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RUGBY WORLD CUP JAPAN 2019 5

Why can the foreign players participate in the Japanese National Team?

· SIGHTSEEING

Why can the foreign players participate in the Japanese National Team? People usually have the question about players in the Rugby World Cup because all players in the Soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games need to belong to their own nationalities' team.

There are qualifications that foreign players belong to the Japanese National Team. Nationality is not needed to belong to the team.

The qualifications to belong to the Japanese National Team are as follows:

1. A player was born in Japan.

2. One of his parents and grand-parents was born in Japan.

3. A player continuously has been living in Japan for 3 years.

4. A player has lived in Japan for 10 years in total.

If a player get only qualification from 1 to 4 and a player had not belonged to the National Team in other countries, a player can play rugby in the Japanese National Team.

31 players belong to the Japanese National Team in the World Cup. 15 players have the other nationality and full the qualifications above. The foreign players are from New Zealand, Samoa, Australia, South Africa and Korea.