Nearly a quarter of players at the 2026 FIFA World Cup were born outside the countries they represent, with 288 of 1,248 participants (23.07%) qualifying through ancestry or naturalization, according to ESPN. High-profile examples include Erling Haaland (Norway), Michael Olise (France), Scott McTominay (Scotland) and Antoine Semenyo (Ghana), all born in England; six members of the U.S. squad were born abroad, including Gio Reyna (Germany) and Sergiño Dest (Netherlands); and Curaçao named 25 players born outside the Caribbean island, with Tahith Chong the only player in the squad born on the island, ESPN reported.
International teams have increasingly turned to ancestry in selection since the Republic of Ireland made extensive use of what became known as the “Granny Rule” at the 1990 World Cup, when 13 squad members were born off the island, according to ESPN. The trend has produced some unexpected recruitment methods, including Cape Verde calling up defender Pico Lopes after a LinkedIn message, ESPN noted.
No player at this World Cup has followed as unusual a path as Dennis Dargahi to secure a place with Iran, ESPN reported. The 29-year-old Standard Liège forward, who previously played for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Celta Vigo and Union Saint-Gilloise, completed a last-minute citizenship drive last month and could make his Iran debut, under the surname Dargahi, against Group G rival Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday, ESPN said.
Dargahi — born Dennis Eckert in Germany and a former Germany under-19 international — adopted the surname of his aunt, Iranian actress Anahita Dargahi, after her social media post revealed his Iranian heritage, ESPN reported. He told the Gol Bezan podcast that Anahita posted a picture with him and his family and that “my body is Iranian blood, and I can’t hide that.”
Securing Iranian citizenship required DNA testing and paperwork because Iran grants nationality only to direct relatives of passport holders, ESPN reported. Dargahi, born to a German father and Spanish mother, traces Iranian ancestry to his paternal grandfather; with the grandfather deceased and the father never having obtained Iranian citizenship, the father traveled to Tehran to give a DNA sample that was tested against Anahita Dargahi’s. The process resolved in April and a passport was issued in May, clearing the way for his national-team call-up, according to ESPN.
