Brazilian star Alex Teixeira, who raised plenty of eyebrows by rejecting Premier League giants Liverpool before completing a move to Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning in 2016, could be selected to play for China as FIFA unveiled its proposal to change its convoluted eligibility rules on Wednesday. 

The highly-rated attacking midfielder, who played for Brazil at the U17 World Cup in 2007 and the U20 World Cup in 2009, is not eligible for China as FIFA rules state that "any player who has already participated in a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition of any category or any type of football for one association may not play an international match for a representative team of another association."  

Nevertheless, Teixeira has publicly declared that he was willing to switch international allegiance from Brazil to China if FIFA relaxes those strict regulations. In a surprising twist, his wish might be granted at the 70th FIFA Congress on September 18, when a proposed amendment to the eligibility rules will take effect if it is approved by national federations.

The most dramatic change of the new rules is a clear confirmation that players could switch eligibility if they played their last game for the first national team before they turned 21 and have lived on the territory of the relevant association for at least five years. 

The relaxation of the rules means that the 30-year-old Teixeira could in theory represent China later this year or in early 2021 after completing his naturalization as a Chinese citizen. 

Meanwhile, for those who have not lived on the territory of the relevant association for at least five years, they could switch national teams if they played a maximum of three times for the first national team before they turned 21, and at least three years earlier. It could pave the way for English-born defender Tyias Browning, who joined Guangzhou Evergrande from Everton last year, to play for China.

FIFA's new flexibility could open the door to more foreign stars, who currently ply their trade in China, to join Brazil-born Ai Kesen (Elkeson), Brazil-born Aloisio (Luo Guofu), and England-born Li Ke (Nico Yennaris) in Li Tie's China squad. If everything goes well, it could be a huge boost to the country's fading hopes of progressing into the 2022 Qatar World Cup. 

China were eight points behind group leaders Syria when the COVID-19 pandemic forced all Asian qualifying games in March and June to be postponed. Eight group winners and the four best runners-up will advance into the continent's 12-team final qualifying stage for the World Cup. 

FIFA announced last week that the qualifiers have been pushed back to 2021 "with the aim of protecting the health and safety of all participants."