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Why Alexis Mac Allister plays for Argentina despite his name with Scottish, Irish roots originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Alexis Mac Allister's last name can often confuse fans of international football.
He's playing for Argentina at the World Cup, yet Mac Allister has a last name with roots tracing to Scotland and Ireland.
It's a pivotal reality, because Mac Allister is as reliable as they come in the central midfield for Argentina.
He plays his club football for Liverpool, so he's familiar to fans of the English Premier League.
But on the international stage, Mac Allister has always represented Argentina.
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Why does Alexis Mac Allister play for Argentina?
Mac Allister plays for Argentina because that's the country of his birth.
There's no confusing citizenship situation here. Mac Allister has always been Argentine.
His family had moved to the country much before the midfielder was born.
In a 2024 interview, Mac Allister explained the name's roots.
“It’s actually Irish,” Mac Allister explained on that podcast interview. “A couple of months ago I received a letter from my family in Ireland, asking me to go there one day. I would love to.”
The Athletic has also written about Mac Allister's origin, and one of his family members, Joseph McAllister (the spelling changed after the move) came to Argentina in 1865.
Two generations before that, The Athletic writes, the family had made the move from Scotland to Ireland.
So there are roots across the globe for Mac Allister.
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