Welcome to China

By Pete Reilly Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/4 19:33:40

Naturalized players offer new look for Chinese football




Nico Yennaris Photo: VCG

Since the Chinese Super League started allowing naturalized players at the beginning of this season there have been a number of players who have taken advantage of becoming Chinese. The first of them, Norway-born John Hou Saeter (Hou Yongyong) and former England youth teamer Nico Yennaris (Li Ke) at Beijing Guoan, more have followed.

While Hou and Li naturalized on account of their Chinese heritage, the expectation is that soon China will have naturalized players based on the residency requirements that FIFA has outlined as eligibility to represent a nation.

Most recently Pedro Delgado, a midfielder born in Portugal who played for the country at the Under-20 World Cup, has become the first player without either Chinese ancestry or having fulfilled the five-year residency requirement to become a Chinese citizen.

Assuming that he stays in the country, the Shandong Luneng player will have to stay for five years to become eligible to represent Marcello Lippi's China side under the current rules.

The belief is that more footballers without a connection to the country ­- ­either through a relative or residency - will follow and it has become a hot topic on Chinese social media.

While it remains to be seen who might follow Delgado's path to becoming Chinese, there is already a list of players who have either become Chinese or are expected to do so in the coming months as China looks to begin its campaign to qualify for a second FIFA World Cup finals appearance.

Lippi, who is on his second stint as manager of the China national team, was reported to have only took the job on the presumption that he would be allowded to add to the domestic talent pool by naturalizing footballers. Once he picked Li for his historic first appearance, it added credence to those rumours.

These are the players that he might legitimately hope to pick for his China side in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, which begin in September, and beyond.

Roberto Siucho - Guangzhou Evergrande

The former Peru under-21 has been out on loan at China League One side Shanghai Shenxin as the CSL side awaits his finalized paperwork. With the Shanghai side in trouble, he may need to find another club or miss out on the rest of this season. The attacking midfielder used to play at Lima giants Universitario before heading to his ancestral home.

Tyias Browning - Guangzhou Evergrande

A former Everton youth teamer, Browning qualified for naturalization based on his mother's ancestry. He has represented England at youth level and has secured the trust of manager Fabio Cannavaro during his side's AFC Champions League campaign this season. He is still awaiting his paperwork to be naturalized but it is expected to follow soon. A China call-up may well follow that.

Pedro Delgado - Shandong Luneng

The former Portugal youth international has had a storied career in playing for Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon but prior to his debut with Shandong Luneng last weekend he had never played higher than the Portuguese second tier. The jury is out but he has plenty of time to win them over as he attempts to fulfil FIFA's eligibility requirements in the next five years.

Elkeson - Shanghai SIPG

The Chinese Super League's record foreign scorer is only behind former teammate Wu Lei in total goals. The former Botafogo man has won the league at Guangzhou Evergrande and at Shanghai SIPG and twice won the CSL title in South China, where he worked under Lippi. It is expected that Elkeson will soon be an Evergrande player once again.

Ricardo Goulart - Guangzhou Evergrande

Another of Lippi's former charges, Goulart was called back from loan at Brazilian side Palmeiras to return to China ahead of naturalizing. He joined Evergrande in 2015 and is expected to be eligible for China selection early next year.

Fernandinho - Chongqing Lifan

The Brazilian, not to be confused with his fellow Brazilian teammate also called Fernandinho, has been at the Chong­qing side since 2015 and will be eligible to naturalize on residency next year - midway through the World Cup qualifiying cycle. He will be 27 then and offer an option to Lippi from the right wing where he has scored three in 11 games for Jordi Cruyff's side this season while also laying on four assists.

Alexander N'Doumbou -  Shanghai Shenhua

Qian Leigei, as he is known in Chinese, is a Gabonese-Chinese footballer who plays in midfield. Born in Gabon to a Chinese mother, N'Doumbou was at French giants Marseille as a youth player and has since played for Dender in Belgium and Vereya in Bulgaria before signing for Shanghai Shenhua. N'Doumbou is an exception to the naturalization rule as he represented Gabon's senior team and now, having chosen to become a Chinese citizen, can represnent netither the African side nor China. He has played 12 times in the league for CSL strugglers Shenhua this season, scoring once.

Nico Yennaris - Beijing Guoan

London-born Yennaris came through the youth setup at Arsenal where he was a peer of future England captain Harry Kane. After playing four times for the Gunners and spending several stints on loan in the English lower leagues, the England youth international moved to Championship side Brentford where he would go on to make 144 appearances in midfield and defense. Yennaris naturalized earlier this year and has set records as China's first naturalized international and the first naturalized player to score in the CSL. His Beijing Guoan side top the table at the halfway stage.

John Hou Saeter - Beijing Guoan

The first naturalized footballer to make an appearance in Chinese domestic football, Saeter was born in Norway to a Chinese mother. He came through the youth team at Rosenborg and was a youth international for the country of his birth before moving to China and naturalizing earlier this year. Saeter also counts as a domestic under-23 per the Chinese Super League quota and could represent the country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games should Guus Hiddink's side qualify.

Posted in: SOCCER

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