Russian League foreigners

To start with this isn't a moan, merely a question.

I understand that the new Russian league rules have been added making everyone not born in Russia listed as foreign (damn it SI ). Besides the fact that my long term game is now 100% harder - I only have 4 actual Russians but 5 who have gained 2nd nationality!-, is there any reason why some non-Russians are not listed as foreign? I did have a search through the feedback thread but couldn't see anything.

For example in my game Thiago Heleno the Brazilian isn't 'foreign' even though he has only gained Russian nationality by playing there for 7+ years. There are numerous other players like this as well, unfortunately just not in my team! There doesn't seem to be any reason behind the players not listed as foreign. Can ayone shed any light on it?

Just out of interest.... Does the Russian league really have all of these rules in real life? Seems awfully complicated to put together a squad that meets the requirements and has the potential to be succesful.

I have to laugh at Anzhi in my game. They only have 4 Russians in their first team squad (2 of which are GK), and only 2 in the reserves.

Thankfully the rule changes don't really effect my team currently. It just means that some of my players won't gain Russian nationality in the future.

In essence the rule is that a player gaining Russian citizenship will still be classed as a foreigner if he is capped at a competitive level for another nation, basically he needs to be eligible to play for Russia to not be considered foreign.

I'm guessing that the idea behind it is to protect youth development in Russia & stop clubs buying in overseas player who take up Russian citizenship as a flag of convenience.

It appears that the Russian FA want to put an end to clubs buying in umpteen ageing players that will only serve to provide short term gain to the club game but have no benefit whatsoever for the national team who could do without being embarrassed in 6 years time because club stifled youth development in favour of immediate success & Champions League/sponsorhip money.

In the end, I'm certain Russia will allow clubs to select more foreigners in their starting XI. The debate's been raging for a while in Russian football.