FIFA, Feruz and the new law

Is it possible that in the not so distant future the Scottish national team could consist entirely of players born outside of the country?

The chief executive of the Scottish Football Association Gordon Smith had been lobbying FIFA to utilise the new eligibility rule, agreed by the home nations, allows a player who was born in one country but spends at least five years of his education in another country to opt to be eligible for the latter.

With new manager Craig Levein compiling a definitive dossier of every player who may be eligible and stating he will be contacting every agent in the United Kingdom in a bid to assess who could be a future star for the country.

On 13 October 2009, Islam Feruz became the first player to use the new FIFA rule that meant despite being born in Somalia he could play for the Scotland Football team as he had been schooled in Scotland for the required five years.
Feruz, 15, came to Glasgow seven years ago with his mother and two younger sisters, seeking asylum because of violence between rival warlords.



While only 13 in 2008 he made his debut for Celtic under 19s and just under a year later he made his first team debut in the Tommy Burns Tribute Match. International honours soon followed and on 20 October 2009 Feruz made his international debut for Scotland's national under-17 football team against Cyprus U17s.

Feruz has been described as the best player of his generation by his youth coaches at Celtic and Scotland and he says “I have been very proud to live in Scotland. It’s a great country which is now my home and I will be proud to wear the Scotland jersey,”

First Ever International Fixture

30th of November 1872, West of Scotland Cricket Club at Hamilton Crescent in Partick Scotland. The first ever official association football international match would be played between Scotland and England.
 Incredibly all eleven Scottish players were selected from Queens Park FC, the top Scottish club of this era. Queens are still playing in the Scottish Third Division to this day and are the only amatuer club in the Scottish league. The England side consisted of players from nine different clubs with three of those representing Oxford University.
Paying an entrance fee of a shilling, the crowd totalled 4,000 but they had to wait as the kickoff for this eagerly awaited contest was delayed by twenty minutes due to fog. The Scots lined up in dark blue jerseys with the thistle embroidered with the English team in white shirts with the three lions on their chests.
The pitch wasn't the best due to the heavy rainfall that had descended on Glasgow for the previous three days but nothing could deter the expectant crowd that attended.
Reports from the game show Scotland had the edge with superior running and dribbling skills as was expected due to the Scots eleven all playing for the same club side. Players of this time predominately dribbled with the ball as there was no mention of any passing moves in any reports of the game. Although Scotland had a goal disallowed in the first half, the umpire stating the ball had gone over the tape which was used before crossbars were brought in, the game ended in a nil - nil stalemate.
This was the start of a great football rivalry between the two countries which has seen them play 110 times with England winning 45 times, Scotland winning 41 games with 24 draws.

Teams-

SCOTLAND: all Queens Park
	1	Robert W Gardner captain
	2	William Ker
	3	Joseph Taylor
	4	James Thomson
	5	James Smith
	6	Robert Smith
	7	Robert Leckie
	8	Alexander Rhind
	9	Billy MacKinnon
	10	Jimmy Weir
	11	David Wotherspoon

ENGLAND:
	1	Robert Barker (Hertfordshire Rangers)
	2	Ernest Greenhalgh (Notts County)
	3	Reginald de Courtenay Welch (Harrow Chequers)
	4	Frederick Chappell (Oxford University)
	5	William Maynard (1st Surrey Rifles)
	6	John Brockbank (Cambridge University)
	7	Charles Clegg (Sheffield Wednesday)
	8	Arnold Kirke-Smith (Oxford University)
	9	Cuthbert Ottaway (Oxford University) (c)
	10	Charles Chenery (Crystal Palace)
	11	Charles Morice (Barnes)