Brighton Defender Joel Veltman Expressed His Intention To Strengthen The Indonesian National Team

Joel Veltman (Instagram @joelveltman

JAKARTA - Joel Veltman, a defender who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion is said to want to defend the Indonesian national team. He has even found out about Indonesia through his teammates.

"I think players can change citizenship, if the player hasn't played international matches for two years (together with his national team now). I'm open to that move, I'd love to play in the Indonesian national team. I'm serious," Joe Veltman told Dutch media VoetbalPrimeur, citing ANTARA, Sunday 9 February.

In 2019 when Veltman was still in Ajax Amsterdam uniform, the club's channel revealed that the player in the center-back position had Indonesian blood from his grandmother's descent.

The video is now flooded with comments from Indonesian fans who want Veltman to find the origins and lineages of Indonesian blood.

Until now, the 33-year-old defender is still following the development of the Garuda squad to find out about the presence of Patrick Kluivert.

In addition, Veltman had asked his team-mate Total Mitoma, who is a Japanese national team player, about Indonesia's development.

Mitoma was part of the Blue Samurai team when they met Indonesia in the continuation match of the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification in the Asian zone.

"I just spoke with mitoma, who played with Japan against Indonesia in the qualifying series. He praised Indonesia," Veltman said.

"Indonesia is in my blood, it will make me proud to play for the country," added the former Ajax player.