Two naturalized Malaysian players immediately join Johor Darul Ta’zim

The Football Association of Malaysia faces an interesting situation — two of its newly naturalized players have chosen to join local club Johor Darul Ta’zim.

Hector Hevel and Jon Irazabal — who just received their first international caps with the Malaysian national team — immediately decided to pursue their careers in the domestic league.

FAM’s naturalization program, following PSSI’s footsteps, has brought several European-descent players, including:

• Facundo Garces
• Rodrigo Holgado
• Imanol Machuca
• Joao Figueiredo

The team under Peter Cklamovski has already shown positive results with a convincing 4-0 victory over Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers Group F — positioning Malaysia as a strong candidate to reach the finals.