Dual Citizenship, One Goal Football Nationality Choices of Dutch-Moroccan Football Players in Dutch Media, 1998-2019
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Dual citizenship, one goal Football nationality choices of Dutch-Moroccan football players in Dutch media, 1998-2019 Master Thesis 2 July 2019 MA History of Society, Global History and International Relations Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam Tess Tienstra – 386477 [email protected] Supervisor: prof. dr. Gijsbert Oonk Co-reader: prof. dr. Alex van Stipriaan Luiscius Preface Hereby I proudly present my master thesis Dual citizenship, one goal. This thesis is the result of a period of hard work and dedication. Looking back at this period, it was challenging at times but most certainly I enjoyed doing this research. The topic of my thesis, the contested dual citizenship of Dutch-Moroccan football players, is one that I’m genuinely interested in. Given the topicality of the subject, I felt it was important to conduct this research and share the results with others. I would like to thank my supervisor prof.dr. Gijsbert Oonk for his support during the process of writing my thesis. His patience, his willingness to help and his vast knowledge of the subject were enormously valuable to me during the process of writing. Without a doubt, his feedback contributed positively to this end result. Finishing this project means that I am at the end of my Master Global History and International Relations. I can look back on two years of interesting debates, educational courses and experiences and good times with fellow students. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this. Enjoy reading my thesis! 2 Line-up Preface ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1. Preview .............................................................................................................................. 5 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 5 1.2. Role of the media ........................................................................................................ 6 1.3. Theory ......................................................................................................................... 9 1.4. Scientific relevance ................................................................................................... 12 1.5. Structure .................................................................................................................... 13 2. Preparations .................................................................................................................... 15 2.1. Dual citizenship ......................................................................................................... 15 2.2. Dual citizenship in the Netherlands .......................................................................... 17 2.3. The migrant perspective ............................................................................................ 23 2.4. Dual citizenship of sportsmen ................................................................................... 25 3. Team ................................................................................................................................ 28 3.1. Moroccan history of Dutch football .......................................................................... 29 3.2. Dries Boussatta .......................................................................................................... 30 3.3. Ibrahim Afellay ......................................................................................................... 32 3.4. Hakim Ziyech ............................................................................................................ 33 3.5. The Moroccan Football Federation ........................................................................... 35 3.6. Opponents.................................................................................................................. 36 4. Tactics .............................................................................................................................. 37 4.1. Research settings ....................................................................................................... 37 4.2. Data collection........................................................................................................... 38 4.3. Operationalization ..................................................................................................... 41 5. Results .............................................................................................................................. 43 5.1. Nationality and identity ............................................................................................. 47 5.2. Stance ........................................................................................................................ 51 5.3. Loyalty ...................................................................................................................... 54 5.4. Choice........................................................................................................................ 55 6. Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 58 6.1. Discussion ................................................................................................................. 58 6.2. Nationality and identity ............................................................................................. 59 6.3. Stance ........................................................................................................................ 60 3 6.4. Loyalty ...................................................................................................................... 62 6.5. Choice........................................................................................................................ 64 7. Post-game ........................................................................................................................ 65 7.1. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 65 7.2. Suggestions for further research ................................................................................ 67 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 69 Primary sources .................................................................................................................... 69 Secondary literature.............................................................................................................. 72 Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 76 Appendix A .......................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix B .......................................................................................................................... 77 4 1. Preview 1.1. Introduction ‘Having a double nationality means you can’t play for the Dutch team’1, is a statement, made in 2017 by the Dutch former top hockey-player and columnist Jacques Brinkman, in his column in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. With this statement he argued that it should not be accepted that football players with dual nationality play for the Dutch national team. In his opinion, all sportsmen who wish to represent a Dutch national team must refrain from having a double passport, which means that they are in possession of only the Dutch nationality. Football commentator Johan Derksen refined this and stated that Dutch-Moroccan football players with dual citizenship have the moral obligation of choosing the Dutch team, because they were born and raised in the Netherlands and they have had their whole football education in the Netherlands. He advocated that it’s a form of betrayal when footballers in whom the Netherlands invested with training and education and therefore benefited from our social prosperity, eventually play for Morocco.2 Legally, an individual has dual citizenship if he or she combines citizenship of and in two states. In this matter, the person has a double passport that binds him or her to both states.3 According to the regulations of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), for football players with dual citizenship it is not possible to play for both countries. A player has to choose between the two and he may not change national teams once he has played an official match for one country.4 Dutch-Moroccan footballers have two passports and unlike Jacques Brinkman suggests, they can’t renounce their Moroccan passports due to the Moroccan law.5 Therefore, they must make the decision whether they want to play for the Dutch or the Moroccan team. Because of their dual citizenship, it happened that although the Dutch national team did not qualify for the last World Cup Football of 2018 in Russia, several players with 1 Jacques Brinkman, ‘Meer of minder Marokkanen?’, De Telegraaf, October 13, 2017. All quotes used in this thesis are translated by the researcher. 2 Voetbal Inside, ‘Johan Derksen snapt niks van keuze van Sofyan Amrabat voor Marokko’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUr5PKdvYTs (02-02-2019). 3 Thomas Faist