Southeast Asia Indonesia

Indonesian FA wants to naturalise Ajax and Juventus youth prospects

Indonesian national football team will likely feature more naturalised players in the near future as the federation plan to continue its project.

Naturalisation of players who have Indonesian heritage has once again become a hot topic after the naturalised Dutch-born midfielder Stefano Lilipaly shone in the AFF Suzuki Cup last year.

Several foreign-born names have already don the Merah Putih jersey in the recent years such as Raphael Maitimo, Sergio van Dijk and Kim Kurniawan.

Two of the top prospects are two youth players who play in Europe, Ezra Walian of Ajax Amsterdam and Juventus goalkeeper Emil Audero Mulyadi.

“They are all under our radar. We also scout two another two players in Netherlands and one in Belgium ” Ade Wellington, the secretary general of PSSI told reporters.

The naturalisation project are prepared by PSSI to build a strong national team for the next 2017 SEA Games and 2018 Asian Games.