams. India’s rankings an issue There have been plenty of instances where players of Indian origin have wanted to play for the national team. But things are complicated by India’s lowly FIFA ranking. (It is currently ranked 126 according to the FIFA website). Scottish Premier League player Yan Dhanda, a product of the Liverpool academy, spoke about how India’s poor rankings mean that players who give up their EU passports will find it tough to play club football in Europe due to work visa issues. Similar work visa issues were the reason Sunil Chhetri could not sign for Queens Park Rangers. “Giving up my passport means I can't play professionally in the UK and some European clubs, due to India's FIFA ranking. Permitting OCI cards, similar to other countries, will allow me to represent the Indian football team as a dual national,” Dhanda had said on Twitter. The Football Association (FA) must endorse any international player — someone like Dhanda would be classified as one if they give up their British passport — for an International Sportsperson visa. This is a must for a player to be able to play in any British league. A key criteria for this endorsement is the FIFA ranking of the player’s country. Dhanda, who was recently contacted by India coach Manolo Marquez, said that while the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was keen on bringing in PIO players, the Indian government has thus far been the stumbling block by not allowing dual citizenship. Government’s hard stance There are currently many players of Indian origin that play in Europe’s top five leagues. The prevalent belief is that bringing those players would immediately lift the quality of the national team. But there are also those who believe that bringing in PIO players would kill the hopes of developing grassroots football in India. In 2008 the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports issued a notice that stated that only Indian nationals could represent the country in international sporting events and in national teams. This was contested in court by Karm Kumar, a squash player who held an OCI card, but without any avail. “As long as the policy of the Government of India. does not recognise dual citizenship in all aspects, this Court cannot accept the submission that even foreign passport holders should be permitted to play for India in international sporting events,” the court held. Since then attempts have been made to start a dialogue with the Indian government to relax these rules, but those efforts haven't paid off yet. Back in 2011, talks were on to get Michael Chopra, a footballer who had represented Newcastle United, to play for India in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. But nothing concrete came out of these talks. AIFF’s position Recently AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, a member of the ruling BJP, stated that a study would be conducted to understand the feasibility of PIO players playing for the national team “If we want to open up a dialogue and look into various ways of allowing such players to represent the Indian Football Teams, then we need concrete and comprehensive data to back up our arguments, which is why we have constituted this Task Force,” said Chaubey, according to the AIFF website. “We will first form a comprehensive database on the OCI and PIO footballers around the world, and then look for the best possible ways to use such players to take Indian football forward,” he said. All this said, there is no guarantee that bringing in PIO players will suddenly fix India’s ailing football team. China for example, tried to naturalise players in the past, but that did not bring about significant results even at the Asian level.
