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#2 Chose Croatia over Switzerland
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Ivan Rakitic was poised to continue his development in the Swiss youth teams before expectedly progressing to the Swiss senior team to join a golden generation of young Swiss footballers naturalised from non-Swiss heritage.
He had indeed represented Switzerland from the U-15s right through to the U-21s and a keenly observant Swiss Footballing body was almost certain that he’d be one of theirs in time.
That is when Ivan did something completely unexpected. Born and brought up in Switzerland to Croat parents, Ivan was qualified to play with the Croatian national setup. Ivan rejected a national call up from Switzerland and waited for his decision on the nation he wanted to represent. He didn’t wait long as then Croatia head coach, Slaven Bilic came calling and he agreed to represent them in the blink of an eye.
