FIFA World Cup Thrives on Diaspora Players

Folarin Balogun, star striker for the United States Men's National Team, helped to lead his country into the World Cup knockout rounds on Friday. He could just as easily have been trying to knock them out. Born in New York to Nigerian parents and raised in England, he was eligible to represent three nations. He's not the only one. Twelve additional members of the 26-man US roster were also eligible to represent other countries. And the US is far from unique. Nearly one-quarter of the players at this World Cup are representing a country other than the one in which they were born, up from roughly 9% in 2006.