Former Zenith footballer Andrei Kobelev in an interview with , commenting on the acquisition of Russian citizenship by Brazilians Malcolm And claudinho stated that he was not in favor of the naturalization of football players for the needs of the national team.
Last week, Saint Petersburg team players Malcolm and Claudinho received Russian citizenship by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Earlier, the Russian Football Union (RFU) told that there is a theoretical possibility that the Brazilians could play for the Russian national team.
– Here you need to understand why they received citizenship. We don’t know anything. Maybe they just want to pay less tax? It is unlikely that the reason is that they want to play for the Russian national team – we have been suspended everywhere!
In general, it seems to me, this should be taken calmly: if you want citizenship – well, okay. To welcome! And then let them decide for themselves whether they want to play for the national team or not. I don’t see anything wrong with getting citizenship, but I think Russian footballers should play in the Russian national team. We have to look at the national team in a more fundamental and far-sighted way,” Kobelev told .
Watch live broadcasts of the MIR RPL and FONBET matches of the Russian Cup on the federal channel and thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.
