The Indonesian national soccer team will now be able to field a best 11 with dual citizenship. The team now has 12 players who hold multiple passports from Indonesia and another European country.
The Indonesian national team is coached by South Korea’s Shin Tae-yong. Shin has been in charge of the Indonesian national team since December 2019. Shin has been on a winning streak with the Indonesian national team. Last year, he led the team to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar. For his country, it was the first time in 16 years that Indonesia had qualified for the tournament since 2007, when they were the hosts.
Indonesia made waves at the Asian Cup, 안전카지노사이트 too. Indonesia was drawn in Group D with Iraq, Japan, and Vietnam.
With Iraq and Japan being top-ranked teams and Vietnam being a soccer powerhouse in Southeast Asia, it seemed like a long shot to make it to the round of 16. However, Indonesia defeated Vietnam to earn three points.
The Asian Cup was organized into six groups of four teams, with a total of 24 nations competing. The first and second-place finishers in each group qualified for the round of 16, while the third-place finishers were the top four nations with the most points out of the six groups. Indonesia finished in 16th place with three points, ahead of China and Oman, who finished with two draws and one loss. It was Indonesia’s first-ever Asian Cup group stage exit.
During the run to the Asian Cup in Qatar, the Indonesian Football Association began naturalizing several dual-national players who were playing in Europe.
It all started with Jordi Amat, who formerly played for Spanish La Liga side Espanyol and Ki Sung-yueng’s former club Swansea City. Amat is a dual citizen of Spain and Indonesia and joined the Indonesian national team in November 2022.
Indonesia’s naturalization process continues. Unlike China and Qatar, which have naturalized players with no ties to the country, Indonesia has been naturalizing dual-national players who play in Europe. One such player is Justin Herbner, who was Hwang’s teammate at Wolverhampton. Most of the dual-national players are Dutch dual nationals. Indonesia has naturalized 10 Dutch dual nationals into Indonesia, including Herbner. As a former Dutch colony, there are still many people with Indonesian ancestry in the Netherlands.
Dual citizenship has always been a part of the national soccer team.
Recently, Bayern Munich’s new midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic and Real Madrid‘s forward Brime Dias made headlines for their choice of nationality. Pavlovic is a dual citizen of Serbia and Germany, while Dias is a dual citizen of Spain and Morocco. Both players chose Germany and Morocco, respectively.
There are FIFA rules about this. FIFA’s rules state that dual-nationality players can change their nationality if they have not played more than three matches for their country before they turn 21 and have not represented their country for at least three years. Brime Dias took advantage of this rule and played for Spain’s age-group national team, but only played one game for the Spanish national team before choosing to naturalize as a Moroccan.
However, the naturalization of dual-nationality players is not always a positive thing. Indonesia has naturalized 12 players and is now able to fill its roster with them, but they will have to fit in with the existing players. China has had this problem in the past, naturalizing several foreign players and failing to perform.
Indonesia is currently in the second round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 North and Central American World Cup. The second qualifier will feature 36 teams divided into nine groups of four. Only the second-place finishers in each group will advance to the third round. Indonesia, which is in a group with Iraq, Vietnam, and the Philippines, is currently in last place with one draw and one loss. Indonesia will face Vietnam in the third match of the second round of qualifiers on June 21st.