Football condition in China: the case of naturalized players

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is the recent naturalization of foreign players in China, that led to the debut of the first football player without Chinese ancestry in the Chinese national team. The first chapter is an introduction to the naturalization in football in all its aspects. I will first clarify concepts such as nation, nationality, and citizenship. Then I will analyze the evolution of the regulations on eligibility, starting from the case of Italy in the thirties to arrive to the modern FIFA eligibility rules. In the second chapter, I will focus on the Chinese football condition. Starting with an overview of football history in the country, from the very first form of the game passing through the professionalization in the 90s to arrive at the recent years in which the Chinese Super League (CSL) developed very rapidly. The focus of the chapter is the relationship between Chinese authorities, football clubs and players and the reforms Chinese government is doing to reduce the gap with European football, trying to improve both CSL teams and national team level. These reforms aim to turn China into a world elite competitor by 2050 mainly through promotion of football at the grassroots level and league development. The third chapter reviews the process of naturalization of foreign players that is now a widespread argument in the Chinese football circle, investigating reasons, advantages and drawbacks. For this analysis I based myself on the document “Chinese Football Association temporary regulations on the administration of the naturalized players”, which I translated. The document stipulates rules governing the registration and transfer of players who have recently obtained Chinese nationality or are in the process of doing so.