LigaPro: no footballer born in Ecuador in the lineups? A latent possibility in the 2023 championship

Miguel Ángel Loor liquidated any possibility of debate with him. Whoever is against the increase in the quota of foreigners, to eight for each club from 2023, is a “crybaby”, and whoever opposes the measure does so out of “false patriotism”. This is how the president of the LigaPro expressed himself on December 21 of the people who, “without knowing and analyzing things”, believe that the increase is excessive and that it can affect the opportunities of national players.

Charles’s response Demolition Man Tenorio to Loor’s sayings was not long in coming. “Do you know how many (national players) are closing the doors with their resolution? I believe that Mr. Miguel Ángel Loor should put himself in the shoes of the Ecuadorian soccer player. You cannot think like that so lightly”, declared the president of the Association of Soccer Players of Ecuador.

‘It’s an exaggeration; does not make sense’: the reproach of Miguel Rondelli, Emelec coach, about the increase in the quota of foreigners in the LigaPro

This entity summoned the directors of the clubs, who by a large majority in the so-called Council of Presidents of the LigaPro voted in favor of the increase in places for foreigners, to reverse that resolution. Tenorio mentioned the possibility of a strike.

Antonio Valencia is saddened by the increase in the quota of foreigners in the LigaPro of Ecuador since 2023

voices against

To Tenorio’s reproaches were added, among others, those of Antonio Valencia, former Manchester United captain; Miguel Ángel Rondelli, Emelec coach; Franklin Salas, former Liga de Quito soccer player; the Czar Cristhian Noboa, who plays for football in Russia; and Mario Canessa, former director of Bonita Banana, Patria and River Ecuador. In favor, in addition to Loor, voices are heard that arise from a sector of sports journalism (“it is not a tragedy”, “now the national player will have to impose himself on the foreigner”, “they are making a scandal”, “this will benefit the show ”).

“We are willing to go on strike,” warns Carlos Tenorio, president of the AFE, given the increase in foreign quotas in the clubs

However, the possibility of a LigaPro squad playing one or more games without players born in Ecuador is latent. To do this, a team must cover the quota of eight foreigners, and a lineup without footballers that emerged in the country could be completed with three nationalized “for relevant services to the homeland”, who are active in many Serie A teams (in fact, there are several foreigners who are waiting for their documentation to be able to register as Ecuadorians in the 2023 tournament).

In previous seasons, Barcelona SC and Emelec have had up to eight players not born in the country (between foreigners and naturalized) on the field, when changes occurred during the matches.

‘An atrocity’

In a country where not only soccer players are imported, but also sports directors, managers and even executive directors, the main cause of the growth to eight foreigners, for each team, is that the teams improve their finances. “Do you know how many clubs complain about the cost and requests from local players? Bonuses, unpayable salaries. The clubs are taking care of their economy, the market must be honest and we must all understand that Ecuador must lower its costs”, commented Loor.

Loor’s speech, which included young people as beneficiaries of the increase, is similar to that used by the president of the Mexican Football Federation when it was resolved, in 2016, that up to ten foreigners could play in the Aztec teams.

“This does not affect anyone; on the contrary: this will help the young Mexican players to grow”, Enrique Bonilla stated almost seven years ago in statements that he reproduced BBC World.

“It’s one of the biggest barbarities in Mexican soccer,” he assured BBC World Héctor Huerta, Mexican journalist and network analyst ESPN, because, he remarked, “the new rule does not favor the inclusion of Mexicans and the development of young people as the Federation promises; rather it encourages the hiring of foreigners”.

‘A national problem’

And while in Ecuador, with 19 votes in favour, out of a possible 26, 5 against and 2 abstentions, the door is open to the massive arrival of supposedly cheap foreigners, but of debatable technical level as it is low cost, in Spain the daily ACE He referred this Sunday to “a national problem” when dealing with the lineup of eleven foreigners at Real Madrid, which on Saturday did so for the first time in its 21-year history (and lost, against Villarreal).

“Carlo Ancelotti has players of nine different nationalities at his command: Brazilian, French, German, Belgian, Ukrainian, Austrian, Uruguayan, Croatian and Spanish. The Spaniards have become the majority minority in the locker room, with eight representatives. Only two of them (Carvajal and Asensio) were in the recent World Cup in Qatar”, he highlights.

This is possible, explains Clarionof Buenos Aires, “due to the regulatory relaxation that occurred in the Old Continent from the ruling that the Court of Justice of the European Union issued on December 15, 1995, due to a lawsuit by Belgian midfielder Jean-Marc Bosman, who considered illegal the rules that limited the number of foreign players from community countries that could be aligned in a European team”.

in the note of ACE It is stated that “the quarry also loses prominence” with foreigners as a priority to be starters. “Madrid’s starting eleven has not only lost Spanish presence. Also from players trained in the lower categories ”, he laments. (D)