Ottawa helped push through citizenship for English soccer player Alfie Jones in time to join Canadian squad

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He is not the first soccer player to fly a flag of convenience in the run up to the World Cup, nor is he the only foreign-born player on Canada’s national soccer team.

But few will have left it so close to their first match for Canada to take the citizenship oath.

The Canadian national soccer team’s newest recruit is Alfie Jones, a Bristol-born defender who plays for second-tier English team Middlesborough.

On Monday he took the citizenship oath in time to play for Canada on Tuesday in a pre-World Cup friendly match against Venezuela.

Jones’s application for Canadian citizenship – made possible because he had an Alberta-born grandmother – was pushed through with the help of a government minister and a senior public servant in time for Tuesday’s kick off.

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The soccer player has the right to Canadian citizenship because of recent changes allowing Canadians born abroad to pass on citizenship rights.

The process of gaining citizenship for so-called Lost Canadians usually takes around six months, a top official in the immigration department told Senators at a committee hearing on Monday evening.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada declined to say how long it took the department to process Jones’s application saying they did not comment on individual cases.

Jesse Marsch, head coach of Canada’s Men’s National Soccer Team, on Monday publicly thanked Adam van Koeverden, the secretary of state for sport – a former Olympic gold medalist – and Chris Fox, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council for helping his newest recruit gain Canadian citizenship.

“I want to acknowledge a lot of people inside our organization, as well as the Canadian government, who helped us push this through in a respectful way, but in a way that showed urgency and importance for Alfie and for our team and for our preparation for the World Cup,” Marsch told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s match with Venezuela in Florida.

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Jones, 28, had reportedly hoped to take the oath last week so he could take part in last week’s game against Ecuador. But instead he had to watch the match, which ended in a scoreless draw.

Don Chapman, a long-time advocate for Lost Canadians who has helped with dozens of cases, said the immigration department has not always been so quick to approve applications for citizenship from athletes born abroad.

Texas-born surfer Erin Brooks, whose grandfather was born and raised in Montreal, was turned down for Canadian citizenship, which meant she could not compete for Canada. The elite surfer tried again and was granted a right to a Canadian passport by former immigration minister Marc Miller early last year.

Alyson Fair, a spokesperson for van Koeverden, a former world champion sprint kayaker, said, “decisions on citizenship are made by IRCC, not by the Secretary of State for Sport.”

“When Soccer Canada had questions, he put them in contact with the appropriate contacts at IRCC, which is standard practice, as he would for any sport-related or constituent case,” she said in an e-mail.

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Van Koeverden denied he had helped the English soccer player jump the queue of people with citizenship applications. He told reporters on Tuesday he was just making sure “they have access to IRCC officials.”

As one of the hosts of next year’s soccer World Cup, Canada does not have to qualify. The national team has been playing friendly matches, with Tuesday night’s match against Venezuela being its final one of the year.

Canada’s soccer team has a number of foreign born players, including Alphonso Davies, who was born in a Ghanaian refugee camp, after his parents had fled the civil war in Liberia. He came to Canada when he was 5. Luc de Fougerolles was born in England to a Canadian father and an Iranian-born English mother. He plays for Belgian Pro League club Dender EH, on loan from English premier league club Fulham.

Canada Soccer did not say precisely when Jones had submitted his application for Canadian Citizenship.

“We’re proud that Alfie Jones is now one of Canada’s newest citizens and will represent Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team tonight,” said Canada Soccer spokesperson Paulo Senra on Tuesday, a few hours before kickoff.

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The defender qualified as a Lost Canadian, under changes which followed a December 2023 Ontario court ruling that it is unconstitutional to deny citizenship to children born overseas to Canadians also born outside the country.

“We began working with Alfie in the Fall of 2024, retained legal counsel, and guided him through gathering family documentation, submitting under the new legislation, completing review stages, and RCMP fingerprint clearance. The final step – a criminal database check – faced administrative delays, but we worked closely with IRCC and RCMP to move this last stage forward within the rules,” Senra said.

“The Secretary of State for Sport and Christiane Fox supported internal governmental communication on these efforts, and Regan Watts assisted with communications to government on behalf of Canada Soccer. The application followed all regulatory requirements.”

The immigration department has been processing applications for citizenship from people born abroad with Canadian forebears since the Ontario court ruling. It is also steering a bill through Parliament to change the law and reinstate Lost Canadians’ citizenship rights.

Bill C-3, which would allow Canadians born abroad to pass on citizenship to future generations born abroad, is in the Senate in its final parliamentary stages.