Up next in 10
Why 95% of Basketball Players Aren’t Playing Pro Overseas (It's Not Because You're Not Good Enough)
58K views
Feb 3, 2023
Playing Overseas Basketball is a challenge to begin with. But playing Professional Basketball will be even harder if you don’t understand how to contact teams with the specific requirements/qualifications they are looking for. In this video I break down why 95% of basketball players will never play overseas basketball even though many are more than capable. And more importantly, I explain how to change that by making yourself more attractive to overseas teams, clubs, managers, agents and more. Passports are the focus here. They open up roster spots, opportunities and money to you in ways you couldn’t even imagine. And then from there, it’s up to you to get the job done. I break down the most valuable overseas basketball passports and how to contact teams and agents when/if you find out you’re eligible for one. This is an absolute must-watch for anyone looking to get overseas in pro basketball. Overseas Basketball Passports: https://www.josecolorado.com/blog/overseas-basketball-passports
View Video Transcript
0:00
The reason you're not overseas right now doesn't have to do with your jump shot
0:06
It doesn't have to do with your quickness. It probably doesn't even have to do with your size. No, the reason you're not overseas today in 2020 is because of your passport
0:15
Now, if this is something that I learned in my 20s or earlier in my career
0:19
even in high school or university, I would have saved years of frustration trying to get overseas
0:25
and trying to understand how the system actually works in overseas basketball
0:30
So today I want to really educate anyone out there who's maybe struggling to get overseas, doesn't understand how this works, this system that it has in place
0:39
And this is something that can increase your marketability, your job opportunities by literally tenfold
0:47
So give me your attention for the next 10 minutes and let's dive into it. So to understand why passports are so important to overseas basketball, we first have to understand how overseas basketball works and how it's regulated
0:57
so if you were anything like me you probably came out of college and thought well in overseas
1:03
basketball the 12 best players get picked up by a team and they get paid however they may get paid
1:08
and then you go and play but that's not exactly how it works because in overseas basketball they
1:13
work under strict roster regulations so instead of the 12 best players playing on each team it's
1:19
actually the 12 best players playing under strict import and national regulations so what is an
1:25
import and what is a national? An import is just any player who does not hold citizenship or passport
1:32
in the country in which the league is taking place. A national then is the opposite of an import
1:38
It's just a player who does hold citizenship in the country or the league in which it's taking
1:43
place. Now, this is obviously going to vary based on the country. So for instance, if I want to play
1:50
in Brazil in the NBB, one of the best leagues in the Americas, and I am American. I can only play
1:57
in Brazil and then the NBB as an import because I don't have Brazilian passport. I don't have a
2:03
Brazilian citizenship. I can't play as a national. There's no other way. I have to play as an import
2:08
But the same would apply also for an Australian. If an Australian wants to play in the NBB
2:12
they would also have to play as an import because they don't have Brazilian citizenship. The same deal with the Canadian, the same deal with the Spaniard, the same deal with the Venezuelan
2:21
They would all be considered imports because they don't have citizenship in the country in which it's taken place
2:28
Now, why is this so important? Well, in every FIBA roster, in every overseas roster, it doesn't matter where you are
2:35
The majority of the roster will be dedicated to national players. It won't be dedicated to import players
2:41
So if there's 12 roster spots, there may be two. sometimes there's only one
2:46
There may be two, three, four roster spots dedicated to imports. So obviously as you can imagine that makes it extremely competitive no matter where you are So now that you understand how overseas basketball works and how the roster regulations actually work now you can change the game and increase your marketability your job opportunities tenfold
3:06
Now, this is the key to this whole video that I'm making right here
3:11
is that you have to try your hardest to get a second or third citizenship or passport no matter where you are
3:19
now there's a lot of ways that you can do this and i'll get to that in a second but just understand
3:23
something for right now when you're an import when you're only going for jobs as an import you're
3:29
going up against guys who play division one mid-major high major low major d2 guys player
3:36
the years maybe d3 guys player the years player their conferences and a lot of teams they're just
3:42
going to look at their resumes and say well they did this they went to high major and you didn't
3:46
So we're taking him instead of you. And teams think in stereotypes like that all the time
3:51
It's difficult for players to get to certain jobs in certain countries just based on their school, where they went to, their resume and their pedigree
4:01
So it's going to be an uphill battle. So the way you change that then is you have to get a second citizenship in another country because now you're no longer viewed against an import
4:11
You're no longer compared against that guy who went D1. but you're viewed against a national in that country so for instance for me i know something
4:19
that changed my career i probably wouldn't even have a career honestly if i didn't get my second
4:25
citizenship in el salvador because they're in that country the nationals okay the the basketball
4:32
there is a little underdeveloped the players there didn't go d1 uh i actually have a superior skill
4:38
set to many of them so that just helped me and got my foot in the door and then from there i was
4:42
able to talk to all the different teams teams saw me from that league saw me play saw me do my thing
4:48
and then I could talk to teams in Canada after they were looking at me more seriously teams in
4:53
Belize Brazil Nicaragua wherever it doesn't matter but this will absolutely change your career
5:00
because now you can actually get your foot in the door and that's honestly probably about 80% of the
5:06
battle it's just getting your foot in the door and from there whatever you do on the court that's on
5:11
you. And the craziest part is that a lot of these passports can give you benefits that you couldn't
5:16
