Jaja Santiago can’t play for Japan under new FIVB rules

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

Suzara revealed at a Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) forum on Tuesday that Santiago, who now uses the Japanese name Sachi Minowa, will not be allowed to transfer her federation from the PNVF to the Japan Volleyball Association.

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“Last year, the FIVB introduced a new rule that if you played for another country, you can no longer change federations. The FIVB president explained this,” said Suzara, the newly elected president of the AVC.

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

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The new FIVB sports regulations regarding the change of home federation from May last year state that “the home federation of a player may be changed if the player has not represented the senior national team of that home federation.”

Part of the change in federation terms are:

READ: Jaja Santiago trains with the Japanese national team

5.2.1 The Player must have been permanently resident in the country of his new home federation (hereinafter referred to as the “new federation”) for a period of at least three (3) consecutive years immediately prior to the time of submitting the application for change.

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

5.2.3 The player has not represented the senior national team of his or her national federation.

5.2.4 The player’s home federation consents to the change.

Santiago began the process of applying for Japanese citizenship even before the new federal change law came into effect.

READ; Jaja Santiago Gets Called Up to Japan Volleyball Team

Santiago, who has been playing for Japan since 2018, represented the Philippine women’s national volleyball team from 2015 until her most recent appearance at the 2022 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

“I told Jaja that I support her in the FIVB because of these new rules. The problem is that Jaja has already played for the Philippines three or four times. Because of the new rules last year, she will never be able to play for Japan,” Suzara said.

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

Unfortunately, the Philippines is coming back?

The 6-foot-5 center blocker’s ultimate dream is to play in the Olympics. Suzara, who helped Santiago obtain Japanese citizenship, revealed that he had appealed to allow the Filipino player to see action with the Japanese team even at the Paris Olympics.

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

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

“She is welcome to join the Philippine national team. But she can’t represent Japan at the moment,” Suzara said. “She can because her federation of origin is the Philippines. Hindi passport ang binabasehan dito, federation of origin. Jaja is still a Filipino by nature who played for the national team.”