Officials clarify expat contention for national team
IF A PLAYER IS GOOD ENOUGH AND SATISFIES ELIGIBILITY RULES, PASSPORT CAN BE OBTAINED
More light has been shed on the decision to allow expatriates to join local sports clubs and whether that means they will one-day be able to play for the UAE national team.
According to a decree, which will be enacted by September, players born to Emirati women with expatriate husbands, those holding UAE passports, those born in the UAE, and also those residing in the UAE, can now take part in local sport at club level.
For the above two, players born to Emirati women with expatriate husbands and those holding UAE passports, going on to represent the national team is a possibility due to their UAE citizenship. However, for the second two, players born in the UAE, and players residing in the UAE, the process is a lot more technical.
“To play for the national team requires a passport and this is something else,” said Ebrahim Abdul Malek, general secretary of the UAE General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare.
“If playing for his club in the Asian Champions League he will be regarded as one of the club’s four foreigners unless it is found that this player could be one of the national team players, and this is according to the rules of each federation,” he said of Fifa eligibility rules.
“Each international federation (governing body) across different sports has different regulations, some say you have to have lived here for three years, some say one, some say five, others need a certificate to prove they were born here.
“Because we are dealing with different federations (governing bodies in different sports) each one has their own rules and regulations and we leave it to them to handle. We don’t want to interfere in the technical side of each federation, so we leave that to them.”
Abdullah Al Junaibi, vicepresident of the UAE Football Association and chairman of the Pro League Committee, said: “To play for the UAE national team you should be a local, unless you become a local, but then that’s a political issue and not a sports one.”
Aref Hamad Al Awani, general secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, and a member of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, said: “When we see a new talent who is capable of joining the national team, we will look to get them on board abiding by the rules and regulations of the competition.
“If they have spent the correct number of years here according to the international system they can (play for the UAE national team), why not? It would be a process sent through the authority to obtain the passport and they will be assessed technically to make sure they are qualified and that they are a talent. There will be different conditions but all of them are easy.”
Al Junaibi reminded that the main issue for now was community engagement between expatriates and clubs and that any possible national team contention was a longer term issue given that expatriates have only just been allowed into local clubs.
To play for the national team requires a passport and this is something else.” Ebrahim Abdul Malek » General secretary of the UAE General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare