Indonesia calls 9 naturalized players to prepare for U17 World Cup 2025

(NLDO) - Looking forward to the 2025 U17 World Cup, Indonesia has gathered and called up 34 players, including 9 naturalized players.

According to the list of 34 players called up by the U17 Indonesia for the training camp in Bali (from July 7 to August 10), there are 9 notable faces who are players of Indonesian origin playing abroad, mainly in Europe. This is an important preparation step towards the 2025 U17 World Cup.

Those naturalized faces are Feike Muller, Floris de Pagter-van Bronckhorst, Eizar Jacob Tanjung, Lionel De Troy, Jona Giesselink, Azadin Ayoub Hamane, Deston Hoop (2008), Nicholas Indra Mjosund and Noha Pohan Simangunsong (2010). Among them, Muller, Hoop, Giesselink and Bronckhorst were born in the Netherlands.

Some of these faces have both Indonesian parents but were born abroad, the rest are half-Indonesian.

The most notable on this list, Floris de Pagter-van Bronckhorst plays as an attacking midfielder for SC Telstar U17 (Netherlands), scoring 15 goals and 15 assists in 40 games, and was quickly promoted to the U21 team last season.

Indonesia U17 team reached the quarter-finals of the 2025 AFC U17 Championship and lost to North Korea

The remaining names are Muller, who plays as a central defender for Willem II Tilburg U17 (Netherlands), 1m80 tall, left-footed; Tanjung, who plays as a defensive midfielder, central defender or full-back for the youth team in Sydney (Australia), 1m74 tall; De Troy, who plays for Palermo Club (Italy), trained at the Australian Football Academy and Prima Soccer School, 1m80 tall, plays as an attacking midfielder; Simangunsong, a midfielder for NAC Breda (Netherlands), was called up to the U15 Finland team but chose to play for Indonesia.

Giesselink, midfielder for FC Emmen U16 (Netherlands); Hamane plays as a winger for Elverum Fotball (Norway); Deston Hoop plays as a right winger for SC Telstar U17 (Netherlands); Mjosund plays as a striker for Rosenborg BK, and plays well on both wings. This striker is only 15 years old but is 1m85 tall.

In addition, U17 Indonesia is also benefiting greatly from a change by AFC. In a recent announcement, AFC made a surprising decision when the 2026 AFC U17 qualifying format has up to 9 teams awarded direct entry including Qatar (host of U17 World Cup) and 8 teams that reached the quarter-finals of the 2025 tournament: Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, DPRK, Tajikistan, Japan, UAE and Indonesia.

This helps U17 Indonesia focus on preparing for the U17 World Cup 2025 (November 3-26, Qatar). The young team from the archipelago country is in group H with Brazil, Zambia and Honduras.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/indonesia-goi-9-cau-nhap-tich-chuan-bi-u17-world-cup-2025-196250702123617508.htm