Jaja Santiago Ineligible to Play for Japan’s National Team, Says Tats Suzara
A bombshell revelation by PNVF and Asian Volleyball Confederation president Ramon ’Tats’ Suzara claimed that naturalized Japanese citizen and former volleyball player for the Philippine team Jaja Santiago is ineligible to play for Japan’s national volleyball team.
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But it has nothing to do with her citizenship. According to Suzara, a new rule by FIVB will prevent Santiago from joining Japan’s national team permanently.
“There was a new rule last year by FIVB that if you played in the national team of another country, you can’t transfer federations anymore,” said Suzara during a press conference.
“I told Jaja I supported her sa FIVB because of these new rules. Ang problema, Jaja already played sa national team sa Philippines three or four times already,” said Suzara.
“Kung hindi naglaro si Jaja sa national team, she can change federations. Madali yun. But since she played, by the record ng FIVB, she cannot change federations anymore.”
So what’s the new rule?
We dug up the textbook of rules by FIVB and found Section 5 to be pertinent to Santiago’s case:
According to Section 5.2.3, a player should not have represented the senior national team of their Federation of Origin.
Suzara compared Santiago’s situation to Kalei Mau.
“If you remember Kalei Mau, so she changed federation. She has an American passport, a dual passport. Then she changed federation one time, so right now, the federation of origin of Kalei Mau is [the] Philippines, but her passport is Philippines and USA,” said Suzara. “So, she cannot federation anymore. Every time she plays abroad, she has to ask permission from the Philippines.”
Santiago played three times for the Philippine national team: during the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, and the 2021 Southeast Asian Games.
As of this writing, Santiago or the Janan Volleyball Association has yet to comment on the possibility of Santiago being ineligible to play for the national team.
Santiago’s option of returning to the Philippines remains open.
