They need to be able to obtain a passport for that country, so in other words, they have to citizen either by birth, parents, naturalized, etc.

So if France really want a non-French born player, the government just stamps some papers, do some ceremony, and there you - you are French now. Of course they have to convince the player first, but having an EU citizen ship makes it easy to play in any of the top soccer leagues in Europe, so is a very big perk, since most soccer club can only a limited number of non-euro players.

The only "restriction" is that once you play an official match with that countries National team (senior NT, i believe you can play on different youth NTs freely) you are locked for life to that country.

They need to be able to obtain a passport for that country, so in other words, they have to citizen either by birth, parents, naturalized, etc.

So if France really want a non-French born player, the government just stamps some papers, do some ceremony, and there you - you are French now. ( Of course they have to convince the player first, but having an EU citizen ship makes it easy to play in any of the Top soccer leagues in Europe)

The only "restriction" is that once you play an official match with that countries National team (senior NT, i believe you can play on different youth NT) you are locked for life to that country.