The Naturalization Era of Chinese Football Starts — Will it Save Chinese Football
On June 7th, 2019, a football match between China and the Philippines took place in Guangzhou. The game caught more than its fair share of attention for a friendly match, because Li Ke, an English-born defensive midfielder, was selected in the starting line-up and thereby became the first naturalized football player ever to play for the Chinese national team. After years of controversy, Chinese football finally took its first step towards normalizing naturalization on the national team level. However, the discussion has not ended yet. People are still unsure whether naturalization can bring hope to this hopeless football country. Li Ke, also known as Nico Yennaris, was born in London in 1993 to a Cypriot father and a Chinese mother from Guangzhou. He joined the Arsenal Youth Academy in 2001 at the age of 7 and spent the entirety of his youth career there. Despite having captained the Gunners’ U18 team to the 2009-2010 Premier Academy League title and making his Premier League debut when he was only 18, Li made no further caps for Arsenal due to his long-term injuries and Arsenal’s highly competitive squad. After being loaned to several lower-division teams, Li’s last…