Philippe Troussier On Naturalization Of The Indonesian National Team: Difficult To Answer, But Interesting

Vietnam coach, Philipp Troussier (Instagram/1troussier).

JAKARTA - Vietnam's national team coach, Philippe Troussier, expressed his views on the hot topic of naturalization of Indonesian national team players. The coach called this an interesting discussion, but difficult.

Vietnam will face the Indonesian national team in the second round of the 2026 Asian Zone World Cup Qualification. In the match on March 21, 2024 at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Shin Tae-yong included 26 names.

Interestingly, of all the players chosen by Shin Tae-yong, nine of them are naturalized players. This situation even became the subject of the scorn of Vietnamese players who likened them to the Indonesian national team like the Dutch national team.

Troussier then answered about the hectic naturalization in the Indonesian national team. He also explained the lack of process of transfer of citizens in the Vietnamese camp. It is recorded that they only have Filip Nguyen as a descendant.

"I think this is about how to develop a football system. It is difficult for me to answer this interesting question accurately," said the coach during a press conference at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

"However, based on my experience, there are several ways to develop a football system by importing foreign players," said Troussier.

"First, we can encourage the development of football from domestic resources. Not only Vietnam, Indonesia is also doing the same thing."

"Platform sepak bola semakin didukung FIFA dan memberikan perhatian lebih untuk mengembangkan sepak bola lokal, mulai dari peningkatan kualitas pemain sampai stadion juga wasit," ucapnya.

Troussier also assessed that Indonesia and Vietnam could continue to encourage players abroad. However, athletes who play in foreign leagues have difficulty appearing regularly.

"Next, we need to find a way for players to play abroad. Vietnam has (Doan) Van Hau, (Nguyen) Quang Hai, and (Nguyen) Van Toan who goes abroad. However, they don't leave much impression and rarely appear on the pitch," he explained.

"Just look at Japan and South Korea. The background of football with many players abroad. In Japan, Urawa Red Diamonds can win the Asian Champions League, but there is no contribution to the national team. You see, the best Japanese players have gone abroad," said Troussier. take an example.