Girl group Makena brings 200 promising players from South America and Africa to naturalize them after fostering them
Jan 01, 2025
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The lackluster performance of Chinese football is not yesterday or today. The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup is the only World Cup participation. Chinese football was still in place, despite its enormous investments that once threatened Europe. China's advance to the World Cup is unclear, even though the International Football Federation has tried to switch to a 48-nation system with China's advance to the World Cup finals in mind.
Chinese soccer has taken the lead. He is a naturalized player. Strengthening the national team's power through naturalized players is one of the ways many countries choose. Indonesia, led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, succeeded in advancing to the third round of the World Cup for the first time in history with naturalized players, while Middle Eastern countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also had naturalized players in each major position. China also sought to upgrade its power by naturalizing players who showed good performance in the Chinese Super League. But the reality did not meet expectations.
The method chosen by China is unique. It means naturalizing young players. According to China's Sohu Dotcom on the 1st (Korea time), the Chinese Football Association has planned to naturalize 200 youth players from South America and Africa. A scout from Dortmund, Germany's Bundesliga, famous for finding and fostering prospects, finds prospects himself and sends them to the Bundesliga Academy in China for training.
The Chinese Football Association believes that if they meet the criteria, they will be naturalized and join the national team. It's similar to the way K-pop is fostered. Large Korean agencies recruit talented people regardless of nationality and go through the trainee process. You have to go through several processes to become a member of an idol group. Sohu Dotcom explained that if 20 naturalized players are secured with a success rate of 10% out of 200, China can become a soccer powerhouse, including advancing to the World Cup.
However, Chinese soccer fans responded with self-deprecation, "'Do we have to do this because we couldn't find even 11 players?' and "'How can such a selected player have patriotism?'
Reporter Park Chan-joon vanbasten@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.