• • • The Spanish Federation will send the letter, signed in the presence of a notary, to the CBF. + + +

Diego Costa will play for Spain. He has signed, in the presence of a notary, a letter to this effect that will be sent to the Brazilian Federation (CBF) this afternoon. In the document the Atlético striker rejects the call up to Brazil’s friendlies in November and makes clear his decision to play for Spain, both in friendlies and official matches, always provided that Del Bosque, the Spain coach, calls him up.

The success of the management of the situation from a Spanish point of view lies with the Spanish Federation’s General Secretary, Jorge Pérez, who has studied the case with the Federation’s lawyers. Diego Costa for his part has stayed true to his word, given to Del Bosque on 3 October.

The CBF, however, will likely go on the attack again once they received the letter, with their president, José María Marín, of Spanish descent, having already said they will take the case to FIFA. The Spanish authorities though, having spoken to FIFA and gone through the regulations are certain the rules are on their side - that Diego Costa is now a Spanish player and there is nothing Brazil can do about it.

Scolari : - Diego Costa s turning his back on something millions dream of -

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has reacted to Diego Costa’s decision to turn down a Brazil call-up and pledge his allegiance to Spain, declaring: “He’s turning his back on something millions dream of” in the South American country.

The Atlético Madrid forward has been officially withdrawn from the Brazil squad for the November friendlies in the USA and Canada against Honduras and Chile.

In an official statement posted on the website of the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF), Scolari commented: “A Brazilian player who rejects the chance to wear the Brazil shirt and play at a World Cup in his country can only be automatically withdrawn from the squad.

“He’s turning his back on something millions dream of doing: playing for the five-time world champions at a World Cup in Brazil.

”Though the CBF’s statement did not specify whether it planned to take any further action, president José María Marín earlier promised to “fight” for the player. “We’re going to fight as far as we consider is best for Brazil. The CBF does not consider the case to be closed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Brazil technical coordinator Carlos Alberto Parreira has echoed Scolari’s sentiments that Costa will no longer be considered to represent the Seleçao.

Source : As.com

A little surprised about the decision, he surely may have his reasons to refuse to play for la Seleçao and choose la Roja, both of those nations need him but Brazil needs him more assuming he is better than Fred. Whats your impressions ?

This is getting very saucy. I think this is the reaction Diego Costa was looking for, seeing as the CBF hadn't payed much attention to him until he wanted to represent Spain over Brazil.

That photo is perfect for this thread, tiki_taka. Pepe is another brazilian who chose to represent a different country. Khedira, who was eligible to represent Tunisia through his father, chose to play for Germany, but that's a different case because he was born in Stuttgart.

Anyhow, if Costa does represent Spain come this summer, he will be a disgrace in his native country. No doubt. But if he feels he can wear the spanish jersey with pride, no one can take away from that. Countries are man-made. There is no such thing as spanish blood, or brazilian blood. Customs never go away, but Costa may want to represent Spain for the same reason that immigrants (not saying Costa is an immigrant) choose to fly their adoptive countries flag: opportunity. Costa flourished as a footballer in Spain, perhaps he is grateful for what he was able to achieve Spain, and feels it is indeed his home.

...That, or maybe he wants to stir the pot and finally get the CBF's attention.

Look at that, Pepe and Costa in the same pic. Good choice.

And Scolari is an absolute hypocrite. When Scolari was the coach for Portugal, he called up Deco, Pepe, Liedson... all brazilian-born players.

He basically says that he feels loved in this country and feels honored to represent it due to the wonderful career he has had, that he is the player he is today because of the country, and sees no better way of returning the favor than to represent Spain.

Traitor of the most passionate football nation. Brasilian fans would burn him alive,I m sure.

He's not a traitor. He'd been playing so well in Spain for so long, but wasn't at all called up until March 2013, despite the lack of form shown by Brazil's strikers. He felt insulted, and decided to play for a nation that is welcoming him with open arms. In fact, it's Brazil's own fault for not calling him up sooner.

Idiot...

And now we have the Brazilian FA trying to strip Costa of his Brazilian citizenship.

<http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1832060-brazilian-football-federation-demands-diego-costa-is-stripped-of-citizenship>

Just goes to show that Brazil are AFRAID more than anything that Spain will be a stronger force with Diego Costa on their side.

i dunno why but Diego Costa looks like Eduardo XD

The biggest betrayal a football player can do besides playing for a rival team is. I cant understand how being born in Brazil and spending his childhood and early career there he can just decide to play for spain instead. I know Costa has his reasons but it is still disappointing to see this.
Brazil had even already called him but it was not an official game he played...
I cant think how someone can just turn his back on his country like that, probably if you have spent more time in another country or if you left at a very young age you could not be so attached emotionally or sentimentally to that country but I dont think this is the case here.

This is like selling your football nationality to the best bidder. If it wasn't the current world champion who called on him he probably wouldn't had even considered playing for other nation than brazil.

I agree with Scolari's words about turning your back to something millions dream of.

