This is a very interesting way for players to NOT SAY NO when they get invited to play for the Russian National Team.

Pretty much, players have no right to decline or else they pay the price.

According to sport.business-gazeta.ru, the Russian Federation will now PUNISH their players who refuse to play for the national team. How?

A post shared by Volleyball Club Zenit-Kazan (@volleyzenit) on Nov 5, 2016 at 12:10am PDT

A post shared by @moroz_8 on Mar 7, 2017 at 11:13pm PST

In the event that a player turns down an invite to train and represent their country with the national team, the player will be considered as a “foreign player” in the Russian League. The consequence is that this player will HAVE A VERY DIFFICULT TIME finding a club team if the team that wants to hire him already has 2 foreign players – which is the limit in the Russian League.

A post shared by Volleyball Club Zenit-Kazan (@volleyzenit) on Aug 22, 2016 at 3:10am PDT

A post shared by Volleyball Club Zenit-Kazan (@volleyzenit) on Feb 24, 2017 at 4:11am PST

The fact that Russia has NOT any major international tournament since winning Olympic men’s gold in 2012 has no doubt pressured the Federation to create regulations for their talented athletes to be part of the team.

Thoughts?