Playing for Kunlun in Russia is of course not a problem as long as the team is formally Chinese.
Team China 2022
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Playing for Kunlun in Russia is of course not a problem as long as the team is formally Chinese.
So, essentially, what you're saying is that I could register a legal entity in Uganda, which technically would be a hockey team, and sign up for a league in, say, Austria. And if a bunch of Canadians would play 2 seasons in Austria, they would all be eligible to represent Uganda internationally?
I suspect that the IIHF will overlook the fact that KRS has been playing their home games in Russia since early 2020 (they'll call it "force majeure" due to the pandemic or some similar such thing), but there are several players on that roster who would be eligible anyway so long as they receive a passport:
O'Brien (been in China since 2017)
Joe (depends on when his contract was signed in summer 2018 - he might just make 16 months)
Tam (spent 17-18 and 18-19 in China)
Yuen (started in China in 2016)
Hu (in China since 2017)
Kane (in China since 2017)
Lockhart (in China since 2017)
Nicholls (same as Joe above)
Seto (in China since 2017)
Squires (spent 17-18 and 18-19 in China)
Yip (spent 17-18, 18-19, and first half of 19-20 in China)
There's even a few more guys that were on the old VHL teams that would a) be eligible with a passport and b) be better than the locally-developed players. Regardless, this won't be the China that got beat up on in the Asian Games.
O'Brien (been in China since 2017)
Joe (depends on when his contract was signed in summer 2018 - he might just make 16 months)
Tam (spent 17-18 and 18-19 in China)
Yuen (started in China in 2016)
Hu (in China since 2017)
Kane (in China since 2017)
Lockhart (in China since 2017)
Nicholls (same as Joe above)
Seto (in China since 2017)
Squires (spent 17-18 and 18-19 in China)
Yip (spent 17-18, 18-19, and first half of 19-20 in China)
There's even a few more guys that were on the old VHL teams that would a) be eligible with a passport and b) be better than the locally-developed players. Regardless, this won't be the China that got beat up on in the Asian Games.
In principle if they operate under the Chinese Ice Hockey Association it does not matter where they play their games.
Yeah it is. He´s supposed to have some chinese ancestry so he qualifies as a "chinese".
Sure it does.
IIHF bylaw 4.2.1:
A male player who has two legal citizenships or more, or has changed his citizenship or has acquired or surrendered a citizenship and wants to participate for the first time in an IIHF Championship and/or an Olympic competition or in qualifications to these competitions, then in order to play for his Country of choice the player must:
a) Prove that he has
(i) participated in the competitions within his Country of choice on a consistent basis, over at least sixteen (16) consecutive months (480 days) and during two hockey seasons after his 10th birthday
(ii) resided in his Country of choice during that period and
(iii) neither transferred to another Country nor played ice hockey for a team registered or located within any other Country during that period; and
b) If the Country of his choice is one to which the player has transferred then he must have had an international transfer that was approved by the IIHF and dated at least 16 months (480 days) prior to his proposed participation.
Problems occur in part a). Under (iii), the team cannot be located in another country. Under (ii), the player must have been a resident of the country during that period. It might depend on how "residency" is defined, but I suspect that it is difficult to be a resident when you are in another country all the time - not even having home games where you are supposed to be a "resident".
Kunlun is located in Beijing, has always been: Office A1206, Xin Yuan Nan Rd 3, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China.
Matters of residency and citizenship are up to the Chinese authorities to decide.
Matters of residency and citizenship are up to the Chinese authorities to decide.
This might be something interesting for a court to rule on (CAS?). Because if the address of the club is the only thing that matters, what is to stop a wealthy country without much of a hockey tradition (like one of the Gulf States or something like Singapore - just off the top of my head) from entering a team into a strong league - let's say Sweden, for example -, playing all of their home games in Stockholm, and handing out passports to all of their newly-bought players. So long as they have an office or a mailbox in Dubai or Kuwait, the team is located there, right?
Perhaps the rule needs better clarification. What is the "location" of a team?
Just thinking aloud a little bit here.
(Rather unfairly) I wonder if they would hide some clause in the future to grant these sort of exceptions only to OG host countries. Sure the UAE could do that... if they ever host a Winter OG. Slippery slope still but at least prevents every country under the sun fraudulently buying players' nationalities.
