Caio Canedo (left) opens the UAE's naturalization trend - Photo: THE NATIONAL
The above statement was made by Mr. Blatter in 2007, to criticize the widespread naturalization policy of many football countries at that time.
FIFA then wear FIFA
FIFA acted to prevent the scenario its then-president warned of. Many rules and restrictions were put in place, most notably a “five-year residency” requirement, to prevent football nations from naturalizing players on a whim.
According to this rule, if a foreign player wants to wear the national team jersey, he needs to live there for 5 years, similar to the case of Nguyen Xuan Son with the Vietnam team .
A football player's career is not long, with usually just over 10 years of top-level football. Therefore, this 5-year rule is considered enough to prevent rampant naturalization.
Most football countries have recently naturalized players mainly by inviting overseas Vietnamese to return to their homeland, instead of patiently waiting for foreign players to play in their league for 5 years. But there is still a "resilient" football country with a naturalization policy following this direction.
That is the UAE. In the list of players called up for the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers , coach Paulo Bento called up 10 naturalized players to the UAE team, and 8 of them are ofBrazilian origin. President Blatter's exaggeration many years ago turned out to be almost true.
"Brazilianization" of UAE team
The 10 naturalized UAE players span all lines, including 3 defenders (2 Brazilian, 1 Ivorian), 4 midfielders (3 Brazilian, 1 English), and 3 forwards, all of whom are of Brazilian descent. Of these, striker Caio Canedo has the longest tenure. He is 34 years old, has been playing in the UAE since 2015 and officially became a UAE citizen in 2020.
In the UAE Pro League, Canedo was a prolific striker in his early years at Al-Wasl, with an average of more than 20 goals per season. But Canedo also had a similar problem with Elkeson - a Brazilian striker who was naturalized in China.
That was when he was eligible to play for the UAE national team, Canedo's performance declined significantly after turning 30. And since playing for the UAE, Canedo has only scored 10 goals in 52 matches.
The UAE football authorities quickly realised this problem and changed their approach to foreign players. Instead of massively recruiting established stars like the current Saudi Arabian football approach, the UAE chose players in their 20s.
This is so that when they are eligible for naturalization, these stars are still at the peak of their performance. Besides, there are also cultural and integration factors...
So, of the eight Brazilian players currently called up by the UAE, four have never played a single game, and most are under the age of 25. Even if the UAE qualify for the 2026 World Cup, they will have more "reinforcements" next summer, when they will have more foreign players with five-year contracts.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tuyen-brazil-oanh-tac-chau-a-20250319073835542.htm
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