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For the good of the game FIFA should abolish limits on foreign players
Updated: Tuesday February 06, 2001 1:45 PM
It was bound to happen eventually and now it has. The combination of the Bosman ruling, limits of non-European Union foreigners, lax immigration laws, corrupt officials and the simple fact that many South Americans are of European descent has thrown the game into chaos. Already, France's St. Etienne has been docked seven points and several star players, including Alex and Levitsky, have been sent home. Dozens more are under investigation. It's a similar story in Serie A, where Udinese's Brazilians Warley and Alberto have been caught with forged passports and have had to re-register as non-EU players. Inter's Uruguyan striker Alvaro Recoba, the world's highest-paid footballer, has had to the same, while Lazio's Juan Sebastian Veron went on trial Tuesday, not because his Italian passport is counterfeit, but because it was allegedly obtained with fraudulent documents. With similar allegations are flying around in Spain and England, we could soon see a whole raft of players -- mostly South American -- sent home for carrying forged passports or having their Italian, Portuguese or Greek passports taken away.
Why do certain players obtain a second passport? Because it vastly increases their chances of playing in the top European leagues, which offer much higher wages than they could obtain back home in Argentina or Brazil. This is due to the fact that UEFA countries are only allowed to field three non-EU foreigners per game, while they can employ as many foreigners as they like provided they have an EU passport. This is what allows clubs like Roma to field eight foreigners in its starting eleven. Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan) and Walter Samuel (also Argentina) are their non-EU foreigners; Vincent Candela (France) is their EU foreigner and Emerson, Aldair, Zago and Cafu are their Brazilian (and thus, non-EU) players who carry Italian passports. If the four Brazilians did not have EU passports and had to compete with Batistuta, Nakata and Samuel for the three non-EU slots, odds are at least three of them would not be at the club, because they could never get a game. That's why clubs and agents go to great lengths (and often great expense) to find EU passports for players. "I spent around $100,000 and flew people all over Brazil and Italy to obtain Cafu's passport," Roma chairman Franco Sensi explained. "We did it all legally and above board, but it was a major effort." Cafu became an Italian citizen thanks to his wife. She is Brazilian as well, but Roma got her an Italian passport. How? Let's let Sensi explain: "One of Cafu's wife's ancestors was Italian. His name was Vincezo Domenico Mauro and he was born in 1834, in a town called Marano Calabro. He never renounced his Italian citizenship." Thus Cafu is Italian because he married someone who has an Italian great, great grandparent. The fact that Cafu is allowed to do this is utterly ridiculous, but then, apparently, current legislation enables him to do so legally. Neither Roma nor Cafu are at fault here. They spotted an opportunity to legally obtain documents that were to their advantage and they did so. If any wrongdoing is found in Cafu's case, odds are, neither Roma nor Cafu were aware of it and they were simply duped by whoever got them the documents. The problems here are the laws themselves. Countries like Italy, Portugal and Greece seem to grant passports to anyone with the most tenuous links to those nations. I'm not a master forger, but I would imagine it can't be too difficult, if one were so inclined, to produce a fraudulent birth certificate from the middle of the 19th century. By the same token, for those who merely produce fake passports (as opposed to real ones obtained through fraudulent means), there aren't enough checks to verify that these documents are, indeed, legitimate.
The European Union, by enforcing the Bosman ruling, has unwittingly contributed to this situation, but they would sooner get a collective lobotomy than change the current regulations. They could force European countries to come up with a unified, more stringent immigration policy, but, given the speed at which the EU works, the United States will probably win a World Cup before that happens. Which means soccer must clean up its own mess. And, really, there is only one alternative: Lifting limits on foreigners entirely. There is no logical reason to distinguish between EU and non-EU players. It is simply a discriminatory policy and little else. The limit had some sense before the Bosman ruling, when leagues were keen to maintain their national identities and there were fears that a flood of imports might harm the development of young players. But the facts show that this hasn't happened. Good players have found a way to emerge and domestic footballers will always have an edge over foreigners, provided they are of equal ability. It's time for FIFA to realize that you cannot combat this problem simply by conducting spot checks and doling out the occasional fine or suspension. The way around it is to abolish limits on foreigners, period. It may be painful for a while, but, in the long term, the game will benefit. Based in London, Gabriele Marcotti writes a weekly column on international soccer for CNNSI.com.
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