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Australian Dual Nationals 🇦🇺🏳️

The question is, was the push from Popovic stronger than the pull from Croatia?

Players need to get over the childish thoughts and bide their time but it's undeniable behaviours and outside noise influence their decisions.
 
Both Triantis and Segecic made a conscious decision to play for other National teams. I respect their decisions and accept them. You seem to think they were forced to make their decisions by a person who is the current national team coach who will likely finish his term as NT coach well before the careers of those players is over. By signing paperwork they made it clear where their allegiances lay in terms of any national team football. I think they made the decisions based on what they believed was best for them. If they made it out of spite because they didn't get game time (I don't believe that they did) one has to question if they have the temperament to succeed. Good luck to both of them in their respective careers. I will maintain that if these players really wanted to play for Australia then they wouldn't have switched. If you can't accept that then thats your issue to deal with.
You are again conveniently stripping away all the context and choosing to ignore the root cause of WHY they turned their back on playing for the Socceroos after originally making the decision that THEY DID WANT TO PLAY FOR THE SOCCEROOS.

You and I are never going to agree on this mate. That much we can agree on! 🙂
 
What is exactly correct? 3 A caps is the general belief.
I don't know how or when the "3 Caps" myth started but it seems to me that it probably originated as either a misreading or a misunderstanding (maybe both) of the Rules relating to Change of Association, that FIFA amended in September 2020.

The new Rule which refers to 3 caps is contained in Article 9 Paragraph 2 (c). It actually applies to a very specific situation - where a player was fielded in Official Competition at Senior National Team level (the A Cap) before reaching the age of 21.

That player is eligible to Change Association only if all of 5 criteria are met. One of those criteria is that the player was fielded in no more than 3 matches in Official or Non-Official Competitions at "A Cap" level.

That's the only mention of 3 Caps anywhere in the Change of Association Eligibility Rules.

As far as I am aware, Australia does not have any player who would fall into this category - Paragraph 2 (c) of Article 9. I have attached a little decision tree I created some time ago using Google Sheets, in the hope that it might help better explain the specific requirements of Paragraph 2 (c).
 

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I don't know how or when the "3 Caps" myth started but it seems to me that it probably originated as either a misreading or a misunderstanding (maybe both) of the Rules relating to Change of Association, that FIFA amended in September 2020.

The new Rule which refers to 3 caps is contained in Article 9 Paragraph 2 (c). It actually applies to a very specific situation - where a player was fielded in Official Competition at Senior National Team level (the A Cap) before reaching the age of 21.

That player is eligible to Change Association only if all of 5 criteria are met. One of those criteria is that the player was fielded in no more than 3 matches in Official or Non-Official Competitions at "A Cap" level.

That's the only mention of 3 Caps anywhere in the Change of Association Eligibility Rules.

As far as I am aware, Australia does not have any player who would fall into this category - Paragraph 2 (c) of Article 9. I have attached a little decision tree I created some time ago using Google Sheets, in the hope that it might help better explain the specific requirements of Paragraph 2 (c).
As far as I'm able to read t's not meeting all 5 criteria - it's 5 separate criteria that each have their own subset of criteria. Players only need to meet one. This is pretty evident in the explainer: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/ccab990abf45fcf6/original/ro8mje8vw98yp3rvfbmi-pdf.pdf

It would be all 5 criteria if there was an 'and' at the end of every one of the 5 criteria, like there is after each subset of criteria.

I'm probably explaining over semantics here to be honest and discussing something completely different than what you are without realising it - but you are right in that the 3 caps has to be from under the age of 21, and hasn't played for at least 3 years.

The graphic you've made only explains one of the 5 situations that FIFA will ratify a change of association for a player (Article 9 Paragraph 2 (c) as you've mentioned),
 
As far as I'm able to read t's not meeting all 5 criteria - it's 5 separate criteria that each have their own subset of criteria. Players only need to meet one. This is pretty evident in the explainer: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/ccab990abf45fcf6/original/ro8mje8vw98yp3rvfbmi-pdf.pdf

It would be all 5 criteria if there was an 'and' at the end of every one of the 5 criteria, like there is after each subset of criteria.

