Nacho Novo - International Career

International Career

Novo has never been selected for the Spanish national team but has played for Galicia - his debut was in a 2008 friendly. For the first time he played for the Galician team against Iran, arriving in his homeland just an hour before the match started after playing for Rangers against Celtic earlier in the day. He scored two goals and left to the acclaim of the Galician fans.

On 24 October 2008, it was reported that Novo could be selected by the Scottish national team as he is eligible to acquire a British passport, having lived in Scotland for eight years. This led to much debate amongst the Scottish media as to whether Novo, who was born in Galicia and has no Scottish parents or grandparents, should be selected by Scotland. It eventually became clear, however, that the Home Nations would continue to honour a deal whereby that any player selected by England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales would be required to have a blood tie to that country, or have had five years compulsory education within it. This deal would rule out the prospect of Novo playing for Scotland, or the prospect of Manuel Almunia or Mikel Arteta playing for England.