CFA: Limits on imported players to remain in place

Despite the positive effect naturalized duo Ai Kesen and Li Ke have had on Team China's World Cup qualification campaign so far, recent reports that the country could grant citizenship to up to 50 foreign-born players sent alarm bells ringing among fans.

Numerous media outlets reported that the Chinese Football Association is planning to extend its quota of naturalized players to 50, prompting concern that such a policy would be damaging to the next generation of homegrown hopefuls.

However, on Tuesday, the CFA denied the rumors in a statement posted on Weibo, which read: "The basis for signing foreign players in Chinese professional leagues and naturalized-player policies are that they benefit the healthy development of the leagues, that they boost the growth of Chinese homegrown players and that they facilitate Chinese soccer youth training.

"Based on the need for the stable and healthy development of Chinese professional soccer leagues, the foreign-aid policy will not undergo big changes. The CFA never discussed if it will withdraw policies like the restrictions on the number of foreign players.

"In terms of the naturalized player regulations, the CFA will formulate policies by following the principle of being cautious and we will strictly limit naturalization. The media reports about the 50-player quota were completely untrue."

So far, just two naturalized players, Brazil-born Ai Kesen and England-born Li Ke, have been called up for national duty, while a number of Chinese Super League clubs, including current CSL leader Guangzhou Evergrande, are reportedly in the process of trying to add more imports to their squads.

According to Xinhua, CFA president Chen Xuyuan said that a total of nine naturalized players had been registered by August.

"It's quite a struggle personally for me to consider to use naturalized players on the national team as I originally disagreed with this idea," president Chen said after his election in August.

"That's a compromise we had to make to realize our immediate goal of qualifying for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

"However, it's not going to be part of our long-term strategy and we will only field a limited number of naturalized players as key supplements to our homegrown roster."

According to the CFA's current policy, CSL clubs are permitted to register a total of six imported players per season, can name four of those in their match-day squads but can only field a maximum of three simultaneously in games.