This summer, international basketball events continued. In the competitions related to us, from the Asian Cup to the World Preliminary Round, the Chinese men's basketball team was in a bad situation; In a world that has nothing to do with us, the European Championship is exciting and the discussion is much hotter than ever.
Therefore, because of the turmoil within Chinese basketball, and because a large number of countries in Asia and Europe have enabled the development of naturalized players, discussions about naturalized players are raging. However, in addition to the positive and negative opinions of whether or not to naturalize, there are still many misunderstandings in many discussions. Regarding whether the Chinese men's basketball team should be naturalized and who should be naturalized, we have no right to decide, we can only use some existing cases to explain the development status of naturalized players on an international scale, so as to clarify the ins and outs of the naturalized basketball phenomenon.
What is a naturalized player?
Naturalized players, or naturalized athletes, are already a familiar word to sports fans. But what exactly is a naturalized player, and what the specific rules of naturalization are in basketball, is the first topic we will start with.
According to the FIBA regulations updated on March 26, 2022, we can see that in the third book of FIBA regulations, Chapter I, Article 20, paragraph A and Article 22 on the qualification of athletes clearly mention: "A national team, when participating in all competitions organized by FIBA, may have a player in the team who acquired the nationality of that country by naturalization or other legal means after the age of 16." A player who has represented one country in any major FIBA international tournament after reaching the age of 17 is not allowed to play for another country. ”
The rules are very clear in black and white, and we distill a few of them:
First, a national team can only have one naturalized player in all competitions. This rule, first of all, can confirm that the phenomenon of being Brazilian in the front court like the Chinese men's team will not appear. Secondly, the existence of this rule makes this unique place in many national teams often have fierce competition, such as the two naturalized players of the Spanish national team, Nicolas Mirotic and Sergi Ibaka, who can hook up off the field, but cannot register together in the same tournament.
Second, the ways in which nationality is acquired are diverse, but the definitions are uniform. Taking the Philippines as an example, several naturalized players before and after have joined Philippine nationality in different ways, such as Andre Brache is naturalized, Jordan Clarkson is automatically obtained because his mother has Philippine nationality, but under FIBA rules, their identities are not different, they are naturalized players.
Third, players who acquire nationality after the age of 16 will be considered naturalized. For example, Taylor Dorsey, who recently performed well in Greece at the European Championships, whose mother is Greek, can easily obtain Greek citizenship through such blood ties. But because he only got his Greek passport in 2015, that is, at the age of 19, his status in the Greek team is still a naturalized player, and in 2019, the FIBA official website also clearly pointed out that Taylor Dorsey is a naturalized Greek player when introducing the Greek team.
In order to specifically identify players such as Clarkson and Dorsey, FIBA explicitly stipulates that "even if the player has the nationality of a certain country from birth, he must make a declaration before the age of 16, otherwise the naturalization clause will also apply." "So as for how to prove that you have nationality before the age of 16, FIBA recognizes the strongest evidence, that is, the player can show that the passport of the country has been obtained before the age of 16, interestingly, the Philippine team, which has always been very eager for naturalized players, and even hopes to continuously strengthen through external conditions, can be said to have studied FIBA's regulations quite thoroughly, and the Philippine Basketball Association (SBP) first said in 2015 that they found electronic information (below), Clarkson acquired Filipino citizenship in 2004, at the age of 12.
So on the registration list of the 2015 Changsha Asian Championship, the Philippines has already filled Clarkson (No. 22 below) and Bratche (No. 1 below) into the 24-person registration list, but FIBA quickly gave a decision, the so-called Clarkson passport has no seal, the handwriting is illegible, can not be used as evidence of admissibility, Clarkson is not recognized as a Philippine native player.
In recent years, the Philippine national team still has illusions, hoping that the Houston Rockets' 2021 top pick Jaylen Green and Clarkson will be recognized by FIBA to form a backcourt together. But apparently, they are not in the ranks.
What kind of situation can be out of the ordinary?
In fact, although FIBA's naturalized players adhere to the principle of "16 years old one size fits all", there are special cases that can apply for exemptions, and Filipinos themselves should be well aware of this rule.
