September 8 – Thailand has ruled out following some of its Southeast Asian rivals down the naturalization route, with Football Association of Thailand vice-president Charnwit Polcheewin saying players without Thai heritage are unlikely to be considered for the national team.
Speaking ahead of this month’s Asian Games, Polcheewin said the current policy stands with players of Thai descent and argued the legal and political barriers to changing that position would be significant.
The former Thailand head coach, who led the national team between 2005 and 2008, said any wider move towards naturalization of foreign players would become a national issue and was unlikely to receive much fanfare.
Thailand requires foreign nationals applying for citizenship to have lived in the country continuously for five years, as is generally the FIFA residency requirement for players who are not classified by birth or descent.
Polcheewin’s comments come as the use of naturalized players becomes an increasingly visible issue in Southeast Asian football.
Vietnam fielded three Brazilian-born players during the 2026 ASEAN Cup, while Malaysia has also been at the center of debate over the eligibility and recruitment of foreign-born players.
Polcheewin was particularly critical of the Vietnam approach.
“This is not a normal Vietnam selection, but Vietnam plus Brazil,” he told Thairath, while adding that Thailand had no intention of interfering with another association’s selection policy.
Vietnam’s use of naturalized players has already yielded results. Nguyen Xuan Son became the first naturalized player to represent the country in an official tournament during the 2024 ASEAN Cup and finished as the top scorer and player of the tournament.
The issue will quickly return when Thailand and Vietnam meet again at the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup in Indonesia later this month.
The pair have been drawn in Group B alongside Pakistan and the Philippines, with the tournament falling within FIFA’s international window.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)
