Brazilians threaten identity crisis

[WingA]

MADRID, March 11 (Reuters) - Three Brazilians with no previous ties to Qatar set foot in the oil-rich Gulf state this Monday to put the finishing touches to a controversial deal that could revolutionise international football.

 

Werder Bremen striker Ailton and brothers Dede and Leandro of Borussia Dortmund are set to become naturalised citizens and thus eligible to play for the national side in a manoeuvre that is expected to be completed in less than a week.

 

In the modern game, fans have become accustomed to players changing clubs regularly as they go in search of fame and, above all, fortune, while the clubs in their turn are looking to buy instant success.

 

But until recently international football was largely immune from the horse-trading that has become so commonplace at club level. After all, countries could not just recruit the best players because they liked the look of them and were restricted by a limited pool who had a connection to their country either by blood, birth or residence.

 

LOOPHOLE

 

Qatar has, however, exploited a loophole in the newly ratified FIFA Statutes that state that 'any person holding the nationality of a country is eligible to play for the representative teams of the association of his country.'

 

So, in theory, all an ambitious national federation now has to do is offer a prospective player their citizenship and, as long as they have not played for another country at senior level, they will be free to appear for their new nation.

 

Money is, of course, also likely to enter into the equation and only those countries that can offer the sort of financial conditions to tempt leading players are ever likely to recruit successfully.

 

In many ways it is a logical step in what has become an increasingly mercenary sport, where it the colour of your money not the depth of your loyalty that counts.

 

And if Real Madrid and Chelsea can throw their cheque books at the most talented players in the game in an attempt to buy success, why then should a national team not do the same?

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what do you guys think of this??

 

peez..

[Gediid]

Sucks walaahi but hey Tunisia did it and succeeded by winning the Nations cup and if this continues the world cup will ultimately come down countries that have the biggest wallet buying talent left and right and winning.