Cuba allows athletes to be hired abroad by private clubs

Cuba will allow the practitioners of any sport to sign contracts for professional clubs overseas, a practice began by baseball in mid-2013, sports officials announced, cited by the local media on Thursday.

"We are open to proposals in the 35 sports of high performance," said Jorge Polo, vice president of the Cuban Sports Institute, quoted by the sports site "Jit" .

He explained that the fundamental principle ruling the hiring abroad is "ensuring the welfare of the athlete and serving as encouragement and recognition of his career in national teams".

Arnaldo Batista, also Inder VP, said that "this is new and so the steps are slow, but we broke the ice and thus gradually it will increase" the amount of athletes participating in foreign leagues.

He added that this is a "complex" process, because each discipline is different and each federation has its own rules and specificities.

In July 2013, the Cuban Baseball Federation allowed its athletes to play in foreign leagues, half a century after President Fidel Castro eliminated professionalism in the national sport.

At present Cuba has five baseball players in Japanese clubs (Alfredo Despaigne, Hector Mendoza, Frederich Cepeda, Yulieski Gurriel and his younger brother Lourdes Gurriel Jr.) and a volleyball player (Javier Jimenez) in the Greek club PAOK. Endi