The FIBA charter states: "If a player is unable to present a passport of that country obtained before the age of 16, but meets the following requirements, the FIBA Secretary General has the discretion to decide on this matter and grant exempt status to non-naturalized players." ”
These requirements include:
First, the year in which the player resided in the country in which he wished to represent;
second, the number of seasons the player has played in the country's league;
Third, any other evidence that can establish a close link between the player and the country he wishes to play for.
The last of these three requirements is obviously relatively soft, while the first two requirements are more explicit, that is, the player needs to have both a long-term residence in the country and a considerable number of years in the country's league. In the history of the Philippine team, there happens to be such an exemption exception, which is Greg Slaughter, who was born in Ohio, USA, in 1988.
He himself has Filipino ancestry, but what can impress FIBA is that Slaughter has moved to the famous Philippine city of Cebu in 2007 to settle down, so in September 2018, Patrick Bowman, then secretary general of FIBA, clearly pointed out in an official letter: Slaughter obtained a Philippine passport at the age of 17, and the gap between the requirements for 16 years old is very small; He has been living in the Philippines since 2007; Having spent the last 11 years studying in the Philippines and playing in the Philippine league, there will be no restrictions on his ability to play for the national team, so from this letter, Slaughter's status in the Philippine national team changed from naturalized to homegrown, but he was also 30 years old by this time.
As far as international basketball is concerned, Slaughter's identity transformation has not made much of a splash, but there is probably a world celebrity who has gone through a similar process, and this person is Nick Karasis, the main point guard of the Greek national team.
Compared to the new naturalized Taylor Dorsey, Calasis is obviously more like a native Greek player in appearance and name, but in fact he is an American through and through. Born in Florida, his family has moved to the United States since his great-grandparents, who were born in the United States in 1926.
In 2008 , Karasis followed his grandfather's instructions to represent the Greek national team. He obtained his Greek passport on June 30, 2008, just before the '08 Beijing Olympics, although he was not included in the Greek squad that year, only for the Greek U20 national youth. But a year later, Kalashis went one step further, giving up his successful NCAA performance at the University of Florida, moving directly to Greece, joining the Greek giants Panathinaikos, and also becoming the national player of Greece.
According to the regulations, in 2008 Calasis was 19 years old, and according to the "16-year-old rule" he should obviously be classified as a naturalized player, so his identity with Taylor Dorsey originally clashed. So a more reasonable analysis is: when Dorsey began to apply for Greek citizenship in 2019, the Greek basketball team started the application for the localization of the identity of Karasis.
By 2019, Karasis had lived in Greece for a total of 10 years, including seven seasons in the Greek league, which is very close to the number of Filipino player Slaughter mentioned above, not to mention that in August 2018, Greek Andres Zagkiris replaced Bowman, who died unexpectedly that year, as the new secretary general of FIBA.
In this way, why from 2020, Karasis was able to leave Greece and start playing for giants in Spain, Turkey and other countries, this point in time is not necessarily accidental.
What is the key to bringing in naturalized players?
Seeing this, I believe everyone already has a certain understanding: after the age of 16, if you join the nationality of a certain country, you will be recognized as a naturalized player. So why does each country have different attitudes towards whether or not to use naturalization, and why are the candidates for naturalization strong and weak?
The reason for this is that the difficulty of "acquiring nationality" is different in each country.
Globally, there are a certain number of countries that allow citizens to have dual citizenship, and there are not many restrictions on naturalization, and it is quite easy for a country like this to get a naturalized player, as long as the terms are negotiated with the player himself, the relevant authorities can issue a passport for the player and become a national nationality. For example, at this European Championship, Croatia's naturalized player Jalyn Smith, who has been listed by Croatia as one of the naturalization targets since late July, got a passport on August 20, and stepped on the European Championship on September 1. "Smith had played in the German league in his previous career and had never even set foot on Croatian soil.
However, some countries are more cautious about naturalization, which has narrowed the choice of naturalized players.
For example, Japan requires that foreigners must have at least five years of work experience in Japan, that is, the sixth year of working in Japan, before they can apply for a Japanese passport. This is why former NBA player Nick Fazekas, who has played for the Kawasaki Braves Thunder of the Japanese league since 2012, but he did not qualify for Japanese citizenship until 2018; Ryan Rohit, who has been playing in Japan since 2013, will naturally not get a chance until 2019 - such a rule makes the Japanese team, which is very open to naturalization, only a limited number of players to choose, which actually reduces the combat power a lot.
