Citizenship for Roger (Brazilian soccer player from Legia Warszawa)...

Leo wants citizenship for Roger, so he can play in our national team. Leo is doing some good things but this one is just a shame. He should shut the hell up.

Greg please explain to me the player you are talking about is his name simply 'Roger' as in a Brazilian or something???

Leo Beenhakker is a brilliant coach, i would have been happy with him being appointed england manager, with all his experience in football he can bring a lot to anyside, just look how he has transformed Poland

Roger Guerreiro (Brazilian), Legia Warsaw player ;)
Said to be a very good player, and applying for Polish citizenship, he could be part of the 23 Poles to the Euro 2008.

A question G, what do/did you think of Oli ?

is he Brazilian or Mexican something like that?? How long has he been playing in Poland and how old is he??


I know it was aimed at Greg but i know who your talking about here, Olisedebe or however you spell it. I think that players literally changing nationality like this should not be allowed unless they are 'BORN' in the country they wish to represent

Brazilian.



He's been playing in Poland for 2 years now...and he's 25.



Well...i'm not against it if it remains an exception, i don't want a generalization ;)

if it can happen for one then it can happen for any that want to follow on


for me two years is not long enough to say, I AM POLISH NOW, i understand him wanting to play international football, however in England you need to be a resident for a few years longe before you can start changing your nationality :)


thought so thanks for you explanations to

I agree to a certain degree .... but what about having one or both parents from that country ?

I seem to remember a certain Jack Charlton, then manager of Rep of Ireland, always checking to see if a player's grandparents were Irish , thus making them eligible to play for his team !

I think making someone eligible to play for a ceratin country should be determined by whether they were born in that country or through their blood line ... at least one of the players' parents should have been born in the country they wish to represent.

i think a player should be able to play for another country's national team if he identified in this league. like deco plays for portugal or asamoah, podolski, klose for germany, aurelio for turkey etc.. if he is better than all poles, why not?

how crazy is that, that means man utd could have potentially made Ronaldo an england player, lol, a bit silly to me.



i think your right there, let them play for the country if they were born there or if one of their immediate parents is of that nationality

This isn't the same, I understand that, but a few years back an American baseball player named Jason Simontocci tried playing for the American Olympic Baseball squad (back when Olympic baseball existed) he was deemed not good enough to make the team. He was of Italian heritage and was allowed to try out for the Italian team. He made it and played well and was even able to resurrect his major league career. America is unique because nearly all Americans have heritage in other countries, but I don't see anything wrong with Roger wanting to play for Poland's national team, ESPECIALLY if he's trying to become a Polish citizen. However, there are extremes, like Tornado mentioned. Do you think Henry will play for Spain next tourny simply because he plays for Barcelona? Doubtful. Roger wants to be Polish, so let him.

no problem if ronaldo agrees, would he do that? no

if he couldn't get in the portugal team i'm sure he would jump at the chance to play intenational football!!!! It would be a disgrace

ludicrous idea !

Just playing in the English Premiership should not automatically make you eligible to play for the English national team.

Place of birth or parentage should be the only criteria on which eligibility is based :o)

but there's no way he won't be taken for portugal team.
i don't think it'll happen for european countries, it would only agreed by players from countries like brazil when there's no chance to play for original national team.

eduardo da silva played in croatia since he was 15 and i think there's no badness when he plays for croatian national team too. croats have a big role in his development.

So is Leo Beenhakker trying to get him citizenship or is Roger himself trying to get citizenship? If Beenhakker is trying to force this because of football I think that's a bit misguided. How long has Roger been in the league? I can recall watching for the 3 years I've been in Poland, but has he been here longer?

If Roger actually wants to be a citizen, and it's not being pushed without the standards everyone else applying for citizenship has to meet, then personally whats the issue?

A citizen of his new country is not legit to play for the national squad? That would disqualify quite a few national team and Olympic team athletes based on this kind of thinking.

There's an article about Roger Guerreiro in Futbol.pl magazine (March edition) ;

With regards playing for the Polish national team, Roger states that it is not true that he has applied for Polish citizenship, but he does not say 'no' to one day representing Poland because no-one knows what the future holds.

Roger does however state that he prays that Dunga, Brazil's manager, will see the light and choose him to play for Brazil ! He says that like every Brazilian, he would give up nearly everything for the chance to represent Brazil.

I wouldn't hold my breath, waiting to see Roger in the white and red of Poland at Euro 2008!

Finaly he has Polish citizenship.

so does this mean he will play for Poland at Euro2008 ?

This is just pathetic way of self-promotion by Kaczynski and miserable attempt from Polish federation to improve our chances on Euros sacrificing even fair play. As far as sport is concentrated, better honorary defeat than dishonest victory.

Why football players have always easier access to obtain citizenship than other hardworking foreigners who care about it much more? The answer is political populism!

it seems that yes

please follow your own advice. thank you.

This should be nipped in the bud quickly. It seems that the national teams are going to become like league teams i.e. not representative of the fans who pay to watch them. Every national team is going to have a Brazilian or African who isnt good enough to play for their true team so they're going to play for whoever offers them a passport.
I reckon the only fans who would support this are those who dont support their local team anyway so just see this development as a natural progression.

Its only a small step from this to us all not supporting our national teams anyway and just following Brazil. It'll be like Man Utd are in England with every glory hunting loser just following whoever is gonna win a trophy.

How can he play in Euro2008? When Leo picked his provisional squad, Roger did not have citizenship so was not included. He can't suddenly be slotted in...

I am not so sure ;) this show with t-shirts, passport and president ...

we will see

I wouldn't like to think someone else would lose a place to simply allow Roger in. If this is the case, why does Leo bother to pick a provisional squad?

You share point of view of majority of Polish people who watch football ... I don't want this Roger too ...

I agree with you .... can you imagine such a player as Roger playing with the same national pride and commitment as a player born and bred in Poland .... or at least having some family connection with Poland ?

Does Roger know the words to the Polish national anthem ? ....(having said that I understand that Wayne Rooney doesn't know the words to God Save the Queen !)

I don't believe that Roger will wear the white and red of Poland with the same honour/pride as he would if he was offered the chance to play for Brazil.

If Brazil suddenly contacted him , there is no doubt in my mind where he would choose to play !

Also, the Polish football supporter will have less to associate him with a player like Roger than say Smolarek or Boruc.

I still stand by my opinion that



I would rather the Polish national team was comprised of true Polish players who have some hereditary link to the country, than some assimilated player who plays for Poland only because his own country of birth does not want him ! So what if this player has played football in Poland for x years .... maybe if he had lived in Poland from early childhood then maybe .......:o)

I can see this discussion going on and on and on ......

If you've heard his speaking voice you'll agree that him not singing is probably a good thing.




True. I think some people forget that football teams are'nt named after ideologies, or businesses or people but places. A team is a representative for a place and its people, its war without the shooting and during the big tournaments it is brilliant. A big part of what makes these tounaments so enjoyable is the partisan nature of the crowds and the distinctly differing footballing styles and cultures of each country. We watch these games expecting the latin players to show flair and to cheat alot and to see the north European teams showing industry and mental strength. If each team has players of differing nationalities then we'll lose these differences.

Unbelievable!!! That Kilkline and me for once agree!