You will be the fourth: will Douglas Santos play for the Russian national team

On March 3, the Russian Football Union (RFU) published an expanded Russian national team for the March training camp. A total of 42 players were included in the application. The main surprise of the list is that it includes Zenit defender Douglas Santos, who received a Russian passport last year. At the same time, Douglas was also included in the preliminary list of Brazil national team players for the March matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament. For more information about the unusual situation, see the Izvestia article.

Difficult choice

There are more than enough sensational names on the list. Among them are Rubin goalkeeper Evgeny Staver, Akhmat defender Turpal-Ali Ibishev, CSKA midfielder Matvey Kislyak and Paris NN forward Alexander Koksharov. Attention is drawn to the presence of Zenit midfielder Maxim Glushenkov on the list, who said that the current national team does not motivate him.

There are two foreign players in the squad — Alexey and Anton Miranchuk (Atlanta United and Sion, respectively). However, there are no other Russian players playing abroad — injured midfielders Arsen Zakharyan (Real Sociedad), Alexander Golovin (Monaco) and Daler Kuzyaev (Le Havre) were not included in the list, as was PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov.

And the main event was the arrival of Zenit captain Douglas Santos, who received a Russian passport in the fall. He is no longer considered a foreign player in Russia, so he has the right to play for our national team.

At the same time, on February 28, Douglas was included in the extended application of the Brazilian national team for the World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina. In addition to the 30-year-old defender, another Zenit player, winger Luis Enrique, was included in the list. How is it possible for one player to be on the rosters of two national teams at once?

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Thiago Freitas, technical director of TFM Agency, who is of interest to the defender, commented on the unusual situation to Izvestia.

— Douglas has not been called up to any national team. He is only on the preliminary list of candidates for the national teams of Brazil and Russia. And no decision has been made yet," Freitas stressed.

Indeed, no national team has published final applications yet, but a precedent has been set. A football player cannot play for two national teams at the same time, so Douglas will have to choose.

It should be noted that in accordance with the FIFA rules governing performances for national teams, it is possible to change the federation (that is, sports citizenship) only once during a playing career. But there is an exception. It applies just in the case of Douglas Santos.

He may be allowed to regain Brazilian sports citizenship if he retains Brazilian citizenship and did not enter the field (did not play) as part of the Russian national team in an official or unofficial competition match. If the Zenit captain takes such a step, there will be no turning back — he will lose his Russian sports citizenship forever and will be considered a legionnaire.

After Mario

The head coach of the Russian national team, Valery Karpin, noted that he had not yet communicated with Douglas, but announced a unified approach to all players at the stage of forming an expanded national team.

In December, in an interview with Izvestia and Sport-Express, Zenit's captain hinted that he wanted to play for Brazil, not Russia.:

— As I have said more than once, I still have a great desire and dream to play for the Brazilian national team — for the country where I was born, in which team I became an Olympic champion, — noted Santos. — Yes, I love Russia very much, that's why I got Russian citizenship — it's a great honor and responsibility. I have been here for more than five years, I am the captain of Zenit. For me and my family, St. Petersburg and Russia are a second home. But I agree with Valery Karpin that young Russian students should be playing in the Russian national team now. There are a lot of talented young people in Russia, and the head coach of the national team knows how to develop them, this is a chance for them. Everyone should be in their place.

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If Santos plays for Russia, he will become the fourth naturalized Brazilian in the history of the national team after Guilherme, Ari and Mario Fernandez.

— If a person obtains Russian citizenship, then it is necessary to repay debts to the motherland, — said Dmitry Guberniev, a well-known commentator and adviser to the Minister of Sports. — If he is a true patriot of Russia and does not consider our country as a cash cow, then he should go play for us, not for Brazil. Douglas Santos was given a passport to benefit Russian football, right? Here, let him bring it. And then Karpin decides, because he is responsible for the result.

This season of the Russian championship, Douglas has three assists in 19 matches.