After losing 0-7 to China, Indonesia considers adding naturalized players

The U17 Indonesia squad might include additional players with foreign roots to enhance their power.

Nova Arianto is only the interim coach of U17 Indonesia. He was appointed by the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) to lead the team, nicknamed the "Young Eagles," for two international friendly matches.

Nova coached the U17 Indonesian team during their heavy 7-0 defeat against the U17 China team at Indomilk Arena, Tangerang, on the evening of Sunday (02/08/2026) WIB time.

Among the 28 U17 Indonesia players called up by Coach Nova Arianto to face U17 China, only one player comes from the overseas Indonesian community. That is Nicholas Indra Mjosun, a 16-year-old striker born in Norway, originally from Solo, Central Java, Indonesia.

"The new coach will definitely make the decision. We will consider whether to add new players, seek more players from the Indonesian overseas community, or arrange additional international trials. That is what we will try to evaluate."

"Thanks to that, Indonesia’s tradition of participating in the U17 World Championship can continue, and hopefully, the players can achieve good results at the U17 Asian Championship and then the World Championship."

Coach Nova will continue training the U17 Indonesia team in the second friendly match against U17 China. Afterwards, the national U17 team will be led by coach Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, who is currently awaiting an official announcement from the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI).

Coach Kurniawan will lead the Indonesian U17 national team at the 2026 AFF U16 Cup in March and the 2026 U17 Asian Cup in May this year. Coach Nova will hand over all preparations for the two tournaments to the new coach of the Indonesian U17 national team, including the possibility of scouting players living abroad.

"That is probably the plan of the new coach, who has a specific roadmap, so I will leave that to the Indonesian U17 national team coach because that plan certainly differs from what I have prepared," said Coach Nova.