Footballers can choose their clubs, but not their countries. Not usually, anyway.
While some players have changed allegiance at international level, that remains rare and is only permitted these days if strict criteria are fulfilled.
So while elite footballers can move freely to the club of their choice and compete for the biggest prizes, many miss out on those opportunities internationally due to the place of their birth.
Here, a look at some top players to have emerged from smaller nations…
32. Alexander Hleb
Alexander Hleb’s move from Arsenal to Barcelona in 2008 did not really work out, despite the trophies he went on to win at Camp Nou, and he was never quite the same player after that.
But the Belarusian midfielder still enjoyed a fine career across many different European leagues and earned 80 caps for his country, scoring six goals.
31. Stevan Jovetic
Stevan Jovetic has played for the likes of Fiorentina, Manchester City, Inter, Sevilla and Olympiacos in a long and successful career.
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The striker featured for Serbia and Montenegro at Under-17 level, but has represented Montenegro since the nation’s independence in 2006. He was named Montenegrin Footballer of the Year in 2009 and 2015.
30. Goran Pandev
Goran Pandev played as a forward at Lazio, Inter and Napoli and won the treble during his time at Milan under Jose Mourinho in 2009/10.
Pandev represented North Macedonia at international level for 20 years between 2001 and 2021 and finished his career as the nation’s most-capped player and top scorer, with 122 appearances and 38 goals.
29. Jose Luis Chilavert
At his peak, Jose Luis Chilavert was considered one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world and he was hugely successful in Argentina, winning four championships, the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup with Velez Sarsfield in the 1990s.
Chilavert often took free-kicks and penalties and scored over 50 goals in his club career, plus eight internationally with Paraguay. He was named World Goalkeeper of the Year on three occasions by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).
28. Teofilo Cubillas
Teofilo Cubillas played as an attacking midfielder for Alianza Lima in his homeland and also had a three-year spell at Porto. He is widely considered to be Peru’s best-ever player.
Cubillas helped Peru win the Copa America in 1972 and was instrumental as the South Americans reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 1970 and 1978.
27. Keylor Navas
Keylor Navas seemed to save his best for the big moments at Real Madrid and the Costa Rican earned hero status at the Santiago Bernabeu as he helped Los Blancos to three Champions League crowns in a row between 2016 and 2018.
Navas, who has also played for Paris Saint-Germain, Levante and Nottingham Forest, has won over 100 international caps and was instrumental as Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup.
26. Edin Dzeko
Edin Dzeko has played for Manchester City, Roma, Inter, Wolfsburg and Fenerbahce in a long career, scoring over 350 goals along the way at club level.
Dzeko was born in Sarajevo and is Bosnia Herzegovina’s most famous footballer, as well as the nation’s all-time top scorer since its independence in 1992 after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
25. Eidur Gudjohnsen
Best known for spells at Chelsea and Barcelona, Eidur Gudjohnsen was one of the best forward players in Europe for much of the 2000s.
Born in Iceland, Gudjohnsen won 88 caps for the nation and scored 26 goals in a 20-year international career which concluded after two appearances as a substitute at Euro 2016.
24. Nemanja Vidic
Nemanja Vidic was one of the best central defenders of his generation and won five Premier League titles and a Champions League crown in a highly successful eight-year spell at Manchester United between 2006 and 2014.
Vidic is Serbian and the centre-back won 56 caps combined for Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia between 2002 and 2011.
23. Emmanuel Adebayor
Emmanuel Adebayor played for some of the biggest clubs in the world in a colourful and sometimes controversial career – including Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Tottenham.
Also a Champions League runner-up with Monaco, Adebayor represented Togo at international level and won 87 caps for his country, scoring 23 goals. He was named African Player of the Year in 2008.
22. Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs made an incredible 963 appearances for Manchester United in an impressive club career spanning 23 years between 1991 and 2014.
But the winger sometimes seemed less interested in playing for Wales. Giggs won 64 caps for his country, but missed 18 friendlies in a row earlier in his career and retired from international duty in 2007, having never represented his nation at a major tournament.
21. Jorge Alberto Gonzalez
Born in El Salvador, Jorge Alberto González is best remembered for his two spells at Cadiz in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Known as “El Mágico” or “Mágico González”, the forward possessed wonderful skills but was less interested in discipline or training. Diego Maradona once described him as “one of the 10 best players” he had seen. González won 62 caps for El Salvador and scored 21 goals in an international career spanning over two decades.
20. Jan Oblak
Slovenia may not be a hotbed for football talent, but the tiny central European nation has produced two world-class goalkeepers in recent years: Jan Oblak and Samir Handanovic.
Eyebrows were raised when Atletico Madrid paid €16 million to Benfica for Oblak in 2014, but the Slovenian went on to establish himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world over the next decade.
19. Paulino Alcantara
Paulino Alcantara is Barcelona’s second-highest scorer behind Lionel Messi, having hit 369 goals for the Catalan club between 1918 and 1927, although many of those came in friendlies.
Alcantara was born in the Philippines and represented the south-east Asian country at international level. He also played for both Catalonia and Spain during his time at Barça. Following his retirement from football, he became a doctor.
18. Frederic Kanoute
Frederic Kanoute helped Sevilla to two UEFA Cups and two Copas del Rey in a hugely successful spell at the Andalusian club between 2005 and 2012.
The former West Ham and Tottenham striker was born in France and represented Les Bleus at Under-21 level, but opted to play for Mali in 2004 after a lack of opportunities with the country of his birth. He scored 23 goals in 38 games for The Eagles.