Most of us probably are wishing for China to do this so we don't see 20-0 scorelines. The actual Kunlun team would be fine to be there. But what if, say, a half decent nation like Kazakhstan or Belarus hosts a future OG and then starts buying players from other nationalities through this loophole? What is the line between "this team is awful and really needs all the help" to "this nation is actually decently competitive and shouldn't be abusing the system"
Most of us probably are wishing for China to do this so we don't see 20-0 scorelines. The actual Kunlun team would be fine to be there. But what if, say, a half decent nation like Kazakhstan or Belarus hosts a future OG and then starts buying players from other nationalities through this loophole? What is the line between "this team is awful and really needs all the help" to "this nation is actually decently competitive and shouldn't be abusing the system"
Not only address, but the club has to belong to that particular national association, so that when a player gets transferred from one association to another he in principle gains the potential to represent that new association in the future. What happens within a member association for the most part stays within the member association.
Sometimes peculiar constructions emerge even between distant locations, for example we saw Ararat Yerevan play in the Belarusian league system some years ago. I have not seen their paperwork, but according to their own announcement they remained a member club of the Ice Hockey Federation of Armenia while being based in Orsha, Belarus by design.
Kunlun of course also used to have their juniors in Riga, Latvia.
Sometimes peculiar constructions emerge even between distant locations, for example we saw Ararat Yerevan play in the Belarusian league system some years ago. I have not seen their paperwork, but according to their own announcement they remained a member club of the Ice Hockey Federation of Armenia while being based in Orsha, Belarus by design.
Kunlun of course also used to have their juniors in Riga, Latvia.
I understand what you are saying, but we have no precedent (to my knowledge, correct me if I'm wrong) of a dual-citizen player gaining eligibility for a country through playing for a team that doesn't actually play games in its home country. The Ararat players never played for Armenia, so we cannot use that as an example of players gaining eligibility.
Furthermore, when I refer to "some wealthy country" entering a team into a foreign competition, I was implying that that country would be doing so through the national ice hockey association. I apologize if that was unclear.
I still believe that what qualifies as the "location" of a team remains unclear. If we had an example of a player gaining eligibility in such a way, or the IIHF were to explicitly clarify on the situation, it would sort everything out quickly.
I wonder if someone at the IIHF would respond to an email from some chucklehead like myself.
Tom, I'm glad you assume the IIHF is keen on fixing loopholes in their rulebook. It probably means you're a good person.
The IIHF is rotten. It is deep in the pockets of corrupt, authoritarian regimes. There's no incentive for them not to allow things like this from happening.
But if anyone's interested in abusing this very same rule to the absurd in order to show the middle finger to the IIHF, maybe we can think of something together. I mean, seriously, I'm sure there are some minor pro hockey players out here who would love playing some international hockey. And I'm sure we can find someone in Kyrgyzstan who would love to submit some forms for us.
SoundAndFury
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Kasparaitis got his eligibility for Lithuanian NT back while living in Miami and playing a couple of Lithuanian league games around Christmas. Like Albatros says, nobody goes through this case by case as long as the paperwork is correct.
filip85
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Of course it is. China was very near to relegate last time they played in 2019. They finished second to last. Tournaments havent been played since due to covid.
filip85
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Yes I know, but there were rumor that they won't play in 2022. for some reason. Even IIHF listed D2A tournament with only four teams until recently.
filip85
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It depends on the roster they bring. With all duals they are favourites for promotion, without them they will beat Israel and have an outside chance against Croatia, since we are at the lowest point in our history.
I would be surprised if they maintain their Olympic team for a day after the tournament. Even Kunlun will probably fold rather sooner than later although there are diplomatic reasons to keep it going.
vorky
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Just listening to journalist Shevchenko (time 21:20) speaking that G Lazushin will play for China, getting the citizenship. I have no idea if it is another joke by the journalist, believe @cska78 can interpret his words better.
SoundAndFury
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Well for most of the Chinese people it would have been a bigger shame if that team did play and got demolished. There was little point to that as well. At least now, this half-competent team, albeit completely fake, can represent and grow hockey there.
