With a reputation as a deep connoisseur of football, Spanish coach Pep Guardiola, who competently manages Manchester City, made a mistake that can be considered crass, a few days ago, in the English team’s pre-season in the USA.
In an interview before the match against Mexico in Houston, which would be won by Man City 2-1, Guardiola commented on the rival, a very traditional club in North America, having been created in 1916.
After declaring himself an admirer of Mexican football, he was asked how complicated it would be to have América, the country’s biggest national championship winner, as an opponent.
“I can’t say that. But the club has a history, I learned that América is special because they play with pure Mexicans”, said Guardiola, who, before starting his career at Barcelona, led Dorados de Sinaloa, today in the second division of Mexico.
When mentioning “pure” Mexicans, the reference was to the squad having only footballers from Mexico, without the presence of foreigners.
But Guardiola couldn’t be more wrong. America allows outsiders, so much so that they have no less than ten non-Mexican athletes in their squad. Two of them, Jorge Meré and Álvaro Fidalgo, are compatriots of the coach.
That is, in the preparation for the friendly Guardiola did not even want to know who was part of América, which greatly weakens his speech of appreciating Mexican football – at least historically speaking.
The coach confused América with one of his biggest rivals, Chivas Guadalajara, who is known for playing only with Mexican players.
About this practice, which appears in the club’s statutes, there has been a recent doubt, as Guadalajara hired Santiago Ormeño, who was born in Mexico but obtained Peruvian citizenship.
The club clarified that the presence of the striker does not disrespect the club’s principles:
“The second paragraph of the fifth clause of the statutes establishes that in Chivas ‘only Mexicans by birth can play’, that is, people born in the national territory or with parents of Mexican nationality, according to article 30 of the Mexican Constitution. Santiago Ormeño was born in Mexico City and therefore is Mexican by birth”.
The Guadalajara club is among the few in the world who value this nationalist side, being prohibitive when it comes to “gringos” in their ranks. This type of attitude is commonly related to xenophobia.
One of the most famous teams to follow this precept is Athletic Bilbao, from Spain.
Last year, I contacted the club with the following question: “Why don’t Athletic have foreign players in the squad? Is there a specific reason?”.
The answer was Javier Ucha Marquiegui, responsible for foreign affairs for the Basque club, founded in 1898.
“Athletic only play with players from the Basque Country, that is, not only do they not play with foreigners, but they also don’t hire players from the rest of Spain.”
“This philosophy of Athletic is in force throughout its history. In fact, initially all teams had this way of playing. Players from one region faced those from another region. Over time, teams changed their way of acting, hiring athletes from other regions, but we maintain our initial philosophy.”
“It is important to make it clear that there is nothing to do with racism or xenophobia. Athletic athletes of any race can play, as long as they were born in the Basque Country or had their sports training in the Basque Country.”
The Basque Country is characterized by strong nationalism, with a strong appreciation of its customs and culture. It is one of the Spanish regions, along with Catalonia, that has groups that seek independence from the central power.
There are other clubs that follow the same model that excludes foreigners, according to a text published by the Top Soccer Blog last December.
Among them are:
- El Nacional, a team of great expression in Ecuador (13 times winner of the national championship), currently in the country’s second division, which bears the nickname “Os Nativos”;
- Ukraine’s Desna (elite division), whose stadium in Chernihiv was bombed in April as a result of the war with Russia;
- Malavan FC, current champions of the second division of Iran, which plays with players from the port region of Bandar-e Anzali.
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