Indonesia U23 coach makes shocking statement about naturalized players, may lose job

(Dan Tri) - After the U23 Indonesia team was eliminated from the final round of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, coach Vanenburg of the young team of the archipelago country spoke frankly about the naturalized player policy of this football country.

The U23 Indonesia team lost 0-1 to U23 Korea last night (September 9), at home in Sidoarjo (Indonesia). This defeat left U23 Indonesia with only 4 points after 3 qualifying matches, ranking second in Group J. U23 Indonesia was officially eliminated.

What is more noteworthy, after losing the chance to participate in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship, coach Gerald Vanenburg (Dutch) of U23 Indonesia said: "The process of naturalizing players of European origin in Indonesian football is not a fundamental solution. If naturalized players do not play regularly at their home clubs, they will decline, and the national teams will also decline."

Coach Gerald Vanenburg (Photo: CNN Indonesia).

“Indonesian football is determined to bring players of Dutch origin into their national teams. But the most important thing is that these players come here to play. If they do not have a regular place in their respective teams, the best thing is to remove them from the national teams,” coach Gerald Vanenburg added.

U23 Indonesia has failed consecutively in the last two tournaments, even though they had the advantage of playing at home in both tournaments.

In July, U23 Indonesia lost to U23 Vietnam at the U23 Southeast Asian tournament. And recently, they were eliminated from the U23 Asian tournament.

In the Asian qualifiers, U23 Indonesia not only lost to U23 Korea, but also had a disappointing 0-0 draw against U23 Laos. The U23 Indonesia squad in the last two international tournaments both featured naturalized players of Dutch origin.

However, the performance of naturalized players like Jens Raven and Rafael Struick did not satisfy coach Gerald Vanenburg. In particular, Rafael Struick was added to the U23 Indonesia squad before the U23 Asian qualifiers, but this striker was also the most disappointing.

The naturalized players of U23 Indonesia are disappointing (Photo: CNN Indonesia).

Coach Gerald Vanenburg shared: “If I only talk about Rafael Struick, it would be unfair to him and the whole team. I will simply comment like this, if Rafael Struick does not play regularly at the club, his performance will definitely decline.”

“This is also the common situation of young Indonesian players. Many of our players do not get to play regularly in domestic tournaments,” added the Dutch coach who is leading the U23 Indonesia team.

Coach Gerald Vanenburg also proposed to organize a tournament for youth teams in Indonesia, parallel to the national championship. However, this proposal has not been supported by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI).

PSSI President Erick Thohir said: “Creating a separate league for players aged 23 in Indonesia is very difficult. I will study more about encouraging clubs to use young players in lower leagues such as League 2, League 3, League 4”.

“The Indonesian U17 and U20 teams have good results, but the U21 and U23 teams are not yet in top form. PSSI will consider plans to improve the domestic league and national teams,” added Mr. Erick Thohir.

The above statement by the head of Indonesian football shows that the future of coach Gerald Vanenburg in the Indonesian U23 team is not certain.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-u23-indonesia-phat-bieu-soc-ve-cau-thu-nhap-tich-co-the-mat-viec-20250910131325508.htm