Menpora Ready To Help Accelerate Naturalization Process Sandy Walsh And Jordi Amat

JAKARTA — Minister of Youth and Sports, Zainudin Amali, is ready to help speed up the naturalization process of Sandy Walsh and Jordi Amat. The two players are desperately needed by the coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong.

Both Sandy and Jordi have confirmed their willingness to join the Indonesian national team. In addition, they have also sent the required documents to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

"The government will assist with the administrative process, but it is the federation that prepares the administration. Finding out whether they are Indonesian blooded is the task of the federation", said the Minister of Youth and Sports at a press conference.

As a step to speed up the naturalization process, the national soccer parent PSSI and the Menpora held a coordination meeting. The meeting took place on Thursday, February 10.

The naturalization of these two players was Shin Tae-yong's request. The South Korean coach wants the two of them to soon be in uniform with the Indonesian national team so that they can appear in the AFF 2022 event at the end of this year.

"We express our gratitude to the Minister of Youth and Sports, chairing today's meeting in response to the proposal from coach Shin Tae-yong through us", said PSSI General Chair, Mochamad Iriawan.

Actually, PSSI (Indonesian Football Association) tried to naturalize as many as four players according to Shin Tae-yong's request. Apart from Jordi Amat and Sandy Walsh, two other names that were included in the naturalization plan were Mess Hilgers and Kevin Diks.

However, the last two names have not been willing to join the Garuda squad for several reasons. To that end, Shin also focused on accelerating Sandy and Jordi's naturalization.

Sandy Walsh is currently 26 years old and playing for Belgian League club KV Mechelen. He plays as a right-back and is a Dutch citizen.

Meanwhile, Jordi Amat on the nearest March 21 will turn 30 years old. He currently holds a Spanish passport and is a central defender at Belgian League side KAS Eupen.

Sandy and Jordi will most likely join the Indonesian national team. However, to obtain status as Indonesian citizens they must obtain approval from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to the President of the Republic of Indonesia.