Gedion Zelalem is now a United States national team player. Well, for now he’s just a U.S. youth national team player but the 18-year-old Arsenal prospect today received his clearance from FIFA allowing him to play for the U.S., the country to which he moved from Germany as a nine-year-old. The promising talent has been added to the U.S. roster for the Under-20 World Cup, which begins later this month in New Zealand. 

A central midfielder able to play behind the forwards as a playmaker or in a deeper lying role, Zelalem has already played twice for Arsenal’s first team and has been compared to the likes of former Gunner Cesc Fabregas.

But whether he’d ever play for the U. S. has been in question, even after receiving U.S. citizenship in January.

Born in Germany to Ethiopian parents, Zelalem and his father, Woldyes (his mother is deceased), moved to Bethesda, Md., in 2006 and instantly became a fixture on the local soccer scene. He played for local youth clubs Bethesda SC and Olney Rangers as well as a year of varsity soccer for Walter Johnson High School.

U.S. Soccer invited him to some youth national team camps at the lower age groups but because he wasn’t a U.S. citizen, he wasn’t allowed to play in official competitions. Meanwhile, he was discovered by Arsenal scout Danny Karbassiyoon, the former Arsenal prospect from Virginia whose career ended at a young age because of injury. 

On Karbassiyoon’s recommendation, Zelalem joined Arsenal in 2013. Meanwhile, the German youth national teams called Zelaem up for camps at the U-15, U-16, and U-18 levels and wanted him to play for them in qualifiers for UEFA youth tournaments. Because he wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen, doing so would have officially prevented him from ever playing for the U.S. 

With lobbying from U.S. boss Jurgen Klinsmann, Zelalem agreed to play for the U.S. and appeared to have met the criteria to do so because when his father became a U.S. citizen in January, days before his son's 18th birthday, Zelalem did too because under the Child Citizen Act, all minor children of naturalized citizens are automatically naturalized.

At that point Zelalem acquired a U.S. passport but he still wasn’t eligible under an obscure FIFA rule designed to prevent countries from naturalizing players for the express purpose of having them play for their national teams. Under the rule, players must have lived in their adopted country for five years at the time of their naturalization to be eligible to play immediately.

Because he is playing for a club in England, Zelalem did not meet that criteria but U.S. Soccer appealed to FIFA for a waiver to the rule, claiming that Zelalem did not move to the U.S. for soccer reasons. 

FIFA apparently agreed and U.S. U-20 head coach Tab Ramos wasted no time adding Zelalem to the 21-man roster for the U-20 World Cup. When Ramos announced the provisional roster last week, he named only 20 players, holding a spot open for Zelalem in the hopes he’d get his FIFA clearance before rosters for the U-20 World Cup had to be officially submitted—on Friday.

The U-20 team is currently training in Carson, Calif., and will depart for a pre-tournament camp in Australia later this week with Zelalem in tow. Had Zelalem not been cleared by FIFA this week, his spot on the U-20 World Cup roster would have been taken by the Philadelphia Union’s Zach Pfeffer.

NOTE: In addition to adding Zelalem to the roster, U.S. soccer announced one other change from the provisional roster Ramos named last week. Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, who had played for the U.S. in qualifying in January and was expected to challenge Zack Steffen for the starting spot, was not released by his Norwegian club, Molde (which, like MLS clubs, is in-season) and was replaced by Thomas Olsen.

A rising redshirt-sophomore at the University of San Diego, the six-foot-three Olsen was the West Coast Conference’s freshman of the year last fall. Olsen and fellow backup goalkeeper Jeff Caldwell are the only college players on the roster.

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.