"China → Indonesia naturalized one after another" Korea's Jang Ki-jeon and Hong Myung-bo, director, said, "Preparation for long-term aspects...I don't want the team to go the other way."

"China → Indonesia naturalized one after another" Korea's Jang Ki-jeon and Hong Myung-bo, director, said, "Preparation for long-term aspects...I don't want the team to go the other way."

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"I don't want the team direction to go the other way. I'm looking at it from a long-term perspective and preparing for it."

Hong Myung-bo, head coach of the South Korean national football team, expressed his thoughts on the issue of naturalized players.

Countries are taking out "naturalized player" cards ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North China and the U.S. China is a case in point. China has invested generously in soccer. However, the team has not produced as many results as expected. Eventually, the team accepted Brazilian striker Fei Nandu and others as naturalized players. It is known that the team is not only doing that but is also recruiting additional naturalized players.

Indonesia has been embracing naturalized players from the Netherlands, including Kevin Diggs, Ivar Jenner and Rafael Strawiecki. This is not the end. Ahead of the upcoming A-match in March, the Indonesian team announced the naturalization of Celaine Emil Audero, Joey Pelupesh and Dean James. "We can improve the quality of the Indonesian team," said Erik Tohir, president of the Indonesian Football Association. The United Arab Emirates, led by Paulo Bento, also recruited a large number of naturalized Brazilian players ahead of the A-match in March. Qatar and other countries have been accepting naturalized players early on to play. Countries are strengthening their squads by accepting players with good technology and physical skills.

In Korea, there are quite a few naturalized players. In winter and summer sports events including table tennis and Jeon Ji-hee, naturalized players are participating under the national flag. In fact, at the Harbin Winter Asian Games, Russian naturalized player Yekaterina Evakumova won Korea's first Asian Winter Games gold medal ever for biathlon. However, she was considered somewhat sensitive in soccer.

Things have changed. Recently, soccer players are talking about naturalized players. The starting point is Jens Kastrov (FC Nuremberg). Born to a Korean mother and a German father, Kastrov is a German midfielder. Last year, the German version of Sky Sports said, "The Korean Football Association wants to persuade Kastrov. Nuremberg is also aware of this. Jürgen Klinsmann, the fired coach, tried to pick Kastrov. Andreas Köfke, who once played for Nuremberg, got in touch," sparking a fire.

Born in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2003, Kastrov was invited to join the German national team for ages from 16 to 20. However, he has never debuted as an adult representative, so he is said to have no major obstacles in choosing Korea. According to past interviews with Sky Sports at the time, Kastrov said, "I am from Germany, but we have a long relationship since my mother is from Korea. I have visited Korea several times. Korea is a beautiful country. The people and culture are wonderful. I have the Korean flag as well as the German one."

Hong reportedly checked Castro's performance during his recent trip to Europe. However, he did not comment on naturalization. At an official press conference ahead of the seventh to eighth rounds of the third Asian qualifying round for the North China-U.S. World Cup against Oman on May 20 and Jordan on May 25, he gave his honest thoughts. "I watched the game when I was going to Europe regarding the naturalized player. I didn't do it myself, but the coaching staff briefly talked to the player's mother. However, there are too many complicated issues (related to joining) to consider a competition aspect. We have to train for two to three days and play in the game. We don't want our team to go in the other direction. We are preparing based on the long-term aspect. I don't want to move on him right now," Hong said. He has emphasized "one team" so far. The same applies to areas related to naturalized players. 스포츠토토

Meanwhile, Hong announced 28 Taegeuk Warriors players who will play in the March A-match. Training begins from March 17. Korea is ranking first in the group with four wins and two draws (14 points). Depending on the results of the two matches played at home, Korea can decide whether to go to North Korea, China and the U.S. early on. In this case, Korea will play in the World Cup finals for the 11th consecutive time, and the 12th time in history.