Lower-ranked football nations in Asia in recent years have turned to their overseas diaspora to find talented footballers in order to compete with the regional powers and other emerging nations. This has come as an alternative to those countries who have seen their football being neglected for decades by corrupt and inept management which cannot improve in a short time.

Countries that have used this approach from the emerging nations are Palestine, Pakistan, Philippines and Afghanistan while new teams such as Guam and East Timor are also roping in players from all corners of the world.

The established powerhouses of Asian football such as Iran recruited German-born Ferydoon Zandi for the 2006 World Cup and currently includes former Germany U-21 player Ashkan Dejagah, former Holland U-19 striker Reza Ghoochannejhad, Sweden-born Omid Nazari, and only recently German-born goalkeeper Daniel Davari for Team Melli. This goes to show that despite having one of the best domestic leagues in Asia, Iran has increasingly sought to get the best professional Iranian talent in Europe to give Carlos Queiroz’s side that extra bit of quality and help to re-establish their continental supremacy.

Lebanon have also called upon foreign-born players such as Abbas Hassan (former Sweden U-21) and Norway-based Adnan Haider (former Norway U-19).

The story of Asian minnows is of a different nature. Where the likes of Iran add the overseas players to increase their team’s abilities in line with their existing talent, the minnows of Asian football like Philippines and Afghanistan have gone all out on recruiting maximum numbers of foreign-based footballers who now serve as the core of their team. For Philippines even at some stage the entire starting 11 are overseas players; Phil-Fors as they are now known.

Philippines includes the likes of Jerry Lucena (Ebsjerg, Denmark), Paul Mulders (ADO Den Haag, Holland), Stephen Shrock (Hoffenheim, Germany), Roland Muller (MSV Duisburg, Germany), Dennis Cagara (Karlsruher, Germany) and Neil Ethridge (Fulham, England). These players took Philippines to third place finish in the AFC Challenge Cup and to the semi-finals of AFF Suzuki Cup.

For Pakistan the concept of overseas born players came up in the summer 2005 when a German-based Pakistani football enthusiast Malik Riaz Hai Naveed, operating a website dedicated to the game in Pakistan, brought striker Usman Gondal — then a youth player at Leicester City FC — to the attention of the PFF. Usman played against India in the 2005 friendly series at home. He was followed by Pakistan’s biggest recruit Zeshan Rehman — then at EPL side Fulham — making his debut in the 2005 SAFF Cup in Karachi where he helped take Pakistan to the semi-finals under the Bahraini coach Salman Sharida. The trend has continued with players based in UK, Denmark, Norway and Australia turning up for the national football team since 2005. The likes of Atif Bashir, Adnan Ahmed, Shabir Khan, et al, firmly established themselves as senior team stalwarts.

Another team to utilise its diaspora is Palestine who have recruited players from Europe, other Arab countries, and even farfetched areas such as the South American countries of Chile and Argentina that are home to a reasonable Palestinian diaspora.

The quality of players recruited by Palestine is not too far behind with many of their players featuring in many premier European divisions. Those include Imad Zatar (Atvidabergs, Sweden), Omar Jarun (Charleroi, Belgium), Alexis Norambuena (Jagiellonia Biaystok, Poland) and Hani Naboulse (Lyngby, Denmark) while a few others such as Dani Schahin of Fortuna Dusseldorf, Germany, and the Sharbini brothers from Croatia are being lined up for future events.

Afghanistan is not far behind in terms of recruiting their players which include Qays Shayesteh, who has played in Dutch Eredivise for Heracles Almelo, Belal Arzou of Asker in Norway and Djalaudin Sherityar currently playing in Bahrain having previously played in Germany and Cyprus.

Recent changes in coaching staff at Guam and East Timor teams have made coaches scout the globe and recruit players from places such as Brazil, USA and neighbouring countries. The reason being local talent that is not good enough even to compete with regional powers of East Asia let alone continental powerhouses.

Afghanistan, a war-torn country, which was forced to abandon football under the Taliban, has now returned to international action and has its squad dominated by players based in Germany and other European countries.

While many of these countries recruit players born abroad, a majority of the Afghan players fled as youngsters to seek refuge after the 2001 invasion. But for Pakistan, the country has really not welcomed the idea of foreign-based footballers with open arms hence it has not managed to achieve success like Philippines, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Pakistan has certain players with top league experience in Europe who bring flair and quality while some with lower league experience bring grit and determination which should be utilised properly to form the best squad and not be intimidated by the big names recruited by the rivals.

The success of overseas players with these teams is clear as Palestine made it into the finals of the AFC Challenge Cup and continues to improve in the WAFF Championship whereas Afghanistan made it to the final of the SAFF Championship only to go down to 10 men and lose to India. Getting to the final of the SAFF Championship is something Pakistan has never managed in the nearly 20-year history of the tournament, although Pakistan did win four SAF Games football titles which fall in the U-23 category and hold no international value in terms of ranking.

The quality of players among the so called minnows is improving with multidimensional development in their football at the grassroots and league football which is totally opposite of what is happening in Pakistan. —Ali Ahsan