Players who are surprisingly not from Europe

[Albatros]

So what is he to you?

He represents European team, his family is European and he has no other citizenship but German which is a European country, he is European.

North American, given that he's lived there 50+ years out of 54 after having been born in Africa. Having a German passport or ancestry doesn't somehow negate that. Neither does a brief stay in Denmark as a toddler.

Conversely there are quite a few NT-level soccer players with US passports that are most definitely European and never lived in North America.

 

[OKR]

North American, given that he's lived there 50+ years out of 54 after having been born in Africa. Having a German passport or ancestry doesn't somehow negate that. Neither does a brief stay in Denmark as a toddler.

Conversely there are quite a few NT-level soccer players with US passports that are most definitely European and never lived in North America.

Aha, allrighty then.

Guy is North-American, despite having 100% Europen passport, 100% European ancestry, lived in Europe before he ever even stepped a foot inside North-America and isn’t eligible to represent any country outside of Europe and when asked refers to himself as a German…

 

[DJN21]

Every white north american is european lol

pangea......

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Aha, allrighty then.

Guy is North-American, despite having 100% Europen passport, 100% European ancestry, lived in Europe before he ever even stepped a foot inside North-America and isn’t eligible to represent any country outside of Europe and when asked refers to himself as a German…

I tend to go by what people choose to identify as. I have a buddy who's Russian and always identified as Russian even though he spent his entire life outside Russia. For many reasons, various people tried to tell him he shouldn't identify as Russian because he never lived there, but it didn't matter to him. His heart was with Russia. For me that's enough to say he's Russian.

 

[Albatros]

Aha, allrighty then.

Guy is North-American, despite having 100% Europen passport, 100% European ancestry, lived in Europe before he ever even stepped a foot inside North-America and isn’t eligible to represent any country outside of Europe and when asked refers to himself as a German…

It's entirely possible to be German without being European, much like it's possible to be ein Berliner without being German.

 

[OKR]

I tend to go by what people choose to identify as. I have a buddy who's Russian and always identified as Russian even though he spent his entire life outside Russia. For many reasons, various people tried to tell him he shouldn't identify as Russian because he never lived there, but it didn't matter to him. His heart was with Russia. For me that's enough to say he's Russian.

Kölzig refers to himself as German who was born in Africa and works in USA, calls Germany his homeland, only has a German citizenship and never even applied for another citizenship. He identifies as German and is legally German, to call him North-American is honestly absurd.

It's entirely possible to be German without being European, much like it's possible to be ein Berliner without being German.

Yeah, sure thing buddy

 

[CraigBillington]

Anders Bjork sounds Icelandic but is actually from Wisconsin

Then he would likely be known as Anders Kirkson

 

[CraigBillington]

Michael Rasmussen should be from Sweeden. Mika Zibanejad should not.

Also, William Nylander sounds totally Swedish, but it turns out that he's just a rich kid from Calgary. I'm assuming that his dad must be an oil exec?

Zibane-.... Zibane-.... Zibanenotgonnaworkhereanymore

 

[HighLifeManIsHigh]

Right, the classic Latvian name Zeev Buium. If there's one thing anyone knows about Latvian names, surely it's that every name must end with an -s

Zeevs Buiums

I was surprised a couple years ago when I found out that Teddy Blueger was Latvian. Then I found out that he Americanized his name from Teodors Blugers

 

[NotCommitted]

What nationality did you think Trochek was, I don't recall any European players named Vincent?

My first association with Vincent is Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch) but despite that the country I would first think of would be France. Trochek sounds very Slavic.

As for Vincent Trochek, I had no idea where he was from until I learned. I think I sort of assumed he might be French Canadian or something before that.

 

[Bankers Box]

Vincent is much more of an European name than it’s North-American. Hence why you mostly see French-Canadians having it.

I don’t believe that to be true or even understand your point about French Canadians. Do you think French Canadians have more of a connection to Europe than Anglo Canadians?

