Granit Xhaka is a very talented defensive midfielder, so much so that Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger got enchanted with the 23-year-old Swiss international and lured him to north London. At the German team Borussia Mönchengladbach, Xhaka was an imposing captain, protecting his defence from a deep position and playing with an astute tenacity. Out of possession, he harried and pestered opponents.
Granit Xhaka plays for Switzerland. His brother, Taulant Xhaka, 25 years old, doesn’t command a £35 million price tag, but has become a pivotal player for his Swiss club Basel. He plays for Albania.
Their father Ragip Xhaka was a talented young footballer in Kosovo, who was prevented from turning professional by a severe injury. In 1986, Ragip was arrested for marching in a student demonstration against the Communist regime. He spent three-and-a-half years in jail as a political prisoner before pressure from Amnesty International sped up his release. Ragip and his wife Elmaze fled with baby Taulant and settled down in Basel. There, Granit was born.
The Xhaka brothers’ talent was unmistaken. They both featured for Switzerland at youth level, but when Albania called up Taulant he duly accepted. Granit remained with the Swiss national team. FIFA, football’s governing body, facilitates a switch of allegiance using the U21 level as a cut-off.
Making a choice
“In the past, a player was allowed to play for several national teams,” says Raffaele Poli, the president of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), based in Neuchâtel. “FIFA put an end to that practice, but mitigates the rule by allowing players to change their national team until the U21 level.”
Granit’s preference for Switzerland was scarcely a choice against Albania, because as many as six players in the current Swiss squad – Pajtim Kasami, Xherdan Shaqiri, Valon Behrami, Blerim Džemaili, Pajtim Kasami and Admir Mehmedi – have Albanian roots. They leave a big Balkan footprint on the Swiss team. Left-back Ricardo Rodriguez is of Chilean descent.
The multicultural makeup of the “Nati” is precarious, however, setting off an existential debate about national identity in Switzerland, with fans oscillating between alienation and renewed fandom.
“At first the Albanian-speaking immigration (uniting Albania and Kosovo) was a labour immigration,” explains Etienne Piguet, the vice-president of the Swiss Federal Immigration Commission. “This workforce was used in all sectors of the Swiss economy. Switzerland recruited workers in the 1960s and then in the 1980s. That is often forgotten, but during the Balkan War [1991-2001] that turned into asylum immigration. Overall, Switzerland was one of the main reception countries in Europe.”
Saturday’s game will split both the Xhaka family and the country that has of late openly grappled with identity and immigration. In an early 2014 referendum, the Swiss favoured, by the narrowest of margins, controlling mass immigration. At the time, 24.3 per cent of Swiss residents were foreigners, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics. The vote split Switzerland east to west, with the francophone west voting against the quotas and the German-speaking east backing the clampdown.
The implementation of the referendum was problematic, because it colluded with an EU pact that guarantees free movement of workers in Switzerland. Swiss lawmakers have until 2017 to apply the referendum’s results. Otherwise the Swiss government must write quotas into law regardless of any compromise with the EU.
Last year, the populist far right Swiss People’s Party, the SVP, became the country’s biggest political party, winning 29.4 per cent of the vote in the federal elections. The SVP thrived on an anti-immigration agenda, resulting in a “Rechtsrutsch” – a slide to the right.
Defining nationality
“The national team is an interesting laboratory when it comes to national affiliation,” assesses Piguet. “The perception is that double-nationality is a problem. Football is at least as much a factor of unity as it is one of alienation. For a part of the fans, the notion of loyalty may be blurred for these players. But overall, the Swiss national team is unifying. It is a strong example of the enrichment that immigration can bring to a society.”
“The Yugoslavian national team failed (to unite) in the 1980s, the Swiss team is succeeding,” says Bashkim Iseni, editor-in-chief of Albinfo, a Swiss-based trilingual media service. “Is ‘Swissness’ reserved for people of Swiss descent? This kind of reflections are made by a minority of the population. The major part of the people are proud of the team. Switzerland is becoming more and more diverse, open to the world. The national team proves that.”
The “Nati” and “Swissness” may go hand in hand, but Taulant, for once, won’t mind winning against his younger brother in their group A opener. Both Switzerland and Albania are blue collar teams. Albania are debutants at a major tournament, but lack quality across the lines. The Swiss failed to inspire in qualification. They boast a number of talented players: full-backs Stephan Lichtsteiner from Juventus and Rodriguez from Wolfsburg, midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke and teenage striker Breel Embolo.
Whatever the outcome, there may still be another twist in the tale of the Xhaka brothers. Earlier this year Kosovo gained both FIFA and UEFA membership. Granits has expressed his desire to play one day for the newest member of the global football family. His remark was condemned and he withdrew it, but the idea certainly lingers in his mind.
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