Impact on Italian hockey of the new citizenship law

[Gianpaolo]

The Italian government tightened new regulations for claiming citizenship by descent, effective immediately. Applicants must have at least one parent or grandparent born in Italy. Previously, anyone with an Italian ancestor qualified for citizenship. This new regulations will have a massive impact on Italian hockey, because the pool on available Italian Canadian players will consistently decrease. According with 2021 Canadian Census, they were 1,342,320 people in Canada with an Italian ancestor, but only 204,070 people born in Italy. According with the Italian National Institute of Statistics, there were 142,547 people with Italian citizenship living in Canada in 2022. Most of the Italian Canadian hockey players do not acquire Italian citizenship at birth, but just apply later. This will be no longer possible. Italy needs start a serious development project right now.

 

[HungryFrank]

if there isn't some "national interest blabla" exception already, it will be added.

Rules for thee, not for me.

 

[wetcoast]

How popular is hockey in Italy and are they making any gains?