page_title: List of Spain international footballers born outside Spain
hierarchical_section_title: List of Spain international footballers born outside Spain
caption_attribution_description: Español: El futbolista brasileño Diego Costa durante un partido del Atlético de Madrid. English: Brasilian football player Diego Costa during a game with Atlético de Madrid.
context_page_description: A number of the male footballers who have reached international status with Spain were not born in the country. Some were born overseas and moved there at a young age while others became naturalised citizens of Spain after living there for the required period and never being selected by their homeland – for some countries, including those of Latin America, this process requires only a few years of residency, which has allowed several Brazil-born players to play for Spain having only moved there in the course of their professional careers. Prior to the 1960s, players were not tied to a single national team having appeared for them, and some of the leading foreign players in the Spanish league in the 1950s thus were selected on residency grounds.
  This list does not include players born in non-Peninsular Spain, nor any internationals of other heritage who were born in Spain.
context_section_description: A number of the male footballers who have reached international status with Spain were not born in the country. Some were born overseas and moved there at a young age (as far as this list is concerned, more often they were the children of Spanish migrants who decided to return, rather than migrant newcomers from other parts of the world) while others became naturalised citizens of Spain after living there for the required period and never being selected by their homeland – for some countries, including those of Latin America, this process requires only a few years of residency, which has allowed several Brazil-born players to play for Spain having only moved there in the course of their professional careers. Prior to the 1960s, players were not tied to a single national team having appeared for them, and some of the leading foreign players in the Spanish league in the 1950s thus were selected on residency grounds.
  This list does not include players born in non-Peninsular Spain (the Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, all of which have provided at least one player for the national team), nor any internationals of other heritage who were born in Spain.
caption: Diego Costa opted to play for Spain at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, causing anger in his native Brazil who also wanted him to play for them
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