The history by Ben Brereton Díaz (25) could be confused with any film script: from a young Englishman with little mobility on the attack front to one of the figures who will compete in the 2024 Copa América with the Chilean team. In the middle, a curious chronicle of events which ended with his discovery via Football Manager 2021.
Born on April 18, 1989 in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the United Kingdom, his football career began at Stoke City. However, the English club refused to give him a professional contract and it was then that Nottingham Forest signed him for the first team. His good performances in the league caught the attention of Blackburn, who finally signed him in August 2018 for 6 million euros.
However, it was not his high level of football during the rise of England that caught the attention of the Chilean people. Football had something to do with it, but not in the way one would believe, but rather through a screen.
Copa América 2024: how Ben Brereton came to the Chilean team
A few months after signing for Blackburn, he gave an interview with the Blackburn Rovers program before a match. There, they asked him to tell something that people didn’t know about him. In the midst of several inconsequential revelations, such as his love for the Game of Thrones series and his passion for the PlayStation, he revealed that he was “half Chilean.”
“My mom is from Chile and my dad is from England, so I’m half Chilean. The boys didn’t believe me, but my mother came to England when she was young and broke up with my father. I guess that means I’m eligible to play for Chile, right?”
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What FM 21 had to do with Brereton’s life
Where does this link with the Chilean team come from? Directly from his maternal grandparents and his mother Andrea. They moved to England when she was a girl, and years later she fell in love and married Martin, Brereton’s future father, who was then a police officer and amateur footballer.
This information came into the hands of Mark Hitchen, a Blackburn fan who worked as a researcher for Football Manager, a video game that allows you to completely manage a club, from its facilities and staff to the main team’s transfer market. Upon checking the information, he quickly added a “second nationality” to Brereton in the game.
It was then that Álvaro Péreza Chilean streamer who was dedicated to broadcasting his FM games, noticed the change in his nationality when testing the beta version of FM21 in October 2020. The influencer launched a Twitter campaign (now “X”) under the hashtag “#BreretonALaRoja“. As is usual on networks, the news immediately went viral and Chileans invaded his profile with flags of the South American country. Added to this was the interest of his mother, who upon hearing the news sent a photo to the family group to give them to know the desire of an entire country.
The one who finally formalized the request was the talent scout Ben Corbyn, who worked for the Chilean team as an advisor. Although Brereton had already played for England’s youth divisions, the interest and the possibility of representing his mother’s country motivated him. Only in May 2021 did he receive his first summons for two qualifying matches for the Qatar 2022 World Cup – to which the Trans-Andeans failed to qualify -, with the Uruguayan Martín Lasarte as coach.
“I don’t get on Twitter often, but yes, I have heard stories. I thank everyone who has made it clear that I can play for Chile. When I was younger, this was not on my mind: I was part of the English youth team. But when I was summoned, it was serious: it was time to make a decision,” he declared in one of the first interviews he gave upon learning the news.
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Brereton plays in English football.
And he added: “A great country, a great team that won two Copa América titles… for me it was going to be a brilliant experience to learn more about football and play alongside great footballers. I didn’t have to think about it too much.” .
Although he did not have minutes in his first date, the long-awaited debut came on the first date of the Copa América 2021 against Argentina. Today it is one of the main attack cards that he will have the Argentine Ricardo Gareca facing the Copa América 2024.
