Macarthur FC winger Luke Vickery is in the process of becoming naturalised so he can play for the Indonesian national team.
Born in Hawaii, the forward is eligible to play for Indonesia through his grandmother, who was born in Sumatra.
“(The process is) going well at the moment,” Vickery told Kumparan Sports.
“I’m just talking with a lot of people, a lot of legal advice, just to understand the process and how it would all work and how the transition would work of me potentially representing Indonesia.”
He added: “I think (the federation) has processed it all so far at the moment.”
“It is definitely a big decision. A lot of thinking behind it. Talking to a lot of people behind it, obviously my grandma was born in Sumatra, in Indonesia.
“I’ve been there once, I’ve played for Australia in the under-20s a few years ago and it would just be a full circle moment to go back to the country my grandma was born in would be pretty special.”
Vickery revealed he has been in contact with head coach Herdman, who coached Canada at the 2022 World Cup, about how he could slot into Indonesia’s plans.
“I’ve been in contact with John himself and speaking with him,” he said.
“If everything happens and I was able to join the team, he would want me to express myself and play the way I’ve been playing, be attacking, get a lot of crosses in, be dynamic and try to score as many goals as possible and assist as much as I can to help the team.”
Indonesia currently has several diaspora players in their national team as part of a broader naturalisation push in recent years.
There is a large Dutch influence through the side, headlined by players like goalkeeper Maarten Paes, captain Jay Idzes, star forward Ole Romeny and midfielder Eliano Reijnders, who is the brother of Manchester City’s Tijjani Reijnders.
Meanwhile, former Premier League and LaLiga defender Jordi Amat has represented the nation 23 times, having changed his allegiance from Spain.
With so many new faces recruited, Indonesia are eyeing their first ever World Cup qualification – and Vickery believes there is ‘no reason’ why they can’t do so for the 2030 tournament under Herdman’s leadership.
“With John’s vision that he has and his goal, obviously the support behind Indonesia, a population of 280 million support the football, they love it, they’re fanatics,” he said.
“The support behind the Indonesian national team would help so much and with recruiting new players and strengthening the team, there is definitely no reason why Indonesia can’t make the next World Cup for the first time ever.
“It would be very special for the fans.”
While no one in Vickery’s family currently lives in Indonesia, the 20-year-old has previously been to the country he could represent at international level.
In 2024, he represented Australia in the AFF U19 Youth Championship in the country of his grandmother’s birth and was blown away by the way Indonesian fans support their national team, even at youth level.
“In the tournament I played in, it was in Surabaya… and we were in the semi-finals, unfortunately we lost and we got to go watch the grand final and it was Indonesia v Thailand,” he said.
“It was for the under-20s, not even the men’s national team and the stadium was packed.
“I think there were 30,000 people watching the under-20 finals, so imagine how many people would go watch the men’s national team, it is pretty crazy to think 30, 40, 50,000 people go and watch the youth teams.
“The supporters, I’ve never seen anything like it before, it’s very special.”
Vickery has scored seven goals and provided three assists for Macarthur across all competitions this season.