What actually is a kolpak player?

Question

Loads of counties have them, what the h**l are they?

Answer 1

no idea~

Answer 2

There is an agreement between certain countries allowing freedom of employment, through a trade agreement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolpak_ruli...

By using Kolpak players and players who have obtained EU passports, counties can to some extent ignore the overseas players restrictions.

The England and Wales Cricket Board rules on Kolpak

http://www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/publications/di...

and overseas players.

http://www.ecb.co.uk/ecb/about-ecb/media...

Answer 3

A lunatic in a place like SA decides to invoke his European heritage by applying for a EU passport and then is eligible under freedom of movement to be allowed to play in England.They have no intention of living or working in europe and get the passport simply to get a shed load of money and head back into the sun with even more money once it's converted back to his home currency

Answer 4

The are players, usually stereotyped as South Africans (because there are a lot of them in county cricket), who use their Dutch/French/German/etc. ancestory as an excuse to obtain a working permit from the EU that lets them apply for a job officially as Europeans. They are criticized in county cricket because many teams simply use Kolpak players as part of their homegrown group of players, cutting off many opportunities for the hundreds of truly ENGLISH cricketers.