The Indonesian national team, led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, has a new year.

Kevin Diggs, the main defender of Denmark's strong FC Copenhagen, famous for his "single goal guest" in the UEFA Champions League, was naturalized to play for Indonesia's national team.

Eric Tohir, chairman of the Indonesian Football Association, celebrated Dix's naturalization in Indonesia by posting a picture of him shaking hands after lunch with Dix on his social network service (SNS) Instagram on the 13th. 먹튀검증

"I had lunch with an Indonesian defender of FC Copenhagen, and I also remember to shake his hand. Welcome to the Indonesian national team," Tohir welcomed Diggs.

Dix, an Indonesian-Dutch, is a former SBV Pietesser (Vitesse Arnhem) famous for his partnership with Chelsea, and moved to Italy's Serie A prestigious Fiorentina in 2016, but he failed to secure the main position and moved on on loan before jumping to become the team's main defender after wearing a Copenhagen uniform in 2021.

Diggs is famous as a defender who can play both full-back and center-back positions, and immediately after moving to Copenhagen, he contributed to the team's victory by playing right-back, but this season, there are more games in which he plays as a center-back with a back three. This shows that Diggs is a reliable player who shows stability in defense.

Diggs, who played for the Dutch national team by age, but knew that he was unlikely to be selected for the A national team, which is full of world-class players, is said to have pursued joining the Indonesian national team since 2020. At the time, however, Diggs failed to naturalize because he did not meet FIFA's conditions for changing the national team.

Diggs has steadily built up his career since moving to Copenhagen and has also met the requirements to change his nationality, which will enable him to play for the Indonesian national team. Diggs' joining of the team also gave a boost to Shin Tae-yong's Indonesian team.

At the center of Indonesia's recent power, which has grown rapidly into a dark horse in Asia beyond Southeast Asia, are naturalized players from the Netherlands. Among the players currently playing as the main players for the Indonesian national team, Jordi Amat, Natan Chuaon, Tom Haye, Witan Sulaman, and Ivar Jenner are all naturalized players. 

The goalkeeper position, which had been a concern, was also relieved by the addition of Marten Paes, and last month, Indonesia became stronger as it succeeded in naturalizing Mace Hillhurs and Eliano Rinders.

Indonesia, which succeeded in advancing to the third qualifying round of the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup under coach Shin Tae-yong, was in the same group as strong teams such as Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, but has continued its impressive trend by drawing with Saudi Arabia and Australia.

However, in the third group qualifying match against Bahrain, which was the previous match, he led 2-1 and lost an equalizer at the end of too much extra time, but coach Shin Tae-yong did not hide his anger as he publicly shot the referee. 

Indonesia has high expectations for its first win in the third qualifying round against China on Saturday. Since the start of the third qualifying round, China has been defeated by Japan (0-7), Saudi Arabia (1-2), and Australia (1-3) in succession. While Diggs will not be able to play for the Indonesian national team until the A-match period in November, coach Shin Tae-yong will aim to win the match against China, focusing on other naturalized players.