A total of 59 Cuban athletes were hired to play in foreign clubs or leagues in the 2019-2020 season, according to data provided by the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER).
Currently there are nine disciplines with Cuban athletes who competed abroad last year or still do so: baseball, handball, basketball, cycling, soccer, wrestling, water polo, softball and volleyball.
As explained to the specialized publication Jit Ariel Saínz, vice president of INDER, the organization's specialists are working to increase that number in the current season, with the addition of boxing to the list of sports benefiting from these agreements.
Saínz specified that this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of national athletes hired in other countries, due to the closure of several international leagues and the suspension of many events.
Among them, the official detailed the fighting Bundesliga and the Canadian-American Independent Baseball Leagues (Can-Am) of the Pacific, in Mexico, as well as the Italian one, which limited the number of confirmed contracts to eight.
According to the publication, between 2016 and 2019, players from the Island competed in more than 15 countries. Those with the greatest presence were Portugal, with 34 athletes; Argentina, with 30; Italy and Canada with 25 each; Japan with 22 and Germany with 18.
In recent years, Cuban authorities have been forced to sign professional contracts with other countries, as well as allow athletes who wanted to repatriate to return to their home teams after having played seasons abroad.
Some veteran figures still remembered, such as the remembered former volleyball coach Jorge Garbey, have spoken out because the Athletes who are playing in any international league are accepted in the preselections nationals, regardless of the way in which they went abroad.
In famous sports on the Island such as baseball, more than 600 players left between 2011 and 2018. Last August, the national director of this discipline, Ernesto Reinoso Piñera, announced to the official press that the Repatriated players could play in the current National Series, provided that they had not deserted their delegations or made statements against the Government.
"Those athletes who did not leave an official delegation, who have not spoken badly about Cuba, will be eligible for their provinces. Anyone who completes the paperwork and is legal before game 60, there are no problems. Nobody plays the playoffs for us, if they do not participate in the qualifying stage," he explained.
"If they play before the deadline we gave and they have to return for a contract, even if it is not because of our Federation, we authorize them to go and return for the postseason, where they can even be reinforcements in case their original teams do not qualify. Furthermore , as long as they participate in the Series they are eligible for the National team," he added.
In July, Higinio Vélez, president of the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), announced on the television program 'La Jugada Perfecta' that the authorities of the sector were evaluating the possibility of admit into the national team athletes who left and signed contracts with the Major Leagues from the United States.
"Everything is a project, it is being studied and we hope it has a very happy ending. Arms are open, everyone is Cuban," he expressed.
The official mentioned that there are already several players in that case. Although he did not expressly mention it, he was referring to shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena, who was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 2020 returned to Cuba for the National Series.
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