Courtesy: Gold Coast


Red tape sidelines future soccer champ

by Thomas Chamberlin

A FUTURE champion Gold Coast soccer player risks sitting on the sidelines and never playing for Australia because officials in his home country of Japan will not release him.

Australian-born Christopher Hatsuda, 14, has been selected for Gold Coast and Queensland representative sides for soccer and futsal but can't play a competitive match because his parents do not live in Australia.

Futsal's national championships are in Canberra next week but Japanese Football Association officials have rejected his release application and are believed to have cited article 19 of the FIFA regulations, which states a player under the age of 18 must live with his parents.

Christopher lives on the Gold Coast with his grandmother and is desperate to play and one day wants to represent Australia.

"I haven't got any opportunities to play, I want to be able to play soccer full-stop," he said.

He moved back to the Gold Coast in August after his politician father Toyosaburo Hatsuda was jailed for three years over a political scandal in Osaka involving police and MPs.

At the time, Christopher was a part of the youth program with the powerful Japanese club Gamba Osaka and was on his way to a promising soccer career in the J-League.

Christopher's mother Karen cannot move back to Australia because she is supporting her husband.

"It is such a heartbreaking situation for us -- we just want him to play," she said.

With flights booked and equipment bought for the national futsal champions next week, Christopher needs a clearance review from FIFA by Friday.

A Football Federation Australia spokesman said Japan had not given a reason for rejecting the application.

He said the application went to FIFA for a review because it had been rejected and said he expected it would take three weeks or more for a FIFA review.

Last night, a FIFA spokesman in Switzerland said there was no file lodged under Christopher's name for review.

He said he could not comment on whether the case could be expedited.

"Once it has been given to FIFA we would only give a result once the case is closed," he said.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com