Of course, the rules are dead, people are alive, and FIBA's regulations cannot be changed, but some countries' own naturalization regulations can be changed.
During the European Championship, fans often ask, Lithuanian looks short of a good defender, why don't they naturalize one? Because, most of the time, Lithuania is also a country with very strict restrictions on dual citizenship, and the Chinese Consular Service Network also has an official explanation: except in special circumstances, Lithuania generally does not recognize dual citizenship, and foreign citizens automatically lose their original nationality after obtaining Lithuanian nationality.
But under such strict rules, Lithuania has already had a specially naturalized player in the current European Championship roster, that is, Igna Blazdekis, who played for the Magic last season.
Born in Lithuania, Blazdekis moved to the United States with his parents at the age of 3 and settled in Canada soon after, where he became a member of the Canadian national youth men's basketball team. According to Lithuanian law, after Blazdekis obtained Canadian citizenship, he automatically renounced Lithuanian citizenship, but since refusing to play for Canada in the World Cup in 2019, Blazdekis has shown a strong desire to play for Lithuania in the World Series. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda also reacted enthusiastically, stating in January 2020 that "a child who leaves Lithuania at the age of three has no right to choose, and objective factors at that time should not stop his desire to serve Lithuania." The president's meaning was that he was very willing to grant citizenship for Blazdekist, and a year later, in 2021, Lithuania updated Article 7 of the country's Citizenship Law, expanding the scope of Lithuanian dual citizenship holding conditions: that is, people who were Lithuanian citizens at birth, but obtained citizenship of another country before the age of 18, can have dual citizenship - in order not to make you look too special, it is better to modify a rule that can frame you, Blazdekis, the face of this special affairs office is too big.
Of course, his new passport was only obtained at the age of 22, and in theory he should also belong to the naturalized player of the Lithuanian team, but Blazdekis has decided to leave the NBA and return to Lithuanian giants Zarkiris, and it is possible to be exempted in the future.
What are the naturalized players thinking?
If there is a naturalized party, there is another party that is naturalized. Now we are clear that the national team brings in naturalized players in order to improve the competitiveness of the team. So what are the naturalized fierce generals?
The first thing to admit is that there are some naturalized players who have dreams. For example, as mentioned above, Blazdekis, who hopes to play for Lithuania, such as Chris Carman, who hopes to get a chance to appear in the Olympics in 2008, and so on.
But the most important appeal of naturalized players is to earn money, clearly mark the price, you give money, I do things. Each player's strength is different, and the financial resources of each basketball association are also very different, so there is no certain price for naturalized players, but in the entire international context, a monthly salary of about $50,000 is a relatively common price.
There are relatively low prices, such as Chinese Taipei's newly naturalized Atino who debuted in the Asian Cup, with a monthly salary of only $15,000, and Andre Brache, who once opened his mouth in 2017 and asked the Philippine Basketball Association for $1 million to play in the Asian Cup that year, which eventually scared off the Filipinos.
For these working boys in international basketball, finding more jobs in the offseason does not conflict with the club's game time at all, which is obviously a very high-quality choice.
It is worth mentioning that international basketball has a very interesting phenomenon: American teams rarely use naturalized players. This year's Copa America competition has ended a few days ago, Argentina vs Brazil finals stage, you can't see any naturalized players, this is very different from the European Cup, the basketball association's limited financial resources are of course the most important reason, but why do some African countries have naturalized players?
At the end of the day, it's about money and policy.
Many players from the United States, once naturalized by European countries, get an additional benefit, that is, they get European passports, so that they are exempted from foreign status in the leagues of many countries. For example, the Spanish ACB League, which has the highest level in Europe, stipulates that the number of foreign aid in the team is not limited, as long as it ensures that there are at least three players trained by the Spanish youth system (JFL above), but among all foreign aid, non-European passport (EXT) players can only sign up for two per game, and American forward Anthony Randolph, who previously obtained Slovenian citizenship, was represented as a European passport (EUR) in the Real Madrid team last season.
