Calvin Verdonk And Jens Raven Arrive In Indonesia, Ready For Naturalization

Jens Raven, Calvin Verdok, and Maarten Paes with PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir (Instagram/@jensraven9).

JAKARTA - Two naturalized candidates, Calvin Verdonk and Jens Raven, arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, WIB night.

The arrival of the two was immortalized on the Instagram account of the General Chairperson of PSSI, Erick Thohir.

"After arriving in Jakarta from Doha, I returned to focus on strengthening the national team."

"Today @maartenpaes (Maarten Paes) has officially become an Indonesian citizen. Meanwhile @c.verdonk (Calvin Verdonk) NEC player Nijmegen and @jensraven9 (Jens Raven) FC Dordrecht players are also in the naturalization process," wrote the PSSI chairman.

Verdonk and Raven are ready to be naturalized so they can debut with the Indonesian national team as soon as possible.

Calvin Verdok is a 27-year-old Dutch-Indonesian blood player. Currently, he is the middle of NEC Nijmegen who plays at Eredivisie.

The left-back had defended the Dutch national team in the age group, such as the U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20, and U-21.

Shifting to Jens Raven, the attacker also has Dutch-Indonesian blood. He is still young, which is 18 years old. Currently, he is defending FC Dordrecht U-21.

Naturalization of the two clearly adds ammunition to the Indonesian national team, which still has the closest agenda, namely the second round of the 2026 Asian Zone World Cup Qualification.

The Garuda squad still has two remaining matches against Iraq (June 6, 2024) and the Philippines (June 11, 2024).

The Red-White team clearly needed additional strength to win in the two matches. Victory will lead the Indonesian national team to enter the following round, the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification.

So far, the Indonesian national team is in second place in Group F standings in the second round of qualifiers with a collection of seven points from four matches.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Indonesian national team was confirmed to have additional strength under the crossbar.

Maarten Paes officially became an Indonesian citizen after taking the oath of allegiance to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia at the DKI Jakarta Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.

Maarten Paes also has Dutch-Indonesian blood. Currently he is the goalkeeper of FC Dallas's first team in the United States Major League Soccer (MLS).

The 25-year-old goalkeeper has defended NEC Nijmegen and Utrecht. At the level of the age group national team, he has played for the Netherlands U-19, U-20, and U-21.