This talented goalkeeper could represent 3 countries 6:41
(CNN Spanish) -
Historically, in soccer there are players who due to a dual nationality have had the option of choosing which country to represent, and a select group has been able to play with more than one senior team.
We can remember the precedents of the players of the former Soviet Union, where there were footballers who played in up to four national teams after the end of the USSR.
Or Yugoslavia, where some players represented three teams.
Here the case of Dejan Stankovic stands out, who played 3 World Cups with three different teams: Yugoslavia in France 1998, Serbia-Montenegro in Germany 2006 and Serbia in South Africa 2010.
But that a player has three options of countries at the table to choose which senior team he will represent in the future, that is a separate case.
This is what happens to Alexei Rojas Fedorushchenko, a 16-year-old young man of British nationality, the son of a Russian mother and a Colombian father.
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Alexei currently plays for Arsenal FC in England, in the U-16 category.
Last week, the first team coach, Mikel Arteta, invited the young goalkeeper to join the training of the first team of the cannoneer team, an invitation that did not go unnoticed in the world of football.
“On Monday, my coach called my father, told him that Mikel Arteta had decided to invite me to train with the first squad, I arrived on Tuesday to train with them and I spoke in Spanish with Mikel and he gave me very good comments.
Many will think that I was excited, for me it was something different, having gone to train with the first team on Tuesday was going to show Mikel and the club why one day I am going to be the starting goalkeeper of Arsenal FC ”, he said. Alexei to CNN in Spanish.
The young man is the starting goalkeeper of the Arsenal U-16, trains with the club's U-18 and is the starting goalkeeper of the Colombia U-17 team.
Alexei's origins are in two totally different regions.
His mother, Yulia Fedorushchenko, was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, a city in the southern Ural Mountains, the geographical border between Europe and Asia.
Alexei's father, Fernando Rojas, is originally from Bogotá and grew up in the eastern plains of Colombia, in Villavicencio.
With a multicultural family like Alexei's and playing soccer in one of the sports mecca cities, changing languages in conversation is something very natural for them.
“At home, we use four languages, we use three with Alexei and our other son Romeo, Spanish, English, Russian, and between my wife and I we speak in Greek so that our children sometimes don't understand us”, says Alexei's father .
In football, something that helps a goalkeeper to position himself early in an elite club is height, and this is something that Alexei has.
At just 16 years old, this young goalkeeper is 1.84 meters tall.
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This has put him in the orbit of the minor teams of England and Colombia, in which he has already attended training sessions, while the Russian team also has him in their sights.
With England, he has been in sub-15 calls and has played in two cycles of this category.
While in 2020, Alexei was called up to play for the Colombian national team in the U-17 microcycle.
Even so, it is striking that Alexei has decided to be with the Colombian national team.
“I am very grateful for the opportunity that the Colombia team has given me, they have given me the best opportunity and that is why I am with Colombia.
I have attended the convocation with England, but I am with Colombia.
I feel Colombian, and I only think of the Colombia team, ”says Alexei.
With references such as the German goalkeepers Manuel Neuer and Marc-André ter Stegen, Alexei says that he is very clear about what he wants to do with his sports and academic career.
His mother, Yulia, is a risk analyst in the clean renewable energy sector and his father, Fernando, works in the international real estate sector.
Both have instilled the values of the study in the young promise of the Arsenal goal and the Colombian national team.
“I understand the importance of studying, so I can be a more complete person;
a more educated person can think better and make better decisions on and off the court, "says Alexei.
This young British-Colombian-Russian is a lover of arepas and is a faithful believer that Colombian breakfast is “the best breakfast in the world”.
His Colombian roots, his Colombian culture, the one that his father instilled in him and his visits to Colombia and the time he has spent with the U-17 team have marked the young goalkeeper.
“With the U-17 group and the coaching staff I found something special, I found a familiar environment to train, I arrived and everyone accepted me.
I have some very clear things in my life, I want to be the best goalkeeper in the world and I want to be the starting goalkeeper of the Colombian senior team one day and play in Barranquilla, play world championships with Colombia and why not, aspire to be champions of a World Cup ”.
British with Colombian relatives in English football today
Iancarlo Poveda is one of the British players that stands out on this select list.
The forward, who made his Premier League debut in Manchester City and is currently part of Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds United, is playing on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
Steven Alzate, an English midfielder with Colombian nationality, currently plays for Brighton & Hove Albion and has already been able to wear the shirt of the Colombian national team.
Kevin Gonzales Quintero is another Colombian-British player who is currently at the Crystal Palace academy.
The midfielder has already been called up to the Colombian under-17 team.
Colombians who have played in the Premier League
The Premier League of England, which many consider the best league on the planet, has already had several Colombian players in traditional clubs.
There have been 18 Colombian players who have arrived in Great Britain to play in the Premier League.
The league has had several forwards of Colombian nationality.
The one who opened the door was Faustino Asprilla, one of the most famous strikers in the history of Colombian football, who played for Newcastle in the 90s, accompanied in the Toon Army attack by the legendary Alan Shearer, the club's top scorer. with 206 goals and top scorer in the Premier League with 260 goals.
Another player who went through the Premier League is the globetrotter Hamilton Ricard, who wore the Middlesbrough jersey for four seasons and played in 8 foreign countries.
Juan Pablo Ángel, idol of Argentina's River Plate, played for Aston Villa from 2001 to 2007 with the Birmingham Lions, scoring 72 goals in 205 games.
Hugo Rodallega played for two teams in England, Wigam and Fulham, in seven years.
Radamel Falcao García, top scorer for the Colombia team with 35 goals, had a fleeting stint in England where he played for two of the most iconic clubs in the Premier League: Manchester United and Chelsea FC.
Other Colombian players who have gone through the Premier are:
Yerry Mina: Everton FC
James Rodriguez: Everton FC
Juan Camilo Hernández: Watford
Davinson Sánchez: Tottenham Hotspurs
Jefferson Lerma: Bournemouth
David Ospina: Arsenal FC
Carlos Sánchez: Aston Villa and West Ham United
Juan Guillermo Cuadrado: Chelsea FC
Pablo Armero: West Ham United
Camilo Zúñiga: Watford
José Izquierdo: Brighton & Hove Albion
Victor Ibarbo: Watford
Jhon Viafara: Portsmouth and Southhampton
Bernardo Espinosa: Middlesbrough
David González: Manchester City
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