Thailand calls on Southeast Asian football to stop taking shortcuts through naturalization

Thailand's Siam Sports newspaper recently published an in-depth analysis of the massive naturalization trend in Southeast Asian football.

Indonesia criticized by Thai media - Photo: BL

"There are no shortcuts in top-level football, it's time for Southeast Asia to learn how to develop sustainably" - Thailand's leading sports newspaper headlined.

The Siam Sports writer also specifically pointed out "Lessons from Indonesia" to comment on the naturalization trend. In the article, the Thai newspaper clearly stated that Indonesian football leaders were caught up in FIFA's allocation of 8 official World Cup tickets for Asia, leading to the ambition to take shortcuts.

According to Siam Sports , Indonesian football, like many other football teams in Southeast Asia, only looks at the immediate results and ignores the problems.

"Relying on foreign players is only a temporary painkiller, but cannot cure the disease that has devastated the structure of youth football.

The only way to develop sustainably is to seriously build the foundation from the beginning, then gradually build layer by layer with perseverance and patience," Siam Sports wrote.

In the article, Siam Sports said that current Southeast Asian football teams are facing problems right from the field management stage.

"The rough turf and uneven ball bounce make it difficult to practice precise ball touch skills.

Because they have to practice on poor quality pitches, young players are used to using incorrect ball handling methods, which deviates from the standard skills of top-level football," Siam Sports wrote.

The article also points out other issues that Southeast Asian football needs to follow the example of South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan and Jordan - 4 football nations that are developing very quickly.

Besides, the newspaper also pointed out that with the path of naturalization, Southeast Asian countries cannot surpass the richer Middle Eastern football countries.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thai-lan-keu-goi-bong-da-dong-nam-a-ngung-di-duong-tat-bang-cach-nhap-tich-20251013124242782.htm