What LA-based journalists Luis Bueno and Andrea Canales uncovered about Jesus Padilla was not that big a deal. Their reporting showed that Padilla, a young forward for Chivas of Mexico, was born in San Jose, Calffornia, not San Miguel de Alto in the Mexican state of Jalisco, as stated on the club’s website. This is only an issue because of Chivas’ policy of only fielding Mexican players. This policy, writes Luis Bueno, was in fact “an unwritten law which dates back to the early 1940s, when then-club president Ignacio Lopez Hernandez wrote in a letter that the club would henceforth accept only ‘Mexicans born in Mexico’ and shut the door completely on foreign-born players.”

Jesus Padilla (photo: Mexsport/mediotiempo.com)

The revelation about Paddilla has forced Chivas to alter its long-held policy. The club says that it will now follow the definition of citizenship laid out in the Mexican constitution, which states that “those born in a foreign country of Mexican parents; of a Mexican father and a foreign mother; or of a Mexican mother and an unknown father.” On the face of it, this shift seems like a purely sporting matter. But it is not. In fact, definitions of Mexican identity are shifting in society as a whole, profoundly affected by the numbers of migrants leaving for the United States. The case of Jesus Padilla is simply one example of how Mexico as a whole is being forced by massive demographic shifts to change its notions of what it means to be Mexican.

(more…)

Following up on my interview with Andrea Canales a few weeks ago, my interview with her fellow LA reporter Luis Bueno is up now on This is American Soccer (TIAS). Luis writes for Sports Illustrated, MLSNet.com, the Press-Enterprise, in addition to running his Sideline Views blog along with Andrea. Most of my conversation with Luis focused on the role of Hispanics in American soccer. A few interesting quotes are below and if they tickle your fancy, cruise on over to TIAS and read the whole thing.

(more…)

When Kosovo declares independence on Sunday, the number of countries to have risen from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia will reach seven (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia being the other six). Kosovo’s independence – supported by the US and many EU countries, but strongly opposed by Serbia, along with its ally Russia – will be a return to the international spotlight for a region whose recent time in that glare has been for all the wrong reasons. The bloody Balkan Wars of the 1990s brought about the new phrase ethnic cleansing to describe the atrocities that occurred in the former Yugoslavia.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci plays soccer with ethnic Serb boys (photo: Visar Kryeziu /AP / Christian Science Monitor)

The 1990s were a particularly bloody period in the history of the Balkans, but far from the first time the region has gone through instability. It is perhaps because of this instability that countries in the Balkans have sent so many of their people abroad. Among these Balkans living outside of their ancestral homeland are quite a number of talented soccer players. Some were born in the Balkans, others to parents who have left their homelands.

(more…)

Steve Menary’s book Outcasts!: The Lands That FIFA Forgot is a fascinating read. In the book, Menary reports on the far flung “countries” that FIFA doesn’t recognize. Steve Menary sat down to speak with me recently about writing Outcasts and the issues his book raises. Menary told me that he got his start writing for several magazines, including World Soccer, When Saturday Comes, and Sport Business before he wrote Outcasts, his first book.

Steve Menary (photo: Play the Game)

(more…)

Greenland is an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands belong to FIFA; Greenland does not. A reasonable person might wonder why the Faroes are given membership into the international soccer governing body while Greenland is excluded. Such a reasonable person would not come up with anything resembling a reasonable answer. Greenland is one of the “countries” featured in Steve Menary’s new book Outcasts: The Lands That FIFA Forgot. The book is a whirlwind tour of forgotten lands scattered throughout the globe. During his visits with teams from places as diverse as Greenland, The Falklands, Northern Cyprus, Zanzibar, and Occitània, Menary introduces us to players, coaches, and officials struggling for international soccer recognition for their countries which, according to FIFA, don’t exist.

The Tibetan national team (photo: Kaos Pilot)

(more…)

Growing up in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Raad Qumsieh probably never dreamed that his life would include a stop in Kansas. He has led a nomadic life not uncommon of Palestinians today. But Qumsieh is different than most Palestinians. A gifted soccer player from a young age, he has played for the under-17, under-20, and full national teams of Palestine. For the past three years, he has been in the United States playing college soccer. He hopes to make a career as a professional player and to represent the Palestinian national team.

(more…)