‘Chaos’ in Chinese football as new signings barred

SHANGHAI: Moves to boost Chinese football by introducing naturalised players have been thrown into disarray after clubs were ordered not to pick several new signings from abroad.

China has previously resisted the naturalisation policies followed by other countries but the Chinese Football Association opened the door to foreign-born players of Chinese descent at the end of last season.

The change in approach could eventually bolster a national squad that is sorely lacking international-class players and has qualified for the World Cup only once, in 2002.However, four trumpeted new arrivals failed to take the field, with domestic media saying they had been barred for the first two games of the Chinese Super League season.

“As for the specific reason, none of the parties responded publicly,” the Beijing Youth Daily said last week.“It is reported that the Chinese Football Association has previously drafted a rule for guiding the legitimate naturalisation and deploying the naturalised players.

“However, until now, this rule has not been officially announced.”The Shanghai Observer said there was confusion among the clubs over the naturalisation policy, leading to “complete disorder” and “chaos”.