5 World Cup stars who could have played for France, but didn’t

#1 Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina)

Higuain refused the chance to play for France in 2006

Gonzalo Higuain’s father was playing for French side Stade Brestois 29 at the time of his birth. However, he moved to Argentina when he was 10-years-old and continued his footballing education there with River Plate.

In 2006, then France manager, Raymond Domenech, included the player in the France senior squad but Higuain’s father informed Domenech that the player was not ready to choose which country he wanted to play for. This was true as Higuain also rejected a call-up to the Argentina senior team around the same time.

Eventually, he opted to play for Argentina and in the process became only the third foreign-born player to represent Albiceleste.

He has gone on to play 75 games for Argentina and scored 31 goals which makes him the country’s sixth highest goalscorer of all-time and the third among active players behind Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero.