Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte has successfully switched his nationality from France to Spain. This was approved recently by Fifa. The 26-year-old was granted Spanish citizenship earlier in the week, so he can now play for Spain at Euro 2020 this summer.
Aymeric Laporte Picks Spain over France
Aymeric Laporte has not made any senior appearance for France. He has only played for their youth teams which qualifies him to play Spain, his second country. A Fifa statement said he could play for Spain with “immediate effect”.
Aymeric Laporte was born in France but has spent the required number of years a non-citizen can stay in a country before getting citizenship. He joined Manchester City for a then club-record £57m in January 2018 from Spanish side Athletic Bilbao.
Last year, in Fifa’s annual congress meeting, they made the changes and said players could switch countries if they had not made any senior appearance for the other country or played more than three matches for a country before 21.
They also said if the player has not been featured at a World Cup or continental tournament, they can switch country.
