When Brazilian born Guilherme Alvim Marinato, better known as Guilherme, played 45 minutes for Russia against Lithuania in March, he became the first player born outside of the former Soviet Union to play for Sbornaya. On Wednesday another Brazilian, CSKA’s Mario Fernandes, received Russian citizenship as well, but this is also where the similarities between the two ends.
Because while Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper Guilherme went the long way through the official channels, learning Russian and passing a test, Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting CSKA Moscow wing-back Mario Fernandes Russian citizenship without the obstacles. This is in fact very similar to the process ethnic German Roman Neustädter went through, as he also received his citizenship from a special degree from Putin.
Head of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Vitaly Mutko has already thanked Putin for his contribution to the improvement of Sbornaya. “The player wanted to hold a Russian passport,” he told TASS, “I am grateful to the head of state for his support.”
In the future, Fernandes will hold dual citizenship as he is going to keep his Brazilian status as well. “Everything is okay,” he told TASS, “I am going to hold dual citizenship, both Russian and Brazilian.”
Fernandes moved to CSKA from Gremio in the summer of 2012, and since then he has been one of the leading players for the Red-Blues. In fact, his great performances granted him his debut for the Brazilian national team in October 2014 when he played 44 minutes in a friendly against Japan, while he has been an unused substitute on three other occasions.
Since his only appearance for Seleçao came in a friendly, Fernandes will still be able to play for the Russian national team. He will however have to wait until the summer of 2017 until he’s eligible for the next head coach of Sbornaya, since FIFA’s rules about naturalization of players with no birth or ancestral connections to their new country demands the player to have lived in there for at least five years. That means he should be able to compete at next year’s Confederations Cup.
“I’m happy and proud to be Russian,” Fernandes told CSKA’s official website, “After moving to CSKA in 2012, Russia has become my home, and for me it was natural to obtain citizenship so I could play for the national team. I’ll do everything to help both my club and the national team,”
While naturalizations have become the norm in Russia lately, the topic remains controversial and players such as Zenit’s Artem Dzyuba and Lokomotiv’s Dmitry Tarasov have spoken openly against it. Nevertheless, the strategy seems to continue as Sbornaya are preparing for the World Cup on home soil in 2018, and we are likely to see more Brazilians receive Russian citizenship soon as FC Krasnodar’s Ari is also in the process of becoming Russian.
Author: Toke Møller Theilade
Brøndby supporter, groundhopper and more importantly Editor-in-Chief at Russianfootballnews.com. As a hopeless romantic, I still believe Fyodor Smolov and Viktoria Lopyreva has a future together.
Game over… This is the beginning of the end to the almighty Red Bear… :'(((