Will Boenisch Play for Poland?

As a result of the new FIFA rule change, 22 year old Polish-born left back Sebastian Boenisch, could still play for Poland.

Sebastian was born in Gliwice, Poland (which is also the hometown of another Polish football player that plays for Germany....Lukasz Podolski). He moved to Germany with his parents when he was only 1 year old. The Werder Bremen defender already declared his desire to play for Poland before the Euro 2008 championships. However, Poland coach Leo Beenhakker did not include him in his 23 man squad.

Before the rule change, once a player has passed the age of 21 and has already played at any level for a country, they were not able to switch. Now, even though Boenisch is 22, he has only played for Germany's U21 and U20 teams, and therefore is still eligable to play for Poland.

If called up, Boenisch would almost be guaranteed the starting left back position, as this is one of Poland's weakest spots. His current competition would be Jakub Wawrzyniak (who is currently serving a 3-month ban for using a banned substance) and Jacek Krzynowek (who Beenhakker placed in this position as a test....which has not worked out).

"I've always wanted to play for Poland. I said this already before Euro 2008. But I am not interested in being called up to play for a Poland B team" said Boenisch.

This season he played 24 matches in the Bundesliga and his team finished 10th in the standings. He is currently in the Germany U21 squad for the 2009 U21 European Championships.

Will Leo Beenhakker call up Boenisch for the August friendly against Greece? Does Boenisch still want to play for Poland? Will he choose Germany if senior coach Joachim Löw calls him up before Beenhakker? Until these questions are answered, Polish fans should not get their hopes up.