The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) is actively promoting the naturalization of female players to improve the quality of the national women's team. Indonesia has recently approved the naturalization applications of four players: Felicia Victoria de Zeeuw (2006), Iris Joska de Rouw (2005), Isa Guusje Warps (2005) and Emily Julia Frederica Nahon (2007).
These players will soon complete the oath-taking procedure to become Indonesian citizens and be eligible to play for the national team.
The four players mentioned above all have a football background in Europe. Typically: promising goalkeeper Iris de Rouw; Felicia de Zeeuw is an attacking midfielder; Isa Warps is a versatile attacker; or center back Emily Nahon.
Emily Nahon is the youngest name among the faces in the process of naturalization.
In contrast to the relatively smooth process of the men's team, the naturalization program for the Indonesian women's team has encountered many problems, and there has been no new information since the beginning of this year. One of the most prominent cases is the case of Djenna De Jong - a player of Dutch origin - who refused to play for the Indonesian team because she believed there was a "lack of professionalism" in the application process.
However, PSSI President Erick Thohir later spoke up to confirm that all naturalization procedures were transparent and decided by the team coach.
Currently, in addition to these new players, the women's team also has a number of naturalized talents who were already Indonesian citizens such as Claudia Scheunemann, Estella Loupatty and Noa Leatomu and Sydney Hopper.
In particular, Sydney Hopper once shone to help the national team defeat Cambodia with a score of 3-1 to win the 2024 AFF Women's Cup (December 2024) - the qualifying tournament for the 2025 ASEAN Women's Championship.
This is an important achievement, marking a positive change for Indonesian women's football with the naturalization program.
The 2024 AFF Women's Cup championship is not only a worthy reward for their efforts. This is an important stepping stone that the media has assessed to help Indonesian women's football reach the regional level, especially with the addition of quality mixed-race players from Europe.
The 2024 AFF Women's Cup is a playground for women's teams with low achievements in the 2022 Southeast Asian tournament. Group A includes the women's teams of Laos, Singapore and Timor Leste, while Group B has the participation of Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Indonesia has shown its superiority in the tournament. According to the format, the top three teams including Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore have won tickets to participate in the ASEAN Women's Championship this year.
Meanwhile, strong teams such as Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and Myanmar were given special privileges to enter the final round.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/tuyen-bong-da-nu-indonesia-them-nhan-to-nhap-tich-sau-thoi-gian-be-tac-196250530143213441.htm
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