FIFA changed the eligibility rules at a FIFA congress last month (18th September), which could benefit some of the bigger East Asian nations we follow more so than the smaller ones. We look at why some nations could benefit more than others.
What has changed
FIFA have agreed upon a change to the eligibility rule during one of their virtual congresses. The rule change now allows players to change national teams, even if they have already played three times for a nation they are eligible for.
The three matches can include tournament qualifying matches (but not major tournament games) before they turned 21 but these games have to be at least three years previous to their call up for a new nation.
This means a plethora of players could become eligible to countries around the world, who were previously unavailable to be selected. It could open the door to the 10 East Asian nations we follow at the Tofu Bowl to naturalise some foreign players playing in their local leagues, or look abroad to players who have ancestral ties to the country but have played a couple of times for the country of their birth.
At the same time, some players who have represented one of the 10 East Asian nations through ancestry could become a risk of being poached by their birth nations.
We will be trying to get our head around this new rule for a little while, and trying to figure out who could now be available to represent which country, and which players could be at risk for being poached by another country. On the whole, we believe a lot of the EAFF nations will be able to benefit from this rule, more than the negatives that could come from it. That is if they want to exploit this new rule change.
FIFA have agreed upon a change to the eligibility rule during one of their virtual congresses. The rule change now allows players to change national teams, even if they have already played three times for a nation they are eligible for.
The three matches can include tournament qualifying matches (but not major tournament games) before they turned 21 but these games have to be at least three years previous to their call up for a new nation.
This means a plethora of players could become eligible to countries around the world, who were previously unavailable to be selected. It could open the door to the 10 East Asian nations we follow at the Tofu Bowl to naturalise some foreign players playing in their local leagues, or look abroad to players who have ancestral ties to the country but have played a couple of times for the country of their birth.
At the same time, some players who have represented one of the 10 East Asian nations through ancestry could become a risk of being poached by their birth nations.
We will be trying to get our head around this new rule for a little while, and trying to figure out who could now be available to represent which country, and which players could be at risk for being poached by another country. On the whole, we believe a lot of the EAFF nations will be able to benefit from this rule, more than the negatives that could come from it. That is if they want to exploit this new rule change.
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