Introduction: recent rumors and relevant legal framework

During the last years, there has been a long debate in China about whether the Chinese Football Association (CFA) should encourage foreign players with Chinese background to acquire Chinese nationality, with the aim to be eligible to play for the Chinese national team.[1]

This topic has gained particular relevance due to the poor performances of the Chinese national team[2] recently, together with the high-pressure put on Chinese football by the leader of the government, Mr Xi Jinping, who has the ambition of making China a world-level football power.

It is interesting to see, in this respect, that the first employment contract between a Chinese professional football club and a foreign player with Chinese background was signed 10 years ago. In 2008, Yantai Yiteng, a club...

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