Jaja Santiago not eligible to play for Japan under new FIVB rules

Former Philippine national volleyball team player Jaja Santiago recently acquired her Japanese citizenship. –JAJA SANTIAGO INSTAGRAM

MANILA, Philippines — Jaja Santiago will not be eligible to play for the Japanese women’s national volleyball team amid the new eligibility rules of the FIVB Sports Regulations, according to Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) president Tats Suzara.

Suzara on Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum revealed that Santiago, now using the Japanese name of Sachi Minowa, will not be able to transfer her federation from the PNVF to the Japan Volleyball Association.

“There was a new rule last year by FIVB that if you played in the national team of another country, you can’t transfer federation anymore. It was explained by the FIVB president,” said Suzara, the newly-elected AVC President.

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“Even if Jaja has two passports, I’m sure that’s a Philippine passport and a Japanese passport, the federation of origin is still the Philippines. When you change federation, one-time lang yan. Once nag-change ng federation, hindi ka na puwedeng bumalik sa old federation.”

In FIVB’s new sport regulations for change of federation of origin last May, it stated that “a player’s Federation of Origin may be changed if the player has not represented the senior national team of the Federation of Origin.”

Part of the change of federation conditions are:

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5.2.1 The player has established residence in the country of his new federation of origin (hereinafter “the new federation”) for a minimum of three (3) continuous years immediately prior to the time of filing the application for the change.

5.2.2 The player has obtained the nationality of the country of the new federation.

5.2.3 The player has not represented the senior national team of the federation of origin.

5.2.4 The player’s federation of origin agrees to the change.

Santiago had started the process of acquiring her Japanese citizenship before the new rule on federation change was enforced.

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Santiago, who has been playing in Japan since 2018, has represented the Philippine women’s volleyball team since 2015 until her last hurrah in the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

“I told Jaja I supported her sa FIVB because of this new rules. Ang problema, Jaja already played sa national team sa Philippines three or four times already. With the new rule last year, she can never play with Japan,” said Suzara. 

“Kung hindi siya nag-national team, puwedeng mag-transfer because what happened is lahat ng Cuban players, umalis sa bayan nila and then they played sa Italy, nag-asawa ganyan, and then, suddenly Turkey became strong with Melissa Vargas, Wilfredo Leon from Poland became strong because of them. Ngayon, inistriktuhan na ngayon ng FIVB because of that rule last year,” he added.  

Alas Pilipinas return?

Jaja Santiago of team Philippines womens volleyball scores against their Thailand opponent during their first game in the 18th Asian Games Jakarta Palembang. PHOTO/PSC

The 6-foot-5 middle blocker’s ultimate dream is to play in the Olympics. Suzara, who helped Santiago acquire her Japanese citizenship, bared that he appealed to allow the Filipino player to see action with the Japanese squad even in the Paris Olympics. 

“It was implemented in June last year. We tried so much, nag-appeal. In fact, sabi ko nga, because Japan, the coach of Japan, she needed Jaja in Paris as a middle blocker. So we appealed. I sent a letter to both Japan and the Philippines,” he said.

Under the new rules, though, Santiago is still eligible to play for Alas Pilipinas and if she wants to represent the flag again, Suzara said the door is always open for the Japan SV.League star. 

“She is welcome to play in the Philippine national team. But for her to represent Japan at the moment, no,” Suzara said. “Puwede pa siya because her federation of origin is the Philippines. Hindi passport ang binabasehan dito, federation of origin. Jaja is still Filipino by nature who played for the national team.”