Strange story: Indonesian football allows 8 foreign players to play at the same time, domestic players 'cry out'

According to CNN Indonesia, the application of a foreign player quota for the 2025-2026 season of the national championship of this country is up to 11 people, of which 8 people will play, leaving domestic players with no chance. The Malaysian league had to quickly adjust.

Why are there only 2 Indonesian players on the field?

According to the regulations of the Indonesian National Championship, from the 2025 - 2026 season, the name will be changed to Super League, the 6th name change since 1994, more than any other tournament in the world . For each match in the official lineup, clubs are required to have 1 U.23 player with a minimum playing time of 45 minutes.

New policy in the National Championship will make the Indonesian team increasingly lack domestic players.

Photo: Reuters

Thus, with the current foreign player quota, if a club maximizes the registration of 11 players and puts 8 players on the field at the same time plus 1 U.23 player, there will only be 2 slots left for domestic players at the highest level to compete for the main squad, according to CNN Indonesia.

"Indonesian football will undoubtedly be dominated by international players in the future, if the foreign player quota regulation continues to be maintained. So far, despite many reactions, the possibility of change is almost impossible, as this policy was approved at the general meeting of shareholders (GMS) of PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB), the governing body of the Indonesian National Championship, in Jakarta on July 7," CNN Indonesia said.

Last season, despite the lower quota of foreign players (8 registered and 6 players able to play), Indonesian football was still completely dominated by foreign players. Accordingly, only 2 Indonesian native players were in the top 10 players with the most playing time, the remaining 8 were all foreign players, based on statistics from Transfermarkt .

In the list of goals and assists, the number of Indonesian players participating is even smaller, with only striker Egy Maulana Vikri (scoring 12 goals, ranked 8th). And Rizky Pora has 8 assists, ranked 5th, in the top 10 of these lists. In addition, there is also 1 naturalized Indonesian player participating, Marc Klok, with 7 assists. Marc Klok is currently no longer called up to the Indonesian team since 2024.

This has led to many serious concerns, that is, local players are limited in all opportunities to compete, regardless of club or national team level. The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) supports this policy, arguing that increasing the quota of foreign players will increase the quality of the national championship. Thereby, domestic players are also forced to upgrade themselves to compete for a starting position and improve themselves. However, this is a double-edged sword and the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, according to CNN Indonesia.

Indonesian native players have few chances to be on the national team, and now they are about to be pushed aside in their clubs.

Photo: Reuters

"First, the massive use of foreign players will certainly cause domestic players to lose their place in the club. Because clubs spend a lot of money to recruit foreign players, they are always given priority over domestic players. This is an obvious fact. However, not all foreign players have better quality than domestic players. There are many foreign players with very high prices and costs but their quality is only 3rd or 4th class. Therefore, it is difficult to help domestic players improve anything.

Besides, another danger is always lurking, that is, there are many clubs that do not have financial potential, do not have facilities to meet the needs of competition, but still race to buy foreign players to chase the achievements of the season. This will leave a not very bright future, many clubs that are racing too hard can easily fall into bankruptcy once the achievements go down," CNN Indonesia expressed.

The reason why the Malaysian National Championship had to hastily adjust the foreign player quota

The Malaysian Super League from the 2025-2026 season will allow clubs to register a quota of up to 15 foreign players. But this is causing great concern, because so far only Johor Darul Ta'zim Club has taken full advantage of this policy.

This team has currently recruited 9 foreign players and 2 more players from Asia, including 1 Southeast Asian player, Oscar Arribas from the Philippines. In the near future, they will recruit enough 15 foreign players from all countries. Not to mention, this team currently has a total of 8 naturalized players, Nacho Mendez is the latest case.

Malaysian naturalized players have come to play for Johor Darul Ta'zim Club one after another, not to mention foreign players.

Photo: Ngoc Linh

Johor Darul Ta'zim is a team that owns a large number of naturalized Malaysian players, some of whom have recently been controversial about their origins. Therefore, they have almost become a "super club" in Malaysia and possibly the whole Southeast Asia region. The team's goal is to conquer all domestic, regional and Asian championships (AFC Champions League Elite), to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup 2029™.

The dominance of Johor Darul Ta'zim FC in the Malaysian National Championship is a reality. Worried that the gap is too big, causing the rest of the country's clubs to give up, the tournament's organizing committee has just decided to adjust the number of foreign players on the field.

Accordingly, there will be only 6 players and 3 substitutes in each match. Of which, 6 players on the field include 4 foreign players from all countries, plus 1 Asian and 1 from Southeast Asia. Previously, this ratio was 7 players and 2 substitutes. The quota of 15 foreign players registered at each club remains the same, but it is not required that all clubs register this number.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chuyen-la-bong-da-indonesia-cho-phep-8-ngoai-binh-ra-san-cung-luc-noi-binh-khoc-thet-1852507101128156.htm