Indonesian National Team Naturalization Player, Ragnar Oratmangoen, Turns Out To Be A Convert

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team player who has just completed naturalization, Ragnar Oratmangoen, revealed himself to be a convert. Ragnar then shared a brief story behind his choice of embracing Islam.

Ragnar officially holds the status of an Indonesian citizen (WNI) after taking the oath of allegiance to the citizens of the Republic of Indonesia on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Jakarta.

Ragnar has been able to join the Garuda Squad in the training camp (TC) agenda ahead of the match against Vietnam. Seeing that the agenda of the Indonesian national team was carried out during the month of Ramadan, Ragnar was asked about his views.

It was at this moment that Ragnar confirmed that he was also fasting. However, there is a fact that it turns out that he was a convert when he was a teenager.

"I was not born a Muslim. I grew up in a Christian family," said Ragnar Oratmangoen when met at the National Team Media Day event on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in the Central Jakarta area.

"However, after I grew up, I decided to embrace Islam at the age of 15," he said.

On the same occasion, Ragnar did not hesitate to briefly reveal about his decision to embrace Islam.

The 26-year-old said he was inspired by his friends who often took him to the mosque.

"For me, what I think about is learning about God. Of course, my friend took me to the mosque several times," said the attacker.

"They made me learn more about God and religion how to help you in life and made me decide to become a Muslim," he said.

Ragnar Oratmangoen is on the list of 26 players from the Indonesian national team against Vietnam in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in the Asian Zone.

However, he may not be able to defend the Garuda Squad when he met The Golden Star at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium on March 21, 2024.

The problem is, he still has to complete the transfer of the federation from KNVB (Netherlands) to PSSI (Indonesia).

He had a debut chance when the Indonesian national team visited Vietnam, My Dihn Stadium, on March 26, 2024.