Soccer News: Future Indonesian Naturalized Players Will Only Make the Team Stronger

The Soccer News wrote that to recruit naturalized players to the maximum extent, Erick Thohir, the chairman of the Indonesian Football Association, utilized his resources within the Indonesian government and made tireless efforts. The submission, processing, and review of naturalization procedures have been continuously expedited, with some naturalized players even able to complete their naturalization procedures at Jakarta Airport. The naturalization ceremony for Hiltermann and little Reinders was even arranged in the Netherlands where they live — because it is not an international match day, they could not take leave to travel to Indonesia to complete the naturalization procedures.

Erick Thohir plans to hold a naturalization oath ceremony for Hiltermann and little Reinders in the Netherlands on September 22 or 23. He stated that the clubs where the players are located must be respected, and efforts should be made to make the players and their clubs feel the sincerity of the Indonesian Football Association. In the future, naturalized players can choose to return to Indonesia or hold their naturalization oath ceremonies in their places of residence, handling special cases specially, making it convenient for naturalized players playing in Europe.

The deadline for registering the final 18-strong squad is October 3, meaning that before this date, the two newly naturalized Indonesian Dutch players must pass the naturalization qualification review by FIFA to be eligible to play. Regarding this, Erick Thohir is full of confidence. He also responded to controversies about having too many naturalized players, emphasizing that naturalized players are allowed under FIFA rules and are a trend in world football.

Including Hiltermann and little Reinders, since Shin Tae-yong, the Korean coach, took office, the Indonesian team has naturalized 16 players, with 8 of them this year alone. The Indonesian Football Association’s talent pool for naturalized players has begun to shift its focus to Blijvers (Dutch term “Blijvers”, which can be translated as “stayovers”, originally referring narrowly to white Dutch colonists or other European descendants who were born locally in Indonesia before its independence). The future Indonesian national team will only have more and more options for stronger players.