All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das says Town striker Michael Chopra will not be able to play international football for India, the country of his father’s birth, after all. The ex-England U21 cap looked into switching allegiance to India late last year, ahead of the Asian Cup which was held in January.
Those talks came to nothing but last week India frontman Sunil Chhetri revived the issue by saying he’d love to play alongside the 27-year-old former Newcastle and Sunderland man.
But now Das appears to have ended all hope: "India has a clear cut law - you need to be an Indian passport holder to play sport for India.
"The Indian government does not recognise dual citizenship. Michael would have to surrender his British passport to play for India, something no man in his right mind would ever want to give up," he told gulfnews.com.
"The issue comes up every year among non-resident Indians. We were looking into his eligibility to play under an overseas Indian citizen card, but the request was turned down.
"Michael Chopra cannot play for India,” he confirmed. "He is ineligible.”