Qatar 2022: Guangzhou FC’s Ricardo Goulart unable to play for China until 2025, heading home
- Brazilian media say striker has asked to terminate contract with struggling Chinese Super League side
- Domestic media note that naturalised Chinese footballer’s 2019 loan spell with Palmeiras stops eligibility
Naturalised Chinese footballer Ricardo Goulart has returned to his native Brazil after it became apparent he would not be able to play international football for China until 2025, according to reports.
Brazilian media first reported that the Guangzhou FC player has asked to terminate his contract with the financially imperilled Chinese Super League side ahead of signing for a team in his homeland.
The Chinese club, who are owned by the China Evergrande Group, face an uncertain future and it remains unclear whether they will return to the CSL when the league resumes in the coming months. A number of Chinese clubs are struggling financially with reports in Chinese media suggesting that only three of this season’s top flight teams do not owe players unpaid wages.
Goulart naturalised to become Chinese in 2019, taking the Chinese name Gao Late. Reports in Chinese media suggested that he would make his debut for the national team as soon as the paperwork was ironed out with Fifa.
However, he played for Brazilian side Palmeiras in 2019 and the loan spell is understood to have affected his eligibility to play for China.
While the country controls who it allows to naturalise, football governing body Fifa deems the eligibility for players to represent its member nations.
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Fifa changed their rules so that players had to have an uninterrupted five-year spell at clubs in the league of the member nation that they have naturalised to represent.
That 2019 loan spell means that Goulart needs to be registered in China until 2025 before he can represent the Chinese national side. Were he to stay in China, Goulart could continue to play as a domestic player.
Goulart will be 35 by then, when China will be deep into their qualifying campaign for the Fifa 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The striker played one international game for Brazil in 2014 but it was not in a completive fixture and he would be eligible to play for China if he had met with the five-year club registration requirements.
He arrived at Guangzhou Evergrande, as the club was then called, in 2015 from Cruzeiro, helping the Chinese Super League giants to the 2015 AFC Champions League.
Goulart also won the CSL three times in a row from 2015 to 2018, including a league and Chinese FA Cup double in that debut season.
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Aside from the brief return to Brazil, Goulart also went on loan to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune, now Hebei FC, for the 2020 season before returning to Guangzhou this season.
With a move to Brazil, it would appear that Goulart has given up on his dream to play for China.
China are currently trying to qualify for the Fifa World Cup in Qatar next year, with games against Oman and Australia in this international window. Li Tie’s side face Oman in Sharjah tonight before meeting the Socceroos next week.
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The country’s sole appearance at the Fifa World Cup finals came in 2002 when the tournament was hosted by Japan and South Korea.
Goulart would be the latest high profile player to leave the CSL in recent months including former teammates Anderson Talisca and Paulinho, but he would be the first naturalised player to turn his back on China.
Guangzhou manager Fabio Cannavaro has also left the club.
