Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on

Sep 21, 2025

Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on
출처=시시아골



Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on
Source=Ligang Official SNS
Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on
출처=릴OSC SNS
Indonesian national fullback Calvin Verdonk (28, Lil OSC) has written a new history of Southeast Asian soccer.

Verdonk took the ground as a substitute in the first half in the fifth round of the French Ligue 1 in the 2025-2026 season against RC Lance at Stade Bollard Delleis in Langs, France on the 21st (Korea time).

The French daily `L'Equipe' highlighted that Verdonk, who moved to Lille from Neymehen (the Netherlands) in late August, became the first Indonesian player in Ligue 1 history.




Southeast Asian soccer media 'Syagol' gave the meaning that Verdonk made his debut on the Ligue 1 stage for the first time in Indonesia and the first time from Southeast Asia.

Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on
출처=릴OSC SNS
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Verdonk served as a representative of various age groups in the Netherlands, but naturalized to his father's native Indonesia in 2024 and has played 11 A matches so far. He made his national team debut when Shin Tae-yong, the current coach of Ulsan, was led.

A native of Feyenoord youth, he played on loan for zboler, neimehern and tvente from 2015 to 2020 for Feyenoord. After playing for Portugal's Pamalacan from 2020 to 2022, he transferred to Neymehen completely in 2022. On September 1, the closing date of the summer transfer market, he signed a three-year contract with Ligue 1 club Lille as the first Indonesian player.




Verdonk, who was included in the replacement list for the first time in the match against Toulouse (2-1 win) on the 14th but failed to make his debut, replaced Romant Ferroud in the 18th minute of the first half and played on the ground for about 72 minutes.

However, Verdonk suffered a bitter defeat in his debut. Lille suffered a 0-3 defeat in the 28th minute by Wesley Syed, Florian Tuvang in the 43rd minute and Rayan Fofana in the 7th minute of the second half. It was Lille's first loss of the season, which had won three consecutive games.

Attention is focused on France's leading newspaper, and the first celebration from Southeast Asia to make a surprise debut in Ligue 1...Inni, fullback Lee Kangin, come on
출처=릴OSC SNS
Meanwhile, according to 'L'Equipe', 294 foreigners, or about 60% of the total, are playing in Ligue 1 this season. Indonesia, the Czech Republic, Togo, Turkiye, Montenegro, Greece, Paraguay, Saudi Arabia, and Tanzania have entered Ligue 1 in total. Ligue 1 is the leading bridgehead of the four major European leagues (England, Spain, Germany and Italy).




By continent, there are 141 in Africa, 110 in Europe, 28 in South America, 7 in Central and North America, and 8 in Asia. There were seven Japanese players last season, but five of them left and only Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco) and Ayumu Seko (Le Havre) remained in Ligue 1. There are three Korean players, Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Kwon Hyuk-kyu and Hong Hyun-seok (Nantes). Verdonk will face Paris Saint-Germain on October 6 and Nantes, where Kwon Hyuk-kyu and Hong Hyun-seok play on October 20. In particular, the Indonesian soccer community is bound to be interested in the face-off with Lee Kang-in.

Indonesia is naturalizing players mainly from the Netherlands one after another based on the active naturalization policy at the level of the Korea Football Association. Among the players currently playing for the national team, goalkeeper Emil Audero (Cremonese), defender Kevin Diggs (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Jay Egis (Sasiolo) are playing in the European big leagues.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.