Russia to ban Nigerians, others from their league

Vitly Mutko- Russian sports minister

Aspiring Nigerian footballers and indeed basketballers may soon find the Russian League a very tough one to join as the Russians move to restrict the inflow of foreigners and indeed force out those already there. 

The aim, they have explained is to strengthen their national team and their football system ahead of the 2018 World Cup which they are billed to host.

The Russian government is set to bring in tough restrictions on the number of foreign players in the country’s top soccer league in order to develop home-grown players for the 2018 Mundial.

With his ministry poised to gain new powers to limit the number of foreigners in the Russian Premier League, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says he will “cut back on foreign players in a very tough way,” in comments on Tuesday reported by Russian agency R-Sport.

His comments followed a bill allowing the sports ministry to limit foreign players in team sports passed the first of three readings in the lower house of parliament last week.

Under the current dispensation, Russian league rules allow clubs to field up to seven foreigners at any time. But Mutko is not comfortable with such setting and has said that the foreigners are crowding out Russian talent and limiting local players’ game time.