Overseas athletes settling in Taiwan raise competitiveness and augment the professional sports environment.
Pitcher Kensho Aizawa from Japan lunges forward in Taiwan’s semi-professional Popcorn League. (Photo courtesy of SA)
People around Taiwan were glued to sports coverage last summer as Team Taiwan posted a record performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, gaining two golds, four silvers and six bronzes, with many other athletes going through to quarter- and semi-finals. This achievement is largely due to a generous injection of government sports funding encompassing personal training, equipment and accommodation for athletes at the Ministry of Education-administered Sports Administration’s (SA) National Sports Training Center (NSTC) in the southern city of Kaohsiung. As the country’s foremost hub for contenders preparing for top-level international events, it is currently undergoing another phase of facility upgrades scheduled for completion in 2026 with a budget of over NT$6.3 billion. (US$214.2 million)
SA-supported national sport associations such as Chinese Taipei Athletics Association and Chinese Taipei Gymnastic Association have a specific mission to scout abroad for professional athletes, whom they then invite to work as coaches in Taiwan. This booming sports infrastructure has attracted 13 overseas experts to work at NSTC to date. Their approach has been key to boosting performance, as evidenced by Olympic medals in gymnastics, taekwondo and table tennis, according to SA Deputy Director-General Lin Che-hung (林哲宏). The skills these professionals bring are highly valued, with compensation including perks like return air tickets and subsidized quarantine hotel stay for those traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic. An increasing number of foreign sportspersons have also been attracted to Taiwan to join local teams and play in professional and semi-professional games. SA statistics show that in 2021, the Ministry of Labor issued work permits to 230 athletes, coaches and referees, rising from just 76 in 2018.
With this prowess drawn from abroad to raise competitiveness and excitement across Taiwan’s sports, outstanding international athletes now benefit from preferential treatment under Taiwan’s Nationality Act. The law was amended in 2016 to exempt high-level professionals in sports, art, culture, business, education and technology from the need to renounce their original nationality when they apply for ROC citizenship. There is even willingness to reconsider the requirement to reside in the country for over 183 days a year for five successive years. “In view of the relatively short career span of professional competitors, we’re working on accelerating the application process together with national sport associations,” Lin said.
Among those to recently obtain Taiwan nationality is T1 League Tainan TSG GhostHawks—based in the southern city—player William Artino from the U.S., who joined the national team to play at this year’s International Basketball Federation World Cup 2023 Asian Qualifiers. “I’m very thankful and looking forward to seeing everyone play and representing the country,” he said.
Joy erupts as the Shih Hsin University team earns gold in the UBA women’s division in March. (Photo courtesy of SA)
Beautiful Game
Underscoring government determination to both elevate athletic endeavors and the well-being of the nation, commercial sponsorship of professional and amateur sports is incentivized with greater tax benefits following amendments to the Sports Industry Development Act promulgated last year. This benefits professional team development in joint public-private sector collaboration and the operation of semi-professional archery, baseball, basketball, football, softball and volleyball leagues. Administered by SA-funded national sport associations, these leagues comprise corporate-sponsored teams taking part in annual competitions. Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) is one result of this, reorganized in 2017 from the country’s highest-level men’s contests.
In last year’s TFPL season, Taichung Futuro, based in the central Taiwan city, placed third. The team currently boasts five members from Japan and one from Haiti. Team founder Yoshitaka Komori from Japan had a youth career in Yokohama and Kyoto, then played in Singapore and Thailand as a professional midfielder for four years. He came to Taichung in 2015 at the age of 27 to run his family’s food business. Komori was invited to teach football at the city’s Japanese school and then joined Taichung-based National Taiwan University of Sport’s TFPL team. In 2016, he set up Futuro Taichung Football Academy for local kids, with the men’s team established two years later.
Last year, Komori acquired ROC citizenship and joined its national team to play at the International Federation of Association Football’s games in Kuwait. The player, who grew up in an Asian football powerhouse, feels there is great potential in Taiwan for the sport, especially given the number of children across the country learning it. “Individual players have a high level of competence. If kids see local professional players, they’re more likely to persist in a career,” Komori said. He supports the growth of his beloved sport by splitting his time between raising the game’s profile and running his company.
Futuro Founder Yoshitaka Komori, right, splits his time between promoting his beloved sport and running his food company in Taichung. (Photo by Pang Chia-shan)
Fan Fervor
The introduction of foreign players similarly helps develop the business environment by drawing larger crowds, which in turn motivates local players to further hone their technique. Lin recalled media frenzy and domestic fans’ zeal for the Taipei City-based Chinese Professional Baseball League’s (CPBL) 2013 season due to the presence of Major League Baseball star batter Manny Ramirez on the EDA Rhinos team, which is now New Taipei City-based Fubon Guardians (FG). One of the CPBL’s five member groups, FG currently fields six foreign players for the 2022 season, and pitcher Mike Loree from the U.S. anticipates a potential 100th win since his 2012 CPBL debut. Moreover, after completing his ninth full season with the league this year, Loree is expected to play as a local under a new rule passed in 2020. This allows teams to circumvent the regulation concerning the maximum number of foreign players in a CPBL game.
It is not only fully-fledged professionals who find a niche career in Taiwan, as the country is increasingly becoming a starting block for talented youth. A major talent pool for the Super Basketball League, P. League+ and T1 is the University Basketball Association (UBA), which saw a record number of foreign students play this season. Its semifinals and finals took place at Taipei Arena in March, with Taipei-based National Chengchi University (NCCU) and Shih Hsin University (SHU) earning golds in both the women’s and men’s divisions. The SA is also seeking cooperation from the Cabinet-level Overseas Community Affairs Council as well as Taiwan’s foreign embassies and representative offices to encourage Taiwan athletes based overseas to return. Lin cites Chen Chiang-shuang (陳將双), who returned from the U.S. and entered the northern city of Hsinchu’s Kuang-Fu High School as an example. In March, Chen led the school team to win gold at the High School Basketball League (HBL), which funnels top performers into the UBA and professional basketball leagues. Moving on to NCCU or SHU is an option for the most valuable player in HBL after the men’s final. “Overseas training and experience like Chen’s can be a great model for our athletes to emulate and help nurture local competence,” Lin said. “The skill levels attained in other countries are important factors in raising Taiwan’s sports competitiveness.”
Write to Pat Gao at cjkao@mofa.gov.tw