Jakarta. Indonesia’s U-20 national football team coach Indra Sjafri sees nothing wrong with many foreign-born players representing the country at the senior level.

Indonesia has witnessed many foreign-born players undergoing the so-called “naturalization” process, which grants them citizenship to play for Indonesia. Thirteen out of the 22 players for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers that head coach Shin Tae-yong had picked were naturalized athletes. This foreigner-dominated makeup sometimes sparks debate if it can really be called a “national team”.

At a recent U-20 AFC Asian Cup qualifier presser, Indra said that there was no need to fight over the foreign-born player domination in the team makeup as long as these players were “committed” to take Indonesia to victory.

“I have said this a number of times. Naturalization is not something that we need to debate over. I was also involved in this naturalization process when I went to the Netherlands. No need to fight over this. Everything is already crystal clear and there are no issues,” Indra said not long after the Indonesia versus Maldives match on Wednesday evening.

Erick Thohir: Naturalized Players Are Key to Enhancing Indonesia’s National Team

According to Indra, the sport’s international governing body FIFA and the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) do not even mind with having many foreign athletes.

“If FIFA and PSSI see no issue with it, supporters come to the stadium and give their support, then what’s wrong? Let’s just focus on the performance and see how [the naturalized players] play. Then, we can make evaluations,” Indra said.

The Netherlands-born U-20 striker Jens Raven is one of the naturalized stars representing Indonesia on the field. Raven scored a goal that gave Indonesia a 4-0 win against Maldives at the U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers on Wednesday. Indra said that Raven’s performance that day showed that bringing in naturalized players could be a boon to the game.

“Everything is clear if someone plays well, already has earned the status as an Indonesian player, and has the right to play for the team. We must support everything that has been done, even the supporters are giving their support,” Indra said.

Naturalized players fill almost every position in the senior team. 

FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes is in charge of making sure the opposing teams do not score. Coach Shin Tae-Yong appointed six naturalized players for the back line: namely Calvin Verdonk, Jay Idzes, Jordi Amat, Sandy Walsh, Shayne Pattynama, and Justin Hubner. There are three foreign-born midfielders Ivar Jenner, Thom Haye, and Nathan Tjoe-A-On. Rafael Struick and Ragnar Oratmangoen make up the naturalized duo at the Garuda Team’s frontline.

Nine of the 11 starters picked by Shin Tae-yong when facing Saudi Arabia and Australia were foreign-born. Rizky Ridho was the only non-naturalized starter at both matches. Indonesia’s Witan Sulaeman started the away match against Saudi Arabia, while Marselino Ferdinan was a starter during the Australia match. Indonesia scored 1-1 versus Saudi Arabia. The Garuda team had a 0-0 tie with Australia at the World Cup qualifier.