The Chief Executive Officer of Chris Holding, Chris Geeply Weah, has reinitiated his desired campaign seeking to begin a naturalization plan for foreign players, aimed at improving the performance of the Liberia National team, the Lonestar.
Weah, who is an expected candidate in the Liberia Football Association 2026 Elective Congress, noted that when elected president of the local football house, he will accelerate the performance of the national team by introducing this new system that would attract foreign players to the country.
Naturalization is where foreign players can become citizens so that they can officially represent their newly adopted country in international competition.
In late 2020, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) announced at its 70th annual congress that the eligibility rules had been updated with Article 9 of the laws on footballers changing international teams.
The rules allow players to change their national team allegiance only once, but the 2020 update also facilitates a reversal of a change request in certain specific circumstances.
FIFA allows footballers to change their international team allegiance in recognition of the complexities of individual identity that accompany the increasingly globalized society.
Speaking with a team of journalists on Thursday, April 18 in Monrovia, Chris Weah emphasized that the step of naturalization, or granting citizenship to foreigners to be on the Liberian National Football Team, will be on a short-term deal.
“The naturalization program will consist of an exit plan for naturalized players and a pathway for a grassroots football development program for players to join the national team” Weah averred.
According to him, the naturalization of players is not a sin, but it will improve competition among players of the national team of Liberia.
Weah further noted: “Naturalization can make a difference, Japan used 11 naturalized players in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and “shocked the world by stunning South Africa 34-32 in an upset of the century.”
The LFA Presidential hopeful said naturalization will not just be the only option to increase the national team’s performance, but his leadership will prioritize the development of young national athletes.
Despite emphasizing the need for a naturalization program to be effective, Weah also believed, that building a viable women’s football program that would include Women’s football within the Inter School Sports Association league would allow girls to begin the process of understanding and playing football from primary school level to high school level.
Similarly, he noted that football development will be a hallmark of his leadership.
“Once again, we will still focus on development because our talent is not lacking, the coaches at our clubs also carry out development,” said Weah in a press conference on Thursday. “So we don’t rely on naturalization. Naturalization is short-term,” he added.
Weah further be mourned what he discerns as “the ongoing poor performance of the National team” in the qualifying rounds of the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations.
It has been 22 years since Liberia last played at the African Cup of Nations finals, after booking a spot in the Mali 2002 edition.
Since then, Liberia has had a dreadful performance, both in the Afcon and the World Cup qualifying series.
In the same way, the Liberian football-zealous businessman stated that to support the development of kids in football, his administration will give more support to grassroots football across the country. “This is our commitment to football stakeholders. Even now, as a form of that commitment to development among the youth, our program will the soonest possible time begin working with more grassroots clubs,” Weah maintained.