even imagine. For instance, the most famous one is probably the Bosman A passport. And what this
5:22
is, is basically any country within the European Union is what is known as what basketball agents
5:29
what teams call Bosman A passports. And pretty much what it allows you is that as a passport
5:36
holder of any of these countries, I'll put a visual right here to give you a few examples of
5:40
Bosman A countries, you can play within those other countries as a national
5:45
So for instance if you from Spain you can go play in Italy as a national If you from Spain you can go play in Romania as a national If you from Spain you can go play in Hungary as a national and vice versa And
5:57
Natalia can go play in Spain as a national. Natalia can go play in Romania as a national. All of these countries are interchangeable as nationals. So that's just crazy because when you
6:07
think about it versus my passport, for instance, in El Salvador, I can only play in El Salvador as
6:13
a national that's the one country it grants uh citizenship in the one country grants me national
6:19
status in but in the bosman a in these european union countries you can play in like 15 countries
6:25
as a national you have 15 jobs waiting for you so if you have any heritage to one of these countries
6:33
this is just huge i can't stress this enough it will change your career forever the second type
6:39
of passport probably the second most famous passport then is the bosman b passport and this
6:44
is basically um countries within the european union as well uh but they're more so isolated
6:50
in the balkan areas so these are countries i'll put another visual here to give you an understanding
6:55
but these are countries like serbia montenegro countries within the balkan and basically you
7:01
can travel within these countries now as a national as well so not only again it's not granting you
7:07
just one national status in one country. It's giving you multiple countries as an option
7:12
a huge game changer. And probably the craziest one that a lot of people don't even realize
7:17
is there's a passport called the Kanotu passport. And this passport is pretty much for any country
7:23
within, not any, but the majority of countries within Africa and the Caribbean. And you can play
7:30
within a lot of European countries as a national. The most famous example is in France
7:37
They allow Konotu players. In Switzerland, they also allow Konotu players. And pretty much a Konotu
7:45
the logic behind it is that previously it was colonized by a European country
7:50
and pretty much now they're granting them citizenship to basically the head country
7:55
that was the original colonizer pretty much. so uh long story short that's another huge opportunity so if you're from the caribbean
8:06
for instance i have many cuban friends uh who i met through playing in latin america
8:12
and they are playing in spain under the canotu rule they have a slot reserved for canotu players
8:19
and they can play in spain as a canotu and they don't count as an import that's the most important
8:23
thing if they count as an import there's no chance they're playing there but because they don't count
8:28
as an import, they get to play there as a national. And as well, it's not just isolated to the European Union or Europe
8:36
In Asia recently, they actually implemented what's known as an Asian import slot or an
8:41
Asian import roster spot So in a lot of these Asian countries you have your imports you have your nationals for that country And then there will be one spot reserved for an Asian import which basically
8:54
just means you must have a passport from an Asian country. But you can actually play as
9:01
basically, it's something in between not an import, not a national, but it's an Asian import
9:07
So again, you don't count you're not going up against the guys who went D1, you're not going
9:12
up against the guys who were at the high majors. You just count as an Asian import. So again
9:19
it's giving you access to multiple countries again, but not as an import. That is the key
9:25
So if you're curious about how you can actually get a second passport or nationality, there's a
9:29
few ways you can go about doing this. Probably the two most common ways is number one, being born in
9:34
that country. A lot of countries will actually grant you citizenship or the right to citizenship
9:39
or the right to that passport for just being born in that soil or in that land
9:45
It doesn't matter if you moved when you were one or two years old
9:49
you will still have the right to that citizenship. Now, the second most common way is having a bloodline
9:56
or a blood relation to someone in that country. So this could obviously be like your parents
10:01
when your mom or your dad were born in the country or their parents were born in that country
10:06
or your great-grandparents were born in that country. this again will depend on whatever country whatever nationality you're seeking they all vary
10:13
so this is something that you really have to do your research on if you're looking to get it now
10:18
the ways i would actually go about you know finding out more information about it are videos like
10:24
these you know comment below and you know if you guys have a question i'll try and help you out as
10:28
best as i can but another way is you can actually reach out to agents and you can tell them uh you
10:34
don't know here are my highlights introduce yourself uh i have a video on how do you contact
10:38
teams and i'll link that up top or below um but as well mention to them that you are probably
10:45
you are probably eligible for a passport in a certain country uh for a kanotu passport for
10:51
instance or bosman a passport but you just don't have it yet and say what country your parents are
10:57
from or what country you were born in or you know wherever your bloodline goes to and they may be
11:02
able to help you with that because these agents know this like the back of their hands because
11:08
they know how valuable these passports are. I've had many agents say, hey, I think you're a good
11:13
player. I don't think you can compete as an import, just straight up. But if you come back
11:18
with a national passport through the European Union, because again, I was looking for it
11:23
we'll be happy to work with you and we'll place you right away because you can get multiple jobs
11:27
as a national. So you see, this is just a crazy thing that can just change your life, change your
11:33
game forever. If you guys have any questions, comment below. If not, if you like this video
11:38
feel free to like, subscribe, catch you guys in the next one. Okay. Peace. God bless. Take care
#International Sports Competitions
#Jobs & Education
#Social Issues & Advocacy
#Sports