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Will Indonesia be surprise qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
euronews (in English)
Follow
07/11/2024
Indonesia is looking to become the lowest-ranked nation to ever qualify for a FIFA World Cup.
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00:00
with the world's fourth largest population, a passionate football fan base and a talented
00:05
pool of players able to be selected through Ancestry, could Indonesia be the surprise
00:09
qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
00:17
Hello and welcome to Football Now. The best of Asian football was on display here in Qatar
00:23
earlier this year at the AFC Asian Cup. One team who caught the eye were Indonesia.
00:28
Despite currently being sat 129th in FIFA's world rankings and since then they've had an
00:34
impressive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, including a draw away in Saudi Arabia
00:39
and at home to Australia in front of thousands of passionate fans in Jakarta. So can Indonesia
00:45
continue to defy the odds and become the lowest ranked team ever to qualify for a FIFA World Cup?
00:51
I think they can. I mean we've seen from them already that ability to hang on and hold on
00:56
against some of the bigger sides and get results. I think they're finally strong enough in terms of
01:00
realizing what they actually want to do and what they can achieve if they get a bit of quality on
01:05
board. Shin Tae-yong coming in was huge. I think he adds a lot of experience. We know about his
01:10
time with the South Korean national team and what he was able to do there. And when he first came in
01:14
with the Indonesian national team, he was very good at actually bringing through a lot of the
01:19
younger players like Sawittan Sulaiman, Marcelino Ferdinand. We're all given opportunities on the
01:23
senior international stage to actually grow and develop. So he wasn't afraid of taking out some of
01:28
the older players who had been there and refreshing the sport and giving them that confidence to grow
01:33
and develop. When you actually look at the group, when you look at the quality that Indonesia have,
01:37
they're well capable of sneaking into that fourth spot. It's really a battle between Bahrain,
01:42
Indonesia and China. I think Indonesia at the moment are better than what China can provide.
01:46
Third or fourth, probably fourth could be something that they'll be looking to try and fight for.
01:50
Back in 1938 and known as the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia were the first ever Asian team to
01:56
qualify for the FIFA World Cup. It's been many years since the country gained independence,
02:01
but they've been unable to keep that momentum. In 2016, Indonesia's world ranking plummeted
02:07
to a lowly 191. However, in recent years, their fate has slowly turned after qualifying for the
02:13
2023 Asian Cup. They have seen a steady rise from 175th in 2017 to their current position of 129.
02:23
So what's behind this resurgence in Indonesian football and how sustainable is it in the long
02:28
term? It's always going to be a challenge when you're dealing with one of the most populous
02:32
countries in the world and also people are spread out over various different islands and various
02:37
different geographies. So trying to get all of them to sort of come together is also always going
02:41
to be a bit of a challenge in that sense. But I think it has the potential to be sustainable
02:45
because when you look at the age profile of the players that they're actually giving citizenship
02:49
to, these are all younger players, you know, likes of Troy J. Noah, the central defender,
02:54
Martin Paes, the goalkeeper is 26. So, you know, he's going to have some time at the side as well.
02:58
So it's a younger generation of player coming through from Europe to help contribute,
03:02
help out Indonesia on the senior international stage. But at the same time, they can't forget
03:08
that they need to develop their own core talent of players and they need to be given opportunities.
03:12
These young players who are developed by the Indonesian system to eventually go on and play
03:16
for the national team, because I think that gives supporters and fans a little bit more of an
03:21
element of pride. You know, these kids, you know, these guys have gone through the ranks, you know,
03:26
the difficulties that they've gone through to get to that stage. And I think that makes their
03:30
success on the international stage a lot better. The effects of their passionate fan base are not
03:35
just being felt in Indonesia. The recent signing of Raphael Stroik by Australian club Brisbane Raw
03:41
has seen their social media presence skyrocket. On September 16th, they had 69,000 accounts
03:47
following them on Instagram. Two days after the arrival of Stroik, that figure was 89,000
03:53
and has since reached 114,000 in under three weeks. So what is it about Indonesian fans that
04:00
make them so passionate about their players? We love having Rapha. It's been amazing so far,
04:05
and it's just, you know, great to have him. Was it a surprise from a brand perspective? No,
04:10
like I could see what was going to come. It's, you know, the first thing when he signed and I
04:14
saw those numbers, I'm like, okay, we should be doing a Rapha jersey with his name and number
04:18
on that you can buy straight away. So we service their market as well and give back to the fans
04:23
that are now supporting us through Rapha. So, you know, football is changing and the region is
04:27
changing. And I think the eyeballs and the kind of coverage that Rapha's brought on us is something
04:32
that we're really, really thankful for. And it's been great to have him on board and I'm excited
04:36
to see what comes of it. For a player to be selected for international duty, they must
04:41
qualify by their nationality, not where they were born. Stroik is one of many players selected for
04:47
FIFA World Cup qualifying matches who was actually born outside of Indonesia. In fact,
04:52
nine of the 11 players who started the match versus Australia were born in either Belgium
04:57
or the Netherlands. So will we see other countries with large diasporas also adopt this same method?
05:03
We live in such a multicultural society today. Young people are going to have parents,
05:08
grandparents from a range of different cultures and backgrounds. So I think this is going to be
05:13
a big change in international football. And I wouldn't be surprised if countries start to have
05:17
recruitment staff the same way that clubs have them, because they'll be looking at players who
05:21
could represent the country and then looking to convince them why they should play. And the World
05:26
Cup's the biggest thing in football. Everyone wants to play in a World Cup. So that's the biggest
05:30
thing you can offer. And I think with the expanded World Cup, you're now going to see more and more
05:34
players make themselves available to play for different countries in Asia. Indonesia's rise
05:40
up the ranks continues to delight their millions of avid supporters. Let us know if you think the
05:45
Garuda Warriors can qualify for the next World Cup using the hashtag football now Indonesia 2026.
05:52
That's all we've got time for here from the Albeit Stadium here in Qatar.
05:55
We'll see you next time. Bye for now.
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