FIBA should restudy eligibility rule

The FIBA rule requiring a player with at least two citizenships to submit the passport of the country he or she hopes to represent in international competitions as a “local” before turning 16 has a loophole that makes a mockery of the eligibility stipulation.

Theoretically, a country may enlist foreigners, with no limit, to play as locals if they can submit passports that were issued before they turned 16. So it’s possible, under the FIBA rule, for a national team to enlist 12 foreigners, with no lineage of heritage to the country they’re representing, and play in a FIBA-sanctioned tournament. A country could import 12 players before they’re 16, pay them off as mercenaries and give them passports to make them eligible for the national team. This would be a basis to charge human trafficking of minors. But FIBA will consider it legal.

Take the case of the Qatar national team. In the first window of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers in Jeddah last Feb. 20, Qatar suited up four players with no Qatari heritage whatsoever in a 68-57 loss to Saudi Arabia.   The FIBA rule allows only one naturalized player per national team. FIBA recognizes a naturalized player as someone who acquires citizenship for a country he or she represents in a FIBA competition after turning 16, regardless of blood line. An example of a naturalized player is the Philippines’ Andray Blatche.

The four “foreigners” in Qatar’s roster were 6-5 Babacar Dieng, 22, 6-11 Meho Haracic, 21, 6-10 Emir Mujkic, 22 and 6-7 Faris Avdic, 23. All four players began to play in the Qatari league in 2015. The year before, it was reported that Qatar recruited nine Bosnian-Herzegovina teenagers for the national team. They were supposedly less than 16 to make them eligible as locals under the FIBA rule. Qatar was also reported to have recruited several Senegal teenagers for the same purpose of beefing up the national team with a long-term perspective.

The nine Bosnians were Haracic, Mujkic, Avdic, 6-10 Alen Hadzibegovic, 20, Hamza Kurtovic, 6-7 Jasmin Memic, 21, 6-6 Nedim Muslic, 22, Faris Sadikovic and 6-6 Kaid Zubovic, 21.  All nine players began to suit up in the Qatar league in 2015, an incredible coincidence. An agent must have made a tidy sum selling the teenagers.

FIBA classifies a foreigner as a local if he or she was born in the country being represented. That’s why Fil-Ams like Abu Tratter and Maurice Shaw, both born in the Philippines, are recognized as locals even if they were issued their Philippine passports after turning 16. The jus soli rule was applied to celebrated football quarterback Tim Tebow who was born in Makati and is eligible to play for the Philippines in the coming World Baseball Classic qualifiers in Tucson. FIBA doesn’t acknowledge the jus sanguinis rule where a person acquires citizenship through their parents or ancestors.  

At the 2011 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, five of Qatar’s players were declared ineligible before the tournament started because they were foreigners who were issued Qatari passports after turning 16. They were Tanguy Ngombo, Ousseynou Ndiaye, Mansour El Hadary, Hassan Mohamed and Mame Ndour. Qatar went on to play with a decimated lineup and ridiculed the rules. In its first game, Qatar lost to Uzbekistan, 27-12 as the game was stopped with 4:02 left in the first period and only one Qatari player on the floor with every teammate fouled out. In its second game, Qatar bowed to Iran, 40-4. The game was halted with 2:18 to go in the first quarter for the same reason. Three years later, Qatar found a loophole to the FIBA rule and recruited teenaged foreigners before they turned 16.

In the Philippine case, Fil-foreigners are disallowed to play as locals for the national team unless they show passports before turning 16, regardless of heritage. From a global human perspective, they deserve to represent the country more than foreign mercenaries who sell their bodies for passports before turning 16. That’s the reason why Fil-foreigners like Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle and Jordan Clarkson can play in FIBA-sanctioned tournaments only as naturalized citizens, not locals. And the FIBA rule is only one naturalized citizen is allowed per national team.  

With the loophole exploited by Qatar, FIBA has to revisit the eligibility rule. It makes no sense for a country to be represented by an unlimited cast of foreigners with no blood line and no affiliation to the nation. The late FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann once suggested the return of the rule allowing two naturalized players per national team. That was the rule when the Philippines won its last FIBA Asia Cup crown in Kuala Lumpur in 1985-86 with naturalized players Dennis Still and Jeff Moore. But why bring back the old rule? If only FIBA will allow a country to enlist players under the jus sanguinis principle, regardless of when they were issued their passports, that should be enough to plug the loophole and make for a fair representation of a national team without resorting to hiring mercenaries of minor age.