Southeast Asian countries race to naturalize players

According to information from Frfuturetalents - a website specializing in searching for young Malaysian talents abroad, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is building a list of 35 players of Malaysian blood, mainly playing in Europe, to consider naturalization.

Dewsbury-Hall (right) is being considered for naturalization by FAM

In this list, perhaps the most outstanding player is Dewsbury-Hall (born in 1998). He joined the Leicester City academy at the age of 8 and has gone through a remarkable development journey. In the 2023-2024 season, this Malaysian-English player exploded with 12 goals and 14 assists, and was voted Player of the Season and included in the typical squad of the Championship (English first division). In the summer of 2024, he moved to Chelsea for a fee of 30 million pounds (about 950 billion VND). This season, Dewsbury-Hall has played 10 matches (3 in the Premier League) and scored 1 goal. Dewsbury-Hall has never played for the England team, so changing nationality to play for Malaysia is completely possible.

In addition, the above list also has many players playing in England, most of whom are very young (from 18 to 26 years old). Notable names include Marcus Tavernier (AFC Bournemouth, Premier League), Josh Brownhill and Zian Flemming (Burnley FC, English First Division), Milan van Ewijk (Coventry, English First Division)... In addition to England, FAM is also looking for Malaysian players playing in the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia, expanding the naturalization resources to increase overall strength. If the procedures are completed, the choices from this list can participate in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers with the Malaysian team.

Thailand, the team that has always been at the top of Southeast Asia in recent times, is not out of this trend. It can be seen right away in the LPBank Cup 2024 friendly tournament held in Vietnam recently, in the Thai team there are also many naturalized players such as Elias Doah, William Weidersjo, Patrik Gustavsson (all born in Sweden), Jonathan Khemdee (born in Thailand but raised in Denmark), Nicholas Mickelson (father is Norwegian, mother is Thai)... These are all very young players and have shown their potential to play football in Europe.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) homepage confirmed that two players born in 1996, Perry Tian Hee Ng (playing for Cardiff City in the English Championship) and Kyoga Nakamura (playing for BG Tampines Rovers), joined the Singapore team for training during the FIFA Days in September to get acquainted with teammates and coaching staff, ready to conquer the ASEAN Cup in December. Perry Tian Hee Ng was voted Cardiff's best player of the year in two consecutive seasons 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.

It can be seen that the Vietnamese team will have to compete fiercely with these teams in the coming time, first of all at the ASEAN Cup 2024.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-nuoc-dong-nam-a-chay-dua-nhap-tich-cau-thu-185241128215139665.htm