Youth and Sports Minister Erick Thohir said his ministry is open to naturalizing athletes in all sports to improve Indonesia's achievements on the international stage.
"As long as the diaspora members truly have the Red and White spirit, whether in football, swimming, or other sports, we are open to them," said Erick Thohir in a working meeting with the Minister of Law and Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives regarding the application to grant Indonesian citizenship to two football athletes, Luke Anthony Vickery and Mitchell Lee Baker.
The Minister of Youth and Sports stated that the current phenomenon of sports globalization is unavoidable, so naturalization is a strategic effort to improve national sports achievements.
He gave the example of the Japanese national team goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, who is currently representing Japan in the 2026 World Cup. Zion is a player of mixed Japanese and Ghanaian blood.
Not only in football, naturalization in Japan is also carried out on potential athletes in other sports, such as the Japanese-Beninese basketball player, Rui Hachimura, who now competes in the NBA, and tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is of mixed Japanese and Haitian blood.
China also naturalized Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu, who had performed for China at the Winter Olympics.
