Did Italy Rig a Citizenship Test for a Soccer Star?

Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz photo by Global Panorama

The NYT today reports on an overseas citizenship controversy: Did Italy rig a citizenship test to facilitate the transition of Uruguayan-born and just-left-Barcelona soccer striker star Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (El Pistolero) to the Italian club Juventus?

Apparently, it usually takes a while to get Italian citizenship. And the nation’s language test is no joke. Yet Díaz sailed through the process.

Why? Well, maybe because Juventus had tapped out its allowed number of non-European Union players. So Díaz needed to become an EU citizen.

Others waiting on Italian citizenship are pissed.

Personally, I don’t find this story particularly shocking. I mean, usually we hear about citizenship-swapping around the Olympics. But this is a natural extension of that history.

-KitJ