11 Diego Costa's homecoming Born in north-eastern Brazil, trained in São Paulo, striker Diego Costa can expect to be about the most unpopular Brazilian at the tournament this summer: he will play for Spain, having changed nationalities last October. Games of passport swapsie are not unheard of in football – think of ITV commentator Andy Townsend, in 1990 a World Cup stowaway on the good ship Republic of Ireland – but Costa’s switch may be the most gutsy yet. He even had the nerve to play bongos on Spain’s official World Cup song. Costa could play against the mother country as soon as round two. Photograph: Claudio Villa/Getty Images