^ Then you are agreeing with a hypocrite, because Scolari himself used players like Liedson, Deco, and Pepe during his tenure at Portugal, all of whom are Brazilian-born Portuguese players.

I believe I have stated already that Costa was rejected and ignored by Brazil themselves for many years (despite his good performances and the poor form of Brazilian strikers in the national team). He feels rejected, and has turned around to see Vincente Del Bosque saying that he would gladly take in a talent like Costa into the Spanish national team. In fact, Brazil only bothered to make such a big fuss over Diego Costa only AFTER he stated his desires to play for Spain.

So no biggie. If Brazil really wanted him, they should've called him up earlier.

The CBF asking for the stripping of Diego Costa's nationality of Brazil is just laughable. Although I am not very knowledgeable in this field, I know that Football Associations/Federations have no right of stripping a players nationality and the fact that they even requested it, is pathetic.
However, if I were in his situation, I would never betray my own motherland for a country you're doing well in.
And in some people's views, he's a traitor and I can full well understand them.
But playing devil's advocate, Brazil wasn't so loyal to him those respects. They've only come now, complaining that he should play for Brazil, just because of his current form.
Another thing I worry about is that Costa thinks that he'll be warmly accepted. I don't really think that's the case when Real Madrid Ultras chant "You are not Spanish." Despite the fact that this is a relatively few amount to the total amount of people who watch football in Spain, having a single person saying you're not a nationality of the country you're playing for can hurt you. A lot.
We can argue all we want but in the end, it's really his decision. Hate it or not, he's gonna stick to what he wants.
But I'm just gonna say this. Costa should have ignored Robert Frost's advice and not taken "the road less traveled by". Go back to Brazil while you can Costa.

@man_utd

But Real Madrid is Atletico's rival, so it's natural for them to have fanboys who hate on rival players. Don't worry about it much, Costa will be appreciated by Spanish people. He isn't "welcomed" because they're not sure of his abilities with the national team yet, but Del Bosque is very ready to use him, so we can see how he does.

But yeah, it's probably too late to return to Brazil after he's already riled them up this much.

No matter what any of you say, this is a total disgrace.

^^^ Why?

^^^ turning your back to your home country isnt reason enough? It seems like Brazil is not important for him, changing his his national team like it was just another club.
Brazil had already called him for some friendlies and he actually played... So as I said before, he is selling his nationality to the best bider.

^^^ well that question was directed to tdot2barca, because he's actually Brazilian. I want to hear him out instead of taking the disgrace as a fact, because it is merely an opinion, just like mine.

Tuanis, Spain is not "buying" Costa. Fact is Brazil sold him by denying him of representing his country competitively. Now there's a big fuss because he's choosing to represent a country that actually gave him the opportunity and confides in him. Marcos Senna did the same thing, and went on to represent Spain in the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 Euro.

Obviously this is HUGE decision for him. One that he must've thought long and hard about. What happens when you feel estranged in your own country?

OMG GET OVER IT, he chose to play for Spain instead of Brazil. Its his choice, its not like winging is going to change that -.-

*cough* Di Stefano *cough*

*cough* Ferenc Puskas *cough*

'Scuse me while I clear my throat, chaps... ;)

I cannot believe what I've read on this thread by some posters. This entire situation is a farce of the highest order:
1) Diego Costa emigrated to Spain after being signed as a teenage footballer. He went their specifically for work related reasons. His family had not moved their for other reasons and he spent the majority of his youth in Brasil.
2) IF Diego Costa loved Spain so much and wanted to play for them, he should've never accepted a call up to a Brasil friendly.
3) The point of International tournaments is to pit one group of people with similar history/traits/collective identity agaisnt another group. It is a matter of national pride. This along with the ludicrous Januzaj saga are making me start to think that nations are trying to act like clubs. There's no transfer window in international football for a reason! If it's the case that we're going to just start moving to the country's with the best team for the sole purpose of playing football there then what is the point of International competitions, I ask? Let's just scrap it then if we are going to bypass the spirit of the competition.

In short, I don't think that Diego Costa should've even been allowed to be eligible to play for Spain to begin with, let alone be allowed to switch now after having opted to play a friendly for BrASIL.

^ It's actually not the first time a player has played for an "adopted" country. Some of the games ever-greats, such as Di Stefano, Puskas, and Eusebio all played for their adopted country. In fact, Di Stefano played for 3 different nations in order to pursue success.

In recent times, we have also seen the likes of Deco, Pepe, Liedson, Marcos Senna, Klose, and many more. Even in Arsenal, you have Podolski, who plays for Germany despite being born in Poland and being of pure Polish descendant.

Playing for an adopted nation isn't quite the new fuss. The only reason this Costa situation is made such a big deal is because Brazil WANT it to be a big deal. If Brazil lose to Spain in the WC, they will simply use Costa as a scapegoat for it. Brazil ought to rather prove that they have plenty of talent required to win the WC. They should show that they are the Brazil of old. The ones that loved to terrorize defenses with their wonderful players. Costa should be of little significance to their plans since 2014 is almost upon us. They should be well prepared already.