United States star Folarin Balogun is only playing for country at World Cup because of incredible loophole
Of all the players representing their country in the World Cup, it is United States star Folarin Balogun has the most incredible story behind his international allegiance.
Balogun scored twice in his World Cup debut against Paraguay last week as Mauricio Pochettino's men made a dream start to their campaign on home soil.
The Monaco striker will be looking to add to his tally of 11 goals in the second group game against Australia at the Lumen Field in Seattle.
Balogun is approaching 30 caps for the USMNT, having received his first call-up back in June 2023.
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An Arsenal academy product, Balogun played for England at youth level but was also able to play for Nigeria through his parents.
His eligibility to play for the US comes after he was born in Brooklyn, New York on 3 July 2001.
However he was only born there because his parents had been visiting family in New York from London.
The story of how Folarin Balogun came to play for the United States at World Cup
The story goes that Balogun's mother Florence was heavily pregnant and was not allowed on the flight back because staff at the airport deemed her to be too far along in her pregnancy to board.
Balogun was born a few weeks later in Brooklyn, before the family returned home two months later.
He grew up in London and joined Arsenal's academy at the age of eight, playing 10 times in the first-team.
The US came calling after seeing Balogun bang in the goals in France during a loan spell with Reims, where he found the net 21 times in 37 Ligue One games.
He had turned out for England's Under 21 side but withdraw from a camp and the US circled like sharks, rolling out the red carpet to try and get him to switch allegiance.
Balogun was given tickets to watch the Orlando Magic vs the New York Knicks in the NBA and his application to change national team was approved in May 2023.
"When I committed, and throughout the whole cycle, and the whole journey to me being at this point, I've always said the fans gave me so much motivation and showed me so much support," Balogun said on Friday when asked about representing the US.
"For me, the most important thing has always been to be able to repay that. I just want to continue to show the fans I made the right decision."
However, the irony is that under Donald Trump's proposed order, Balogun would not be considered a US citizen.
In a bid to toughen immigration, Trump wishes to deny citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US illegally or on any temporary visas - which was the case for Balogun's family as his family was on a tourist visa.
Being born in the US automatically granted him citizenship but the Trump administration winning the upcoming Supreme Court case would change the ruling going forward.
Many other US players have links to other countries, including Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson.
Robinson was born in Milton Keynes to a father who was also from England but emigrated to New York and became an American citizen.
Topics: Donald Trump, FIFA World Cup, US Sports
Josh Lawless