 

[JAK]

Connor McDavid is so whiny and soft, and what a surprise to find out he actually is Canadian.

 

[Leafshater67]

I don’t believe that to be true or even understand your point about French Canadians. Do you think French Canadians have more of a connection to Europe than Anglo Canadians?

I can’t speak for the ones in Quebec but for acadians, not at all. I see tons of Canadians of Irish decent flying Irish flags but drive around Acadian country and it’s all Acadian flags. I literally never think of France. Our French Canadian identity comes from what happened after my ancestors left, not from where they left.

 

[_vivelequebec_]

Jari Kykkanen

 

[WarriorofTime]

W. Nylander only moved to Sweden and played Juniors there so he could play on the Swedish national team, the one his father played on. True story. He moved around North America, but was originally born in Calgary and played hockey for various teams in Canada and the United States prior to that. He's not really Swedish other than through his parents.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj not from Europe -but from Hamilton, Ontario

 

[HanSolo]

I can't think of any after a 14 hour work day. But one reverse case always cracks me up to think about because Brad Lambert is the least Finnish sounding name I've ever heard.

Every white north american is european lol

If you are white and are born in North America boy do I have some news for you......you won't believe it!

Let's get really granular and talk about how we're all African by origin and nationalities are thus pointless.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Honorable mention. This guy is no longer in the league. But for a bit, I just figured Carlo Colaiacovo was indeed from Italy. But in actuality, was from Toronto

 

[MadArcand]

I can't think of any after a 14 hour work day. But one reverse case always cracks me up to think about because Brad Lambert is the least Finnish sounding name I've ever heard.

Sean Bergenheim sends his regards.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

I can't think of any after a 14 hour work day. But one reverse case always cracks me up to think about because Brad Lambert is the least Finnish sounding name I've ever heard.

Bräd Låmbêrt

Fixed. Now it also looks like a Scandinavian doom metal band.

 

[Zenos]

I don't mean to do the whole "North America bad, I'm a smug European" thing, but I don't know how else to word it - I'm often quite surprised how bad North Americans are at understanding that super-duper American names should usually be a dead giveaway that a player isn't European (and yes, I know, most of these names have origins in Europe). Like that 99,9% of the time a player named Chad, Brandon, Steven, or Jamal is going to be North American regardless of their last name. There are exceptions like Douglas Murray or Brad Lambert, but you're usually going to hear about that as a trivia tidbit at some point.

My only possible explanation is that they don't interact much with people or media from European countries and just aren't aware of the differences.

And then there's the whole "actualllllyyy all white Canadians are European" crowd. Yeah, no kidding buddy. That's not what these threads are about and nobody is mistaking Wayne Gretzky for Belorussian.

 

[Zenos]

W. Nylander only moved to Sweden and played Juniors there so he could play on the Swedish national team, the one his father played on. True story. He moved around North America, but was originally born in Calgary and played hockey for various teams in Canada and the United States prior to that. He's not really Swedish other than through his parents.

Sorry, but that doesn't negate the fact that he's Swedish. Just because he didn't live the majority of his life there?

Just as a figure, 17% of Canadian citizens were born abroad and became naturalized.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Sorry, but that doesn't negate the fact that he's Swedish. Just because he didn't live the majority of his life there?

Just as a figure, 17% of Canadian citizens were born abroad and became naturalized.

He's not naturalized, he was born in Canada.

 

[Albatros]

Kölzig refers to himself as German who was born in Africa and works in USA, calls Germany his homeland, only has a German citizenship and never even applied for another citizenship. He identifies as German and is legally German, to call him North-American is honestly absurd.

How is a person who lived in North America almost all his life, 50+ years at this point, not a North American?

 

[hohosaregood]

Alexander Chmelevski was born and raised in Long Beach.

Does Wojtek Wolski count? Came to Canada at 3 and played for Team Canada internationally.