Success more than nationalizing players

Reportedly, China intends to naturalize Brazilian strikers Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso and Ricardo Goulart Pereira to help the country reach the finals of the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

The two Brazilian footballers have played for clubs in Guangzhou and Shanghai for several years and are popular among Chinese fans. Both have shown a positive attitude toward playing for China, whose national team desperately needs some firepower up front.

Despite this, their proposed naturalization has divided opinion. Some opponents to the move say they cannot accept foreign faces in the national team.

In fact, China has already naturalized British midfielder Nicholas Harry Yennaris and Norwegian midfielder John Hou Sæter this year－both play for Beijing Guoan. Interestingly, their naturalization has not stirred any debate, and people take it for granted that they are being reserved as fresh blood for the national team. Perhaps because the two, known as Li Ke and Hou Yongyong, have Chinese mothers makes it easier for them to be accepted as Chinese nationals.

Although the Chinese population and civilization have continuously absorbed people, cultures and religions from outside the country for thousands of years, China today is obviously not an immigration country.

It will take time for Chinese fans to accept naturalized players, which are universal in many countries, including Japan where naturalized players assumed an important role in raising the level of the country's soccer in the 1990s.

Despite this, the sports administration of China should not ignore Japan's huge inputs into its youth training, an area where China notably lags behind.

Naturalization can be a part of a systemic program to develop soccer in the country, but it is only a shortcut to improve the national team's performance and will only be a short-time fix.

That money talks is another concern. Reportedly the sponsor of the Guangzhou Evergrande has pledged to pay a fat check to Goulart, who plays for Brazilian club Palmeiras in Sao Paulo, to attract him back to play in China again, when his naturalization is expected to be complete. Chinese fans will feel deserted if the foreign players who are naturalized are only mercenaries, and have no emotional attachment to the country.