Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – After securing the citizenship status of prospective Indonesian National Team (Timnas) goalkeeper Maarten Paes, PSSI will focus on the naturalization process for other prospective national team players, namely Calvin Verdonk and Jens Raven.
Previously, Paes had officially become an Indonesian citizen (WNI) after taking the citizen's oath in the Regional Office Hall of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights (Kanwil Kemenkumham) DKI Jakarta, last Tuesday (30/4/2024). Thus, the 25-year-old goalkeeper born in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, has the potential to join the Garuda squad for the 2026 World Cup Qualifications next June.
The general chairman of PSSI, Erick Thohir, revealed that after finishing handling Paes' citizenship status, his party would immediately complete the naturalization process for Verdonk and Raven. Both figures are players from the Netherlands.
“Maarten Paes has officially become an Indonesian citizen. Meanwhile, Calvin Verdonk, NEC Nijmegen player and Jens Raven, FC Dordrecht player, are also in the naturalization process,” said Erick in his statement, quoted from the official PSSI website.Thursday (2/5/2024).
Until now, the naturalization process that is most often heard about is Verdonk. Previously, the player from Meulaboh, Aceh, admitted that he was undergoing a naturalization process. This was conveyed in an interview on Yussa Nugraha's YouTube channel.
“If I'm honest, we are in the (naturalization) process now. So now we are waiting to see how the process goes,” said Verdonk.
“When all the processes are complete, we will see when I can play for the Indonesian national team, but we are currently working on it,” continued the NEC Nijmegen player.
Regarding Verdonk's naturalization, Shin Tae-yong said that the 27 year old player has the potential to be able to defend the Indonesian national team in about two months.
“Calvin [Verdonk] is indeed trying to be naturalized. Maybe if it's done quickly in June it will be finished. “I have also seen his performance directly and it is very good, so it really helps the Indonesian national team,” said STY, quoted from CNN Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Raven, who is still 18 years old, reportedly has Indonesian blood from his grandmother who comes from Yogyakarta. Currently, the player who was born on October 12 2005 is strengthening Dordrecht U-21 and plays as a center forward.
Meanwhile, Erick emphasized that the player naturalization process would not be carried out “blindly”.
“I haven't talked about additions yet [pemain naturalisasi dengan Shin Tae-yong] because we are still focused on today's naturalization process,” said Erick.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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