"The influx of Brazilian-born soccer players in domestic leagues around the world could endanger the geographic integrity of future international tournaments," said Joseph S. Blatter, the president of FIFA. More than 1,000 players who have left Brazil are playing this year for clubs in far-flung places like Moldova, An increasing number of those players, who might not be good enough to play for Brazil, are setting down roots in those countries and joining their adopted national teams.
“If we don’t take care about the invaders from Brazil, not only toward Europe but toward Asia and Africa, then the next World Cups in 2014 and 2018 out of the 32 teams — you will still have national teams — but we will have 16 full of Brazilian players,” Blatter said Sunday in South Africa before the preliminary draw for the World Cup. “It is a danger, a real, real danger.”
Brazil has more than 60 million registered players. Disparate national laws that govern naturalization have often been bent to enable expatriate Brazilians to play in their adopted lands through marriage or a naturalization process that can take as little as two years.
For example, Deco was born in Brazil but is a naturalized citizen of Portugal and a key player on its national team; Antonio Naelson, little-known at home, was granted Mexican citizenship and was on the team’s roster for the 2006 World Cup; Alessandro Santos plays internationally for Japan; José Clayton plays for Tunisia; and Eduardo da Silva, who moved to Croatia when he was 15, became a citizen in 2002.
Even their coaches are beginning to be exported. Like Luis Felipe Scolari who manages the Portuguese side and Zico who is the head gaffer for Japan. Other national teams with Brazilian coaches include Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia.
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