Aspiring Nigerian footballers and indeed
basketballers may soon find the Russian
League a very tough one to join as the
Russians move to restrict the inflow of
foreigners and indeed force out those
already there. The aim,
they have
explained is to strengthen their national
team and their football system ahead of
the 2018 World Cup which they are billed
to host.
The Russian government is set to bring
in tough restrictions on the number of
foreign players in the country’s top
soccer league in order to develop home-
grown players for the 2018 Mundial.
With his ministry poised to gain new
powers to limit the number of foreigners
in the Russian Premier League, Sports
Minister Vitaly Mutko says he will “cut
back on foreign players in a very tough
way,” in comments on Tuesday reported
by Russian agency R-Sport.
His comments followed a bill allowing
the sports ministry to limit foreign players
in team sports passed the first of three
readings in the lower house of parliament
last week.
Under the current dispensation, Russian
league rules allow clubs to field up to
seven foreigners at any time. But Mutko
is not comfortable with such setting and
has said that the foreigners are crowding
out Russian talent and limiting local
players’ game time.
He said on Wednesday, “I liked to watch
football teams when they had the players
that they’d produced. In football, we’ve
got just four Russians on the teamsheet
for the match and there are 16 teams in
the league. Well, count how many
Russians are playing. We have serious
work to do in this area.”
While the proposed law also covers other
sports such as hockey and basketball,
the discussion around it has focused
almost entirely on soccer, especially
following the Russian team’s exit in the
group stage of last year’s World Cup.
The idea of a state-imposed limit on
foreign players was first proposed a year
ago by President Vladimir Putin, shortly
after the Russian hockey team
disappointed fans by crashing out of its
home Olympics in the quarterfinals.
Another report states that Russia is also
examining the possibility of naturalising
some foreign players who ply their trade
in the Russian Premier League. The main
candidate appears to be Ari, a 29-year-
old Brazilian forward for FC Krasnodar
who became eligible for Russian
citizenship after marrying his Russian
wife in December.
The Russian football league has been a
good starting ground for many Nigerian
players with Osaze Odemwingie and
Emmanuel Emenike being some of those
who made their names there before
moving on. Super Eagles winger Ahmed
Musa currently stars for CSKA Moscow.
In basketball, Olumide Oyedeji started
from Russia before he made it to
Germany and eventually the American
NBA. Another basketball star, Mctaben
Amachree started from Russia before she
made the journey to western Europe and
the USA.
