List of Spain international footballers born outside Spain

Alfredo Di Stéfano (left) and Ferenc Puskás both played for Spain in the 1950s while playing for Real Madrid, having already appeared for their nations of birth (Argentina and Hungary respectively)

José Eulogio Gárate was born in Argentina but lived in Eibar from a young age

Roberto López Ufarte was born in Morocco but lived in Irun from a young age

Thiago Alcântara, the son of Brazilian player Mazinho, was born in Italy but lived in Spain from a young age

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

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)^[1] 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.

List of players[]

Name[2]	Spain caps	Years active	Nation of birth
Ramón Zabalo	11	1931–1936	England
Roberto López Ufarte	15	1977–1982	Morocco
Eduardo Arbide	1	1921	Argentina
Marcelino Gálatas	1	1927	Philippines
Alfredo Di Stéfano	31	1957–1961	Argentina
Marcos Senna	28	2006–2010	Brazil
José Eulogio Gárate	18	1967–1975	Argentina
Ferenc Puskás	4	1961–1962	Hungary
László Kubala	19	1953–1961	Hungary
Donato Gama da Silva	12	1994–1996	Brazil
Juan Errazquin	6	1925–1928	Argentina
Rubén Cano	12	1977–1979	Argentina
Eulogio Martinez	8	1959–1962	Paraguay
José Santamaría	16	1958–1962	Uruguay
Heriberto Herrera	1	1957	Paraguay
Juan Antonio Pizzi	22	1994–1998	Argentina
Catanha	3	2000	Brazil
Rubén Óscar Valdez	9	1972–1974	Argentina
Juan Carlos Heredia	3	1978–1979	Argentina
Thomas Christiansen	2	1993	Denmark
Héctor Rial	5	1955–1958	Argentina
Gerardo Miranda	9	1981–1985	Mauritania
Heraldo Bezerra	1	1973	Brazil
Curro Torres	5	2001–2002	Germany
Roberto Juan Martínez	5	1973–1974	Argentina
Paulino Alcántara	5	1921–1923	Philippines
Mariano Pernía	11	2006–2007	Argentina
(es)	1	1942	Cuba
Luis Cembranos	1	2000	Switzerland
Pier Luigi Cherubino	1	1994	Italy
José Luis López Peinado	4	1972–1973	Morocco
Álvaro Cervera	4	1991–1992	Equatorial Guinea
Jesús Alonso Fernández	3	1942	Cuba
Emilio Sagi Liñán	1	1926	Argentina
(es)	1	1966	Paraguay
José Antonio Ramos Huete	4	1975–1977	Morocco
Armando Álvarez	2	1996–1997	France
Juan Carlos Touriño	1	1972	Argentina
Diego Costa	24	2014–	Brazil
Thiago Alcântara	37	2011–	Italy
Rodrigo	22	2015–	Brazil
Ansu Fati	4	2020–	Guinea-Bissau
Aymeric Laporte	7	2021–	France

List by country of birth[]

Country	Total
Argentina	13
Brazil	6
Morocco	3
Paraguay	3
Cuba	2
France	2
Hungary	2
Italy	2
Philippines	2
Denmark	1
England	1
Equatorial Guinea	1
Germany	1
Guinea-Bissau	1
Mauritania	1
Switzerland	1
Uruguay	1

See also[]

• List of Spain international footballers
• Oriundo
• Spanish nationality law

References[]

External links[]

• Spain national team players (with place of birth) at BDFutbol
• Todos los jugadores (all the players) at Selección Española de Fútbol (official site)