(CNN Spanish) --
The soccer World Cup is one of the greatest manifestations of national identities and patriotic sentiment around the world.
But football in a globalized world, of migrations, is also the expression of the mobilization of people, be it for family reasons or for sporting purposes.
That is why it is not uncommon for several of the teams that compete in the World Cup to have players who were not born in the country they represent.
These are the 11 most prominent, the selection of expatriates.
Senegal: Edouard Mendy
The successful Chelsea goalkeeper is a member of the Senegal national team, where his mother is from.
His father is from Guinea-Bissau.
(Credit: George Wood/Getty Images)
But Mendy was born in Montivilliers, France.
He could have played for any of the three teams and even played friendlies with Guinea-Bissau.
But he finally made his debut in Senegal in 2018.
His cousin, Ferland Mendy, a Real Madrid player, plays for the French national team.
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Uruguay: Fernando Muslera
One of the references of Uruguay, historical of the Óscar Washington Tabárez cycle, was not born in that country.
Fernando Muslera, during a match with Turkish club Galatasaray in 2019. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
Goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was born in Buenos Aires in 1986. FIFA says that he was born shortly after Argentine Pedro Pablo Pasculli's goal against Uruguay in the World Cup, which meant the heavenly elimination from the tournament in Mexico.
Eight months later, his family returned to Uruguay and he is completely Uruguayan.
"With all due respect, my passport says Argentine nationality, but my feelings are one hundred percent Uruguayan," he told FIFA.
He is an idol of Turkish Galatasary and also won titles with Lazio.
With Uruguay he won the Copa América in 2011.
Portugal: Pepe
It is one of the best known cases.
Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira was born in 1983 in Maceió, Brazil, and his career began with Corinthians Alagoano.
Pepe, Portugal — Képler Laverán Lima Ferreira, known as Pepe, plays as a defender for the Portugal national team.
Born in Brazil and nationalized in Portugal in 2007, he was chosen as the best player in the Euro 2016 final in which Portugal won its first international title.
(Credit: Getty Images)
At the age of 18, the defender was signed by Martítimo de Madeira.
He then went to Sporting and then to Porto, where he was a figure.
He became a Portuguese citizen in 2007 and that same year he made his debut with the European team, never having been selected in the youth categories of Brazil.
He became a legend with Real Madrid and with Portugal he has played in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Despite his age, he is a benchmark and one of those called up for Qatar 2022.
United States: Sergiño Dest
The American defender, a player for AC Milan, was born in Almere, the Netherlands.
His mother is Dutch and his father American.
He played in the academy at Almerece City FC and moved on to Ajax.
He was signed by Barcelona in 2020 and was the first American to score a goal for the culé club.
Despite growing up in the Netherlands, in 2019 he decided on the US team, and with that shirt he played in the U-17 World Cup.
Both the United States and the Netherlands were left out of the 2018 World Cup.
Canada: Alphonso Davies
He is one of the stars of Bayern Munich and one of the most outstanding North American players in decades.
But his personal story is also one of unparalleled achievement.
Canadian midfielder Alphonso Davies, here signing autographs and taking photos with fans, helped lead his country to the World Cup.
(Credit: Don Mackinnon/AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
The 22-year-old's story began in a refugee camp in Ghana, where he was born to Liberian parents fleeing their country's civil war.
When he was five years old, Davies and his family left the Buduburam refugee camp and moved to start a new life in Edmonton, Canada.
His prodigious talent led Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps to try to recruit him when he was just 14 years old, and Davies almost didn't go.
His mother, Victoria, turned down Vancouver's offer, believing her son was not old enough to leave home.
But the mother changed her mind and Alphonso had a meteoric rise.
At the age of 16 he became a Canadian citizen and that same day he was called up to the national team.
Croatia: Mateo Kovacic
Midfielder Mateo Kovačić was born in Linz, Austria to Bosnian Croat parents, and played for LASK in that city as a child.
His family had left Bosnia in the middle of the Yugoslav wars.
Iceland midfielder Johann Gudmundsson confronts Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic during their match at Rostov Arena.
(Credit: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)
At the age of 13 his family moved to Zagreb, Croatia, where Mateo was recruited by Dinamo.
He is currently a Chelsea player.
He played in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, in which he was runner-up.
Play in Croatia from the children's categories.
France: Eduardo Camavinga
Eduardo Camavinga was born in a refugee camp in Angola, as recorded by the UNHCR.
His parents are Congolese.
The midfielder, today a star of Real Madrid, began at Stade Rennes Football Club, in France.
He is part of the France national team in the Under-21 category and at the age of 17 - when he became a citizen - he was the youngest player and goalscorer in France since 1945.
(Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
Switzerland: Xherdan Shaqiri
Another old acquaintance of the World Cups.
He has been the representative of Switzerland in 2010, 2014 and 2018 and now he is going for his fourth World Cup.
He was born in Gnjilane, former Yugoslavia, to Kosovar Albanian parents, in 1991. His parents left for Switzerland a year later, before — seven years later — Serb forces controlled by Slobodan Milosevic launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kosovar Albanians, which resulted in in at least 10,000 deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.
The footballer is eternally grateful to his adopted country for providing his family (he has three brothers) with a safe environment in which to grow up, and he praises his schoolmates for the ease of his integration into Swiss society.
His upbringing has resulted in a multifaceted linguistic and cultural approach to life, perhaps best summed up by Shaqiri having sewn the flags of Switzerland, Albania and Kosovo onto his booties.
"I live the Swiss mentality, but also the Kosovo mentality because when I go home, I speak Albanian. I live both mentalities, so for me it's not a big difference," he told CNN in 2015.
Clive Rose/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
In the 2018 World Cup he celebrated a goal in a controversial way by making the double eagle shape of the Albanian flag in a match against none other than Serbia that ended 2-1.
As if that were not enough, the other scorer for Switzerland in that match was Granit Xhaka, also the son of Kosovar Albanians.
Spain: Asu Fati
He is one of the great promises of Spain and returns to the national team after an injury.
The Barcelona striker was born in Guinea-Bissau and his family moved to Seville when he was a child.
He began his career in the Sevilla FC academy and then moved to Barça.
He has played with Spain since the Under-21s and was called up for the first time to the senior team in 2020.
He is the youngest goalscorer for La Roja.
Mexico: Rogelio Funes Mori
Funes Mori is one of those outliers: he became a citizen and a member of the Mexican national team as an adult.
He was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1991. His twin brother, Ramiro, is also a soccer player.
Rogelio Funes Mori in his debut with Mexico in 2021. Credit: Hector Vivas/Getty Images
He began his career at Ruver Plate, moved on to Portuguese soccer and then to Turkey, landing in 2015 at Club de Fútbol de Monterrey, Los Rayados.
He was called up to Argentina Under-18 in 2009 with Ramiro, when he was a member of River and also in the senior team in 2012, but for a friendly match.
The striker became a Mexican national and in 2021 he was called up by Gerardo "Tata" Martino in 2021 and in his debut he scored a goal.
He has played 16 games with Mexico.
England: Raheem Sterling
England striker Raheem Shaquille Sterling, who has made 79 appearances for the national team and scored 19 goals, was born in Kingston, Jamaica.
As a small child his family moved to London.
He made his debut in the Sub-16 in 2009 and since then he has been called up in all categories until the senior level in 2012.
He currently plays for Cheslea and has played in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, in which England was fourth.
With information from Matias Grez, Don Riddell and Piers Edwards
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