The Qatar Stars League has removed its foreigner quota, signaling that there are no restrictions on Asian players playing on its stage, and that a player like Son Heung-min could one day represent Asia.

The Qatar Stars League held a media briefing in Doha on Saturday ahead of the start of the 2024-2025 season. Speaking at the event, Qatar Stars League Competitions Director Ahmed Khelil Abassi said that the foreign quota barrier to signing South Korean or Japanese players no longer exists, and that players like 토토사이트 순위 Son Heung-min could play in the league in the future.

“The Qatar Stars League has changed its rules over the past two years to keep pace with the revised AFC player registration regulations. In the past, we had a quota of three foreign players, one Asian quota, and one Arab quota, but now in the AFC Champions League, we don’t have to register players of a certain nationality. So we had no restrictions,” he explains.

“Now we don’t have a quota system for foreigners in terms of nationality. You can only have five foreign players,” he said, adding, “Nationality is not the deciding factor in signing a player. It’s the quality of the player and his contribution to the team. If they are good enough, Korean or Japanese players can play in our league. Of course, we know there are many great players in Korea and Japan. At some point, we may even see Son Heung-min playing in our league.”

Abbasi also said that the AFC Qatar U-23 Asian Cup 2024 in April showed the potential of Asian players. “You could see the quality of the players in the last tournament. We saw a lot of improvement from Asian players. We believe that good players can contribute to the Qatar Stars League regardless of their nationality,” he said.

Meanwhile, the 2024-2025 Qatar Stars League will feature only one South Korean player. Jang Hyun-soo, who plays for Al Gharafa, will represent South Korea in Qatar.