Sacchi: Too many blacks in Italian youth teams

Well, you know, I would have been all for it if Balotelli wouldn't have been Italian as then he wouldn't have been able to score two goals for the Italian NT against Germany

Lol, so you concluding that he is racist?

It doesn't matter whether he's racist.

The thing he said is racist. Period. "Too many blacks in [whatever], we are losing our identity and pride", is an exemplary racist sentence.

rwo power wrote:Well, you know, I would have been all for it if Balotelli wouldn't have been Italian as then he wouldn't have been able to score two goals for the Italian NT against Germany

We would have found a way to overcome you as always in history, even Tarcisio Burgnich , Fabio Grosso and Ignazio Abate  can score you

@Rob: What do you think of Sacchi's statement?

BarrileteCosmico wrote:To be fair, the Viareggio Cup is not a NT competition but a club one. So it's not like all black players were Italian nationals. Some might have been, though. Balotelli, btw, was not Italian until he was 18.

Not that I'm defending him, even if he meant 'foreigners' the way he went about saying that and reaching that conclusion was completely wrong.

he was born in italy, he hasn't lived in any other country besides italy. he was adopted even before he turned 5 years old by italian parents. he never grew up around the Ghanaian or foreign diaspora that might have been in italy...regardless of when he got his citizenship, that guy is way more italian than motta, osvaldo, or anyone else who switched national teams in the middle of their careers...if he isn't playing well, then the national team has every right NOT to pick him, and every right to pick a nationalized player. but when it comes to background, the guy is italian through and through. the only reason they probably even waited that long to get citizenship, may be complications associated with his adoption....dude has lived in no other country but italy

He was not an Italian citizen until he was 18. This is an indisputable fahct.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:He was not an Italian citizen until he was 18. This is an indisputable fahct.

Can someone even become a citizen if not 18 years old if one started out with another nationality? I really don't know that, I have to admit. Do you have to be of age to apply for a change of nationality, or how does this work?

so that makes him less italian? is it a simple piece of paper in a notebook that dictates what one identifies with? i agree with you, he didn't have his paper until 18. but he's had italian parents or guardians since he was 3, he has been speaking the language, he's lived with and played with italian kids since he was little, he's never lived in ghana; he can probably relate more to italian slang, jokes, lingo better than guys like osvaldo, motta etc who moved to italy in latter years (still after the age of 18)

living in an area for periods of time, especially as a toddler up to your teens does way more for acclimatization. the guy was not only born there but lived there, a piece of paper coming to him at 18 years old saying "congratulations, now you are italian" must have been a little funny to him, he has always spoken the language, played in an italian youth club, played in the u21 at inter, grew up a milan fan, supported the national team.....that's more italian than someone whose grandparents or parents are from italy but the person lives in south africa, brazil, russia or wherever, then returns when he's 21 to play football.....somethings a government stamped piece of paper can't buy (but i get your point)

You're making mountains out of molehills. I never said he was less Italian than anyone, or that his background is anything but Italian. My comment was strictly speaking about his legal citizenship, which I thought was obvious.

rwo power wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:He was not an Italian citizen until he was 18. This is an indisputable fahct.

Can someone even become a citizen if not 18 years old if one started out with another nationality? I really don't know that, I have to admit. Do you have to be of age to apply for a change of nationality, or how does this work?

It depends on the two countries in questions and what treaties they have. Most countries will allow you to take up a 2nd citizenship. If you are raised in another country and would like to become a national most countries have some sort of path to citizenship. In Italy's case, in spite of being born and raised by Italians, Balo had to wait until he was 18 to become a "naturalized Italian".

How can that even work? Balotelli was born in Sicily. Doesn't that automatically make you a citizen in every well developed country regardless of where your parents are from.

No. In most European countries you are the nationality of your parents, even if you are born in European soil.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:No. In most European countries you are the nationality of your parents, even if you are born in European soil.

I just checked some info material on how it works in Germany - here kids are naturally the nationality of the parents and can have (and keep) dual citizenship, too, if one parent is foreign and the other is German. If only the father is German and not married to the mother, one needs genetic proof about the fatherhood, then the kid additionally gets German citizenship to the mother's nationality. If a kid is born to both foreign parents, s/he is German when born on German soil, if one of the parents has lived here legally for 8 years or has unlimited right of residence in Germany. Strangely in that case, the kid has to decide on adulthood whether s/he wants to have the parents' or the German nationality and can't keep both. I didn't realize things are so complicated here o_O

BarrileteCosmico wrote:In Italy's case, in spite of being born and raised by Italians, Balo had to wait until he was 18 to become a "naturalized Italian".

That makes him as Italian as he could be in my book. Not his fault kids can't apply for citizenship. He's never known another culture than Italy before he was a grown up.
In the case of Balotelli, I use the term "grown up" loosely, of course.

rwo power wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:No. In most European countries you are the nationality of your parents, even if you are born in European soil.

I just checked some info material on how it works in Germany - here kids are naturally the nationality of the parents and can have (and keep) dual citizenship, too, if one parent is foreign and the other is German. If only the father is German and not married to the mother, one needs genetic proof about the fatherhood, then the kid additionally gets German citizenship to the mother's nationality. If a kid is born to both foreign parents, s/he is German when born on German soil, if one of the parents has lived here legally for 8 years or has unlimited right of residence in Germany. Strangely in that case, the kid has to decide on adulthood whether s/he wants to have the parents' or the German nationality and can't keep both. I didn't realize things are so complicated here o_O

It's a lot of compromise because the major parties have very different approaches to citizenship, the CDU/CSU very much loves their lex sanguines or whatever it's called where it's all down to ethnicity, genetics, and family history, while the SPD/Greens favor a more progressive approach that fuses on cultural identity, adoptation of the constitution and residency.

The rules are pretty simple in France... dual citizenship is allowed for everyone. For the countries that were former colonies, you are automatically a dual citizen if you want to. For everyone else, you can become French while keeping your other citizenship as well or you can keep your French citizenship and get the citizenship of another country.

I was born with an Iranian and French passport... i got rid of Iranian citizenship and became a US citizen while maintaining my French citizenship the whole way.

Most countries allow for dual citizenship.