PSSI Responds to Passport Gate for Indonesian National Team Players in the Netherlands
PSSI through the Chairman of the National Team Body (BTN) Sumardji responded to the case of the passport of Indonesian national team players who have careers in the Dutch League competition.
When contacted by Antara in Jakarta, Friday, Sumardji only answered, "Yes, I will release it (PSSI's official statement on this)".
It is known that currently four Indonesian national team players are affected by the passport gate problem. Starting from the case of Dean James who defended Go Ahead Eagles, three other Garuda players were dragged, namely Justin Hubner (Fortuna Sittard), Nathan Tjoe-A-On (Willem II), and Tim Geypens (FC Emmen).
James, Justin, Nathan, and Geypens are on the list of 25 players released by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service last Wednesday as players who have problems with work permits. The four players are temporarily unable to defend their respective clubs, including not being allowed to attend training sessions with the club.
Chairman of the National Team Agency (BTN) Sumardji when meeting with media at the Indonesian national team training session at the Madya Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Sunday, March 29. (ANTARA - Zaro Ezza Syachniar)
Three other Garuda team players who also play in the Netherlands, Maarten Paes (Ajax Amsterdam), Miliano Jonathans (Excelsior), and Mees Hilgers (FC Twente) are not included in the list. For Maarten, who was just brought in by Ajax in the second round, it is rumored that his name was not dragged into the passport problem because of the shrewdness of his club's administration.
The problem started with a podcast from de Derde Helft saying that James violated the work permit rules in the Dutch League because he was suspected of still using the status of a Dutch player in his contract this season.
This then reached the management of NAC Breda, who then reported this to the operator of the Eredivisie competition this season.
In his letter, Breda questioned James' status, when Breda suffered a crushing 0-6 defeat from Go Ahead Eagles on March 15. In that match, James played as a starter at left back for 75 minutes, before he was replaced by Eus Waayers.
If James' status is not valid, they want the match to be repeated. This attitude of Breda triggered an action from another club, namely the second division club TOP Oss who were defeated by Willem II, the club defended by Nathan, with a score of 1-3 on March 14. Like Breda, if the status of the player in question is not valid, they want the match to be repeated.
Meanwhile, two days before the four Indonesian players' names were released by the Dutch Naturalization Immigration Service, one of the players, Justin, did not know much about the case.
This was said by Justin after he defended the Indonesian national team in the 0-1 defeat against Bulgaria in the second match of the 2026 FIFA Series at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Monday. At that time, Justin was a starter.
"I don't know what happened (about this case)," Justin said.
When asked if he could play with Fortuna this weekend, when away to AZ Alkmaar on Saturday (4/4) at 23.45 WIB, he also answered, "I don't know (whether I can play)".