The present article will go through the main requirements that foreign individuals - with a particular focus on naturalized players - need to comply with, to obtain Chinese nationality, as per the laws of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Further, we will briefly analyze the policies issued by the Chinese Football Association (CFA) to regulate the foreign quota, as well as the participation of those naturalized players in its competitions. On the picture, the Brazilian-born Chinese professional footballer, Elkeson de Oliveira Cardoso, known as Elkeson or in Chinese as Ai Kesen.
Introduction
It was not until 2015 when China began a deep reform of its football system, through a detailed football plan drafted by the Chinese Government and the CFA.[1] In essence, the Football Plan aimed at reforming the whole football structure of the country, with a particular focus on the grassroots, so as to make China a football superpower by 2050.
When analyzing the results of such reforms, it is evident that the pace of growth of local talents has been substantially slower if compared to neighboring countries as Japan or South Korea, which built plans to develop their local players at an earlier stage. As a result of...
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