Roger receives Polish green light

'Welcome'
Roger has been playing in Poland since 2005, and although citizens are usually required to spend at least five years in the country before they can be naturalised, the 25-year-old's case has been fast-tracked with a view to him appearing in this summer's finals. "We welcome you in the hope that you will enjoy success with our national team, both at UEFA EURO 2008™ and of course at EURO 2012™," Kaczyński declared.

Provisional list
Beenhakker is a known admirer of Roger and is expected to add him to the provisional list of 31 names he unveiled on Wednesday. "If Roger gets the citizenship, we will ask the authorities if we can add him to our squad," said the Dutchman, who must whittle his selection down to 23 in the coming weeks.

Roger vow
The player himself, meanwhile, is already relishing the prospect of representing his adopted country in Austria and Switzerland. "I'm very happy because I've been waiting for long time to get citizenship," Roger said. "I was getting nervous. Now I've got it I promise to represent Poland as best I can on the pitch and in every other situation."

Olisadebe precedent
Roger's former clubs include AD São Caetano, SC Corinthians Paulista and EC Juventude, although he is best remembered in Brazil for his performances at CR Flamengo in 2004. The left-sided midfielder also had a loan spell in Spain at RC Celta de Vigo before joining Legia, where he has scored 14 goals in 66 appearances. Should the Brazilian play for Poland, he would be following in the footsteps of the Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe, who scored eleven times in 25 internationals for his adopted country.