REAL MADRID
Why Alphonso Davies wouldn’t take non-EU spot on Real Madrid roster: what is the Cotonou agreement?
The Bayern Munich left-back, who represents Canada at international level, is one of the LaLiga giants’ main transfer targets.
It’s no secret Bayern Munich left-back Alphonso Davies is one of Real Madrid’s transfer targets for the 2024-2025 season. No deal has officially been done for the Canadian international, who is under contract until 2025, with the Bundesliga giants hoping to convince him to extend his stay and Los Blancos monitoring the situation closely. Recent reports claim Madrid have contacted the 23-year-old and told him not to sign a new deal with Bayern.
Canada’s Davies born in Ghana to Liberian parents
Davies’ story has been well told. He was born in a refugee camp in Ghana, where his Liberian parents had fled to during the Second Liberian War. In 2005, when he was four, the family emigrated to Canada, settling in Edmonton.
At the age of 16 years, seven months and 12 days, months after he had received Canadian citizenship, Davies became the youngster male player ever to play for the Canada national team. Yet were he to sign for Real Madrid, he would not take up one of the non-EU places on their roster.
How many non-EU players can LaLiga clubs have?
As it stands, Los Merengues have room for three more players who hail from countries that are not part of the European Union, although that will drop to two when Endrick arrives in the summer. Brazilian trio Rodrygo, Eder Militão and Vinícius Júnior, as well as Fede Valverde of Uruguay, all have Spanish citizenship. Jude Bellingham, meanwhile, represents England, which is no longer part of the EU post-Brexit, but the midfielder also holds an Irish passport, which means he is considered an “EU player”.
Clubs in LaLiga can have no more than five non-EU players on their roster at any one time, although they can only name three in a matchday squad.
Why would Davies not take up a non-EU spot?
Davies has dual Canadian and Liberian nationality, which means he would not be considered a non-EU because of the Cotonou Agreement, described by the European Commission as a “Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States of the one part and the European Union and its Member States of the other part, in order to promote and expedite the economic, cultural and social development of the ACP States, with a view to contributing to peace and security and to promoting a stable and democratic political environment.”
As part of the agreement, teams can register players from the 78 member nations, including Liberia, as EU community citizens. Real Madrid have also used this to their advantage in basketball, with KC Rivers and Marcus Slaughter two of the most high profile cases.