I'm probably explaining over semantics here to be honest and discussing something completely different than what you are without realising it - but you are right in that the 3 caps has to be from under the age of 21, and hasn't played for at least 3 years.

The graphic you've made only explains one of the 5 situations that FIFA will ratify a change of association for a player (Article 9 Paragraph 2 (c) as you've mentioned),
We are talking about different things. I'm referring only to 1 of the 5 - not all 5 of the situations you are referring to.

I'm replying to John's question about the 3 caps thingy. I'm not talking about all of FIFAs 5 situations - only the one in Para 2 (c). I'm well aware that 4 other situations, Paras 2 (a), (b), (d) and (e) exist. But none of them makes any reference to 3 caps - therefore they are irrelevant to my reply to John's question.

Hope this clarifies what I'm talking about in my answer to John.
 
The 3 cap thing was often quoted by commentators and managers alike.
Ok. I can't recall any instances of that but if such people did quote it, then they were either incorrect or were privy to some sort of insider ruling from FIFA that is not reflected in the FIFA Change of Association Rules.

I have attached a screenshot of the actual wording used by FIFA.
 

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Another one lost. Either Popa’s fault or these players feel some weird connection to a country they’ve never been to.
I don't think you can blame Popovic for Skoko - he was tied to Croatia well before the time Popovic became Australia's coach.

Skoko was tied in May 2023, when he played for Croatia in the UEFA European U17 Championship.
 

Not to make people panic but things could get worse....
We're all thinking it. Bos, McGree, Circati injuries. Basically we're going to have a mixed squad go to the world cup and they'll look cohesive under Popovic but it could be duller than 2018.
 
Coaches throwing world cup gigs around now. Bennie is potentially eligible for Hong Kong too.

Surely Scotland have enough of their own solid picks they wouldn't worry about Bennie as it's more the world cup being spotlighted rather than something long term. Post world cup countries will be glad they jostled as the calendar resumes.
 
Coaches throwing world cup gigs around now. Bennie is potentially eligible for Hong Kong too.

Surely Scotland have enough of their own solid picks they wouldn't worry about Bennie as it's more the world cup being spotlighted rather than something long term. Post world cup countries will be glad they jostled as the calendar resumes.
You would think so, but Croatia are also still getting diaspora to switch and they’re even better than Scotland. Meanwhile the only men’s player we gained last year was frigging Marcus Ferkranus.
 
Croatia have quite an aging squad, Segecic will probably be good enough to be in and around their national squad in a couple of years it seems.
 
Lack of decent young players coming through?
I don’t have any great insight into it, but looking at their youth squads on wiki, it doesn’t really seem like it. Someone playing regularly and scoring in the Champ would be one of the better prospects.

At the moment, Orsic, Perisic and Kramaric (all between 33 and 37) are still making Croatian squads, which points to a lack of decent youth coming through in Segecic’s position.
 
I don’t have any great insight into it, but looking at their youth squads on wiki, it doesn’t really seem like it. Someone playing regularly and scoring in the Champ would be one of the better prospects.

At the moment, Orsic, Perisic and Kramaric (all between 33 and 37) are still making Croatian squads, which points to a lack of decent youth coming through in Segecic’s position.
Asked ai about wide attackers and cams born after 2002 and they have a regular in his position in seri a and basel both at a young age plus a regular at zagreb

Championship at 2004 is definitely competitive but a long shot
 
Asked ai about wide attackers and cams born after 2002 and they have a regular in his position in seri a and basel both at a young age plus a regular at zagreb

Championship at 2004 is definitely competitive but a long shot
Yeah I’m not sure he’ll be a regular, but he’s got the CV to be in and around the squad. He might be their 5th or 6th choice (much as he is for us), but Croatia aren’t stupid enough to let an opportunity like that pass.
 
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