Before the Great War, China and Indonesia argued fiercely over the issue of naturalization.

TPO - On June 5, China and Indonesia will face each other in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. And as the match gets closer, the two sides are putting more pressure on each other with strong statements.

Before the crucial match, Indonesia received a lot of criticism from the Chinese media. Newspapers all said that Indonesia's use of a team with mostly naturalized players could give them an advantage on the field, but on the contrary, this approach could destroy the motivation of domestic players, especially when using players from Europe who do not have any national identity or colors.

The criticism was so great that the president of the Indonesian Football Federation, Erick Thohir, had to speak up. He alluded to the fact that the Chinese national team also uses many naturalized players, not just Indonesia. Even players like Elkeson, Serginho, Fernandinho... that the Chinese Football Federation has called up do not have the same bloodline as domestic players.

Mr. Thohir said that this is different because Indonesia only naturalizes players with Indonesian blood, inherited from their grandparents and parents. "Many other teams always want to lower the reputation of the Indonesian team. They also naturalize, but their players do not even have Indonesian blood," he said.

Indonesian naturalized players playing in Europe

"As for us, it is clear that we only naturalize players who have our blood. That is something we should be proud of. If other teams talk about Indonesia, let them talk. They should be the ones to be ashamed. Why? They naturalize players who do not have their blood," Erick Thohir emphasized.

Not only Chinese media, Bahrain also criticized the naturalization plan of the Indonesian team. Bahrain coach Talajic once said: "Indonesia has a population of more than 300 million people but uses a team of all Dutch players."

In total, 23 players have been naturalized in Indonesia in the past four years. The scheme started with Jordi Amat, Sandy Walsh and Shaye Pattynama and the latest case is Ole Romeny in early 2025.

Not only the men's team, the Indonesian Football Federation has also actively started naturalizing female players. Most recently, PSSI has proposed to the government to allow 4 players of Dutch origin to become naturalized to participate in the Southeast Asian Women's Championship this summer.

Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/truoc-dai-chien-trung-quoc-va-indonesia-tranh-cai-gay-gat-ve-van-de-nhap-tich-post1747236.tpo