17. Marek Hamsik
Marek Hamsik was an idol at Napoli in 12 years at the Italian club and went on to make over 400 appearances in Serie A during that time.
Named Slovakian Footballer of the Year on eight occasions and runner-up twice, Hamsik has won well over 100 caps for his country and is considered the nation’s best-ever player.
16. David Alaba
David Alaba is comfortable in central defence, at full-back or in midfield, making him one of the most versatile players of his generation.
Alaba spent 11 successful years at Bayern Munich before joining Real Madrid in 2021. At international level, he has won over 100 caps for Austria. By 2023, he had been named Austrian Player of the Year 10 times and is considered his nation’s best ever.
15. Alphonso Davies
Alphonso Davies emerged at Bayern Munich in the late 2010s as one of the most exciting young players in world football.
Davies hails from a big country geographically but a small nation in football terms: Canada. The left-back, who was born in Ghana, is his nation’s star player and was a key part of the team which qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
14. Dwight Yorke
Dwight Yorke enjoyed a successful career in the Premier League, most notably with Aston Villa and Manchester United, and won the treble with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in 1998/99.
Yorke earned 72 caps for Trinidad and Tobago in a 20-year international career and captained the team at the 2006 World Cup. He scored 19 goals for his country.
13. Jari Litmanen
How many Finnish footballers can you think of? Probably not too many. But there is one who is much more famous than all the others: Jari Litmanen.
One of the finest forwards of his generation, Litmanen won the Champions League in a memorable spell at Ajax. He later played for Barcelona and Liverpool and won 137 caps for Finland, playing in four different decades for his national team.
12. Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Since starting his career at Pyunik in his homeland, Henrikh Mkhitaryan has gone on to play for some huge clubs across Europe – most notably Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Manchester United, Roma and Inter.
Mkhitaryan was born in and plays internationally for Armenia and is the most famous footballer from the former Soviet nation, which has a population of just over three million people.
11. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has played for some of Europe’s elite clubs in an impressive career – including Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea.
Born in France, the striker turned out for Les Bleus at Under-21 level, but opted to represent Gabon and is easily the nation’s most famous footballer. His father, Pierre Aubameyang, was also a top player for the Central African nation.
10. Georgi Kinkladze
Best remembered for a wonder goal against Southampton, Georgi Kinkladze was a cult hero at Manchester City in the mid-1990s and later returned to the Premier League with Derby County.
Kinkladze won 54 caps for Georgia at international level, but never got to feature in a major tournament with his country, which has a population of under four million.
9. Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski is a legend at Bayern Munich, where he scored 344 goals across eight seasons, and one of the finest forwards of his generation.
Poland’s greatest-ever player and all-time top scorer, Lewandowski featured for his country at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He is also the first Polish player in history to score in three successive European Championships.
8. Gheorge Hagi
Gheorge Hagi was one of the most exciting attacking players of the 1990s and helped Romania reach the knockout stages of the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups.
Named Romanian Footballer of the Year on seven occasions, Hagi played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid and finished his career with a successful five-year spell at Galatasaray.
7. Riyad Mahrez
One of the great modern-day wingers, Riyad Mahrez won the Premier League at Leicester City and then added a string of silverware in a five-year spell at Manchester City, which culminated with the treble in 2022/23.
Mahrez helped Algeria – a smaller nation in football terms despite its large population of over 45 million – win the Africa Cup of Nations for only the second time in their history in 2019 and featured with the Greens at the 2022 World Cup.
6. Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov was a key member of Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team at Barcelona, which won four La Liga titles in a row and also the European Cup in the early 1990s.
At international level, he led unfancied Bulgaria to the semi-finals of the 1994 World Cup and shared the Golden Boot with Russia’s Oleg Salenko after scoring six goals in the tournament. He also won the Ballon d’Or in 1994.
5. Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale left Real Madrid in the summer of 2022 as a five-time Champions League winner and scored over 100 goals for Los Blancos.
With Wales, he was the leader for much of his career and at his peak, helped the Dragons reach the semi-finals of Euro 2016. He also led his nation to only their second-ever World Cup in 2022.
4. Luka Modric
Luka Modric has won it all at club level for Real Madrid in a glorious era and will go down as one of the Spanish side’s greatest ever after over a decade spent at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Modric was the standout player from an exciting generation of Croatian players and helped his nation to the World Cup final in 2018. And for a country with a population of under four million, that is a huge achievement. The midfielder also won the Golden Ball for the World Cup’s best player at Russia 2018 and the Ballon d’Or later that year.
3. Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland may have won a treble with Manchester City, but trophies at international level will be harder to come by for the prolific striker.
Consistently ranked outside the top 40 teams in the world in recent years, Norway will be targeting qualification for major tournaments with the likes of Haaland and Martin Odegaard in their ranks, but silverware still seems a long shot.
2. George Weah
George Weah is considered one of the greatest African footballers of all time and the former AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain forward won the Ballon d’Or in 1995.
Born in Liberia, Weah was the only famous footballer of his generation from the nation. He won 75 caps for Liberia and scored 18 goals, finishing as runner-up in the West African Cup in 1987. Later, he became Liberia’s president.
1. George Best
George Best is a Manchester United legend and despite declining in his later years due to alcoholism, the Belfast-born forward is one of the club’s best-ever players.
Best played 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals, but never featured in a major tournament for his country. He was considered for the 1982 World Cup, but was 36 years old by then with his best years well behind him.
