With the majority of athletes born abroad, the Morocco team was the 1st African team to reach the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup
Few would have predicted the success of the Morocco national team at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Before the tournament, the team was ranked 22nd in the world and had never reached the round of 16. But they defeated the Belgians, Spanish and Portuguese – teams that, both at the time and today, are among the ten best in the world – on their way to becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup.
The Moroccans’ campaign was not only remarkable (and fully deserved). It goes beyond football, as 14 of the 26 players in the squad were born outside the country, more than any other nation in the tournament.
The 2026 World Cup will feature more foreign-born players than any previous edition. Almost 1/4 of the 1,248 players called up to the national teams were born in a country other than the one they will represent.
In some teams, the proportions are much higher than that – 96% of the Curaçao team’s players were born abroad, as were 85% of those on the Democratic Republic of Congo team and 73% of those on the Moroccan team. In total, foreign-born players make up the majority of members in eight of the tournament’s 48 teams.
Migration has been part of the history of the World Cup since its inception. In the 3rd edition of the tournament, in 1938, for example, 12% of the players represented a country other than the one in which they were born.
This was partly due to the fact that FIFA established the eligibility of football players for national teams until 1962, meaning that it was not uncommon for players to represent several countries throughout their careers.
Some players represent countries other than those in which they were born because they are eligible through a parent or grandparent. These players often emerge from diaspora communities created by previous waves of migration.
One example is Ivan Rakitić, a 2018 World Cup finalist. He was born and raised in Switzerland, but chose to represent the Croatian national team. In a 2025 interview, Rakitić said that when he had to choose between the two countries, his heart told him that he should play for the Croatian team.
Other players qualify through residency requirements. , for example, was born in Brazil, but played in 4 World Cups for the Portuguese national team between 2010 and 2022, after becoming a Portuguese citizen at the age of 24.
Foreign-born players, however, are only part of the story. The World Cup teams also have many . The 2018 World Cup-winning French team is perhaps the best-known example: 12 of the 23 players had African parents.
These patterns are not random. The French team reflects the country’s colonial and post-colonial ties to North and West Africa. Likewise, since the mid-2000s, the Swiss national team has been increasingly shaped by migration from the former Yugoslavia, following the conflicts and displacement that accompanied its dissolution in the 1990s.
England’s 2026 squad also tells a story about the country’s migration past. In addition to Marc Guéhi, born in Côte d’Ivoire, at least nine players have one parent born abroad. Most have family roots in former British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean, reflecting migration patterns to the UK after the Second World War.
At the same time, 24 English-born players were selected by other teams for the World Cup. This includes five who represent the Scottish team and 19 who play for countries outside the British Isles (including the USA, New Zealand and Ghana).
DOES THIS MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON THE FIELD?
Few studies have examined whether teams with more migrant players perform better on the field. But the available evidence suggests so.
One from 2022 analyzed all World Cups between 1970 and 2018 and found that teams with more foreign-born players generally advanced further in the tournament. On average, each additional foreign-born player was associated with about 0.15 more games played.
This relationship held even after taking into account broader differences between countries, suggesting that migration can offer advantages beyond those associated solely with wealth or football tradition.
Another looked at European teams that played in World Cups and European Championships between 1970 and 2018. Using players’ surnames to estimate their ancestral origins, the study measured the diversity of backgrounds within each squad and found that more diverse teams tended to perform better on average.
Specifically, the research found that a one standard deviation increase in diversity led to an increase in goal difference (the number of goals a team scores minus the number of goals it concedes) of about 1.3 per match, on average.
There are at least two factors that can explain these results. First, migration can expand the pool of players available for a national team. Ghana’s squad for the 2026 tournament relies heavily on diaspora communities in Western Europe. This allows it to recruit players trained in some of the strongest football systems in the world.
Second, migration can increase the diversity of skills available within a squad. Football players need technical skills to be successful on the field. Central defenders, for example, are usually tall and physically strong. More offensive players, on the other hand, generally need speed.
A more diverse population will likely provide a wider pool of potential players for each position, resulting in better complementarity at the team level.
This does not mean that migration guarantees victory in the World Cup. Argentina’s national team won the 2022 World Cup without a single foreign-born player in its squad. Success also depends on population size, economic wealth and technical work. Having Lionel Messi playing for your team also helps.
The limited evidence available, however, indicates that migration can influence international football beyond simply altering the composition of competing teams.
If Morocco’s 2022 squad had been limited to players born and raised in the country, would they still have reached the semi-finals? We will never know for sure. But if the Curacao national team pulls it off this time, the role of migration in football success could become harder to ignore.
This text was originally published by on June 9, 2026. The content is free for republication, the source is cited, and has been adapted to the standard of Poder360.