At the same time, La Liga also stipulates that players with African passports are marked as COT and are not counted in the non-European foreign aid quota. For example, Barcelona's No. 0 Brandon Davis in the picture above holds a Ugandan passport and does not conflict with other foreign players in the Barça team, while Axam from Australia is unable to play during the La Liga finals because of his non-European passport (EXT).
Another naturalized player of the Ugandan national team, Iss Wienwright, who now plays for the NBA Suns (of course, he can only go at the same time as the aforementioned Brandon Davis) once said, "When I was playing in Europe, I was reminded that getting an African identity was good for me in the future, so when the Uganda Basketball Association found me, I didn't hesitate to agree." "The benefit is obviously that when you play in many European leagues, it is easier to find a job and make money.
Think about it, if there are no European and African countries to invite you to become a naturalized, this benefit is not something you want to have - the passport is a thing, if others do not issue it, you can't grab it.
Where did naturalization come from and where did it go?
The supply and demand sides have their own purposes, which makes the naturalization of players a systematic project, which has now taken root under the international basketball system. FIBA Secretary General Andres Zagkiris recently said in an interview with European media: "Over the years, I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking, arguing, and reviewing hundreds of player applications. "It can be seen that a player representing a country is personally reviewed by the secretary general under the FIBA system, but the number of players who apply from basketball associations around the world is quite large.
Looking back at history, as early as the 70s of the 20th century, American Wayne Brabender became a naturalized player who influenced world basketball. He began playing for giants Real Madrid in 1967 and was invited by the Spanish Basketball Association a few years later, when he even renounced his American citizenship in order to represent Spain. In 1973 he not only led Spain to European runner-up, but was also named the tournament's MVP, and in 1991 he was named one of the 50 best in FIBA history.
In the eighties and nineties, the development of naturalized players was more prosperous, and the figure of black player Chico Sibilio appeared in the Spanish team; Even after careful study, even the basketball kingdom of the United States has used naturalized players, and even in order to make this naturalized person appear, the American Basketball Association has repeatedly appealed to FIBA for special approval: Of course, for this person named Olajuwon, these efforts are worth it.
The New York Times published a report entitled "Olajuwon can't play for the American team" in December 1993, which pointed out that although Olajuwon had become a naturalized United States at that time, there were still two major obstacles to joining the dream team, the first was that FIBA at that time stipulated that players need at least three years after naturalization to become naturalized players in the country, Olajuwon got a U.S. passport in April 1993, but the application to FIBA was already in September 1993, if according to the latter start counting three years, will miss the Atlanta Olympics on American soil; The bigger resistance was that Olajuwon played for Nigeria's youth when he was 17 years old, and according to the rules of the time, he could no longer wear the U.S. national team jersey.
After many appeals, at the end of 1995, FIBA finally gave the green light to Olajuwon, and he was recognized as having obtained a passport in April 1993, so he had been naturalized for more than three years at the opening of the '96 Olympic Games, and the rule that "after the age of 17 representing one country will not represent another country" was naturally refined at this moment and is still used today. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Jalil Okafor, who once played for the United States national youth, became a member of the Nigerian national team, which can be regarded as a two-way rush between the two countries in basketball.
Today, naturalized players have become a common phenomenon in international basketball. Taking the 2022 Asian Cup as an example, 14 teams from Asia, including 9 teams including Japan, South Korea, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei, have used naturalized players, while among the remaining 5 teams, Iran and Kazakhstan have also used naturalized players.
Of the 24 teams in the European Cup, more than 60% of the teams in this tournament have used naturalized players. Looking at the past history of the remaining teams, this year's unnaturalized Israel, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ukraine (the Ukrainian naturalized Jett on the left pictured above), Belgium, the United Kingdom, etc., there have been very famous naturalized players in the history of the team. Even in these countries, the French team has put Embiid's naturalization on the agenda, and although the Serbian men's basketball team does not have naturalized players, the women's basketball team has long had Yvonne Anderson from the United States - according to this, FIBA Secretary General Zagiris has approved hundreds of applications in 4 years, which should be true.
"The FIBA committee has had many discussions on naturalization and concluded that the committee agreed that strict adherence to the rule of 11 homegrown players per team and allowing one naturalized player is the right balance, and we do not intend to change this rule," Zargiris added. ”
So, the rules are there, what exactly do we do?