Should the IIHF move to FIFA style eligibility rules?

[Xokkeu]

His father played in Italy from 1999-2002, so I think it's 3 years.

In which period of time exactly did he play in Russia?

After the elder Alex retired they moved to Moscow. Alex Jr played in Dynamo's system. So essentially, 2007-2009, when he moved to Chicago, plus one year 2002-2003 when his dad played in the 2nd division.

 

[Theokritos]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

4 years in Italy
3 years in Russia
4 years in Belarus
1 year in Chicago
2 years in the CHL

So he should play for Italy?

If those numbers are correct then I would say either Italy or Belarus and certainly not the US.

 

[Xokkeu]

If those numbers are correct then I would say either Italy or Belarus and certainly not the US.

So three or four years makes the kid Italian?

 

[joelef]

Absolutely not. I would restrict it even further to stop the naturalisation of players. If you weren't eligible to play for a country when you were 18, you shouldn't be eligible to play for them when you are 28.

The Great Britain teams of the 90s that were 3/4 Canadian born and bred players were a joke

and how far have they gotten?

 

[joelef]

You can say "its a joke they use all canadians " until they lose funding because they cant competeand the sport has little resources to develop.

 

[joelef]

So three or four years makes the kid Italian?

If that kid is able to legally get italian citizenship then yes.

 

[joelef]

Im all for Hockey going to fifa requirements

 

[jekoh]

You can say "its a joke they use all canadians " until they lose funding because they cant competeand the sport has little resources to develop.

Why would the sport need any funding if they rely on Canadians?

If a foreign country provides you with players, there is just no point in 'developing' the sport. Mind you that's exactly what happened in countries like Britain or Italy.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

So three or four years makes the kid Italian?

or Belarussian in terms of hockey

 

[Siamese Dream]

and how far have they gotten?

We've gradually gotten rid of Canadians on the roster to the point where we no longer have any and a 100% British trained team, without our ranking suffering.

You can say "its a joke they use all canadians " until they lose funding because they cant competeand the sport has little resources to develop.

We never did get funding anyway.

Quite the opposite, we got praised by the media during the Olympic qualification for using a team with no "Plastic Brits"

 

[Xokkeu]

If that kid is able to legally get italian citizenship then yes.

He's not.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

He's not.

Italy could make him a citizen if they wanted to.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Why would the sport need any funding if they rely on Canadians?

Immigration lawyers

 

[Xokkeu]

Italy could make him a citizen if they wanted to.

Not according to basic Italian nationality law. He'd have to live there for ten years since he doesn't have an Italian grandparent or any heritage.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Not according to basic Italian nationality law. He'd have to live there for ten years since he doesn't have an Italian grandparent or any heritage.

Every country has the ability to make exceptions.

 

[TollefsenFan]

**** Fifa. Fifa sucks and we got nothing to learn from those corrupt basterds

 

[TollefsenFan]

Every country has the ability to make exceptions.

The Law is the Law

 

[TollefsenFan]

In the IIHF, as far as I understand, even if you hold dual citizenship you have to play two years in the domestic league of the country to be eligible if you never lived in that country.
EX: An Italian-Canadian born and raised in Canada, who holds dual Italian and Canadian citizenship needs to play 2 years in the Italian domestic league to be eligible to play for Italy internationally.

In FIFA however, you can decide to play for a country you are a citizen of regardless of where you played/grew up (as long as you haven’t already represented another country at the senior level).
EX: An Italian-Canadian born and raised in Canada could decide whether to represent either Canada or Italy internationally, regardless of where he grew up or plays currently.

Which one is better?

If IIHF moved to the FIFA policy, a number of teams with large emigrant communities in Canada and the US (think Italy, Greece, Portugal, former Yugoslavia, UK, Ireland, Eastern European and some Asian countries) could get huge boosts overnight and the competiveness of global hockey would increase greatly.

Of course the flip side is that it could weaken national development programs as teams rely on Canadian trained players with various origins.

I’m in favour of the FIFA policy, looking at the World Cup now and seeing Algeria with 16 French born players. I have several Algerian friends who tell me their country is going crazy right now, and their success would never have happened without these “foreign” players.

This would RUIN the sport. Smaller nations like Norway and Denmark would face much harder competition from Italy, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Poland, Netherlands etc. We would then try to convince players like Byfuglien, Skille etc to represent Norway. Sooner or later the Whole Norwegian Squad would be made up of North americans + Zuccarello, Tollefsen and Thoresen. What would be the point of 6-7 North american teams? It would be good for the Canada Cup? 7 Canadian teams representing 7 different countries.

 

[Urbanskog]

If IIHF moved to the FIFA policy, a number of teams with large emigrant communities in Canada and the US (think Italy, Greece, Portugal, former Yugoslavia, UK, Ireland, Eastern European and some Asian countries) could get huge boosts overnight and the competiveness of global hockey would increase greatly.

Croatia is actually already doing this to some extent and their national team has leaped up in the rankings.

 

[Xokkeu]

Every country has the ability to make exceptions.

Yes sure. They can also build a rocket ship and land on mars, but in reality, they don't.

 

[Ryker]

Croatia is actually already doing this to some extent and their national team has leaped up in the rankings.

Yeah, they're doing it to a large extent, I'd say. Slovenia did it with Greg Kuznik, as well, though. But other than him and Stanley Reddick, for which I'm not sure when he got his citizenship, I don't think there have been any others.

I don't really care, though, since I'm not much for nationalistic tendencies. If you're a citizen of a country, you represent it. It might not be that hard to get citizenship, but they don't just hand it out to anyone, either.

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

The Law is the Law

Italian law allows the Interior Ministry to grant citizenship via an Administrative Order in exceptional circumstances. Pretty much every country has such allowances and often they have been used to fast-track citizenship for athletes who want to play for the new country.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/04/uk-italy-migrants-citizenship-idUKKBN0EF1IE20140604

 

[Mr Kanadensisk]

Yes sure. They can also build a rocket ship and land on mars, but in reality, they don't.

Countries grant or fast track citizenship fairly often to athletes who want to represent them internationally.

 

[Zine]

I think you should only be able to play for the country where you learned the sport as a kid. For example if you started playing organized hockey at age 6, then the country you played the most time in between 6 and 18yrs old should be the one you have to represent internationally.

Not practical because of certain country's citizenship revocation laws (see Denmark, Japan, Norway).