Will Indonesia be surprise qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

euronews (in English)

Indonesia is looking to become the lowest-ranked nation to ever qualify for a FIFA World Cup.

Transcript

00:00with the world's fourth largest population, a passionate football fan base and a talented

00:05pool of players able to be selected through Ancestry, could Indonesia be the surprise

00:09qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup?

00:17Hello and welcome to Football Now. The best of Asian football was on display here in Qatar

00:23earlier this year at the AFC Asian Cup. One team who caught the eye were Indonesia.

00:28Despite currently being sat 129th in FIFA's world rankings and since then they've had an

00:34impressive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, including a draw away in Saudi Arabia

00:39and at home to Australia in front of thousands of passionate fans in Jakarta. So can Indonesia

00:45continue to defy the odds and become the lowest ranked team ever to qualify for a FIFA World Cup?

00:51I think they can. I mean we've seen from them already that ability to hang on and hold on

00:56against some of the bigger sides and get results. I think they're finally strong enough in terms of

01:00realizing what they actually want to do and what they can achieve if they get a bit of quality on

01:05board. Shin Tae-yong coming in was huge. I think he adds a lot of experience. We know about his

01:10time with the South Korean national team and what he was able to do there. And when he first came in

01:14with the Indonesian national team, he was very good at actually bringing through a lot of the

01:19younger players like Sawittan Sulaiman, Marcelino Ferdinand. We're all given opportunities on the

01:23senior international stage to actually grow and develop. So he wasn't afraid of taking out some of

01:28the older players who had been there and refreshing the sport and giving them that confidence to grow

01:33and develop. When you actually look at the group, when you look at the quality that Indonesia have,

01:37they're well capable of sneaking into that fourth spot. It's really a battle between Bahrain,

01:42Indonesia and China. I think Indonesia at the moment are better than what China can provide.

01:46Third or fourth, probably fourth could be something that they'll be looking to try and fight for.

01:50Back in 1938 and known as the Dutch East Indies, Indonesia were the first ever Asian team to

01:56qualify for the FIFA World Cup. It's been many years since the country gained independence,

02:01but they've been unable to keep that momentum. In 2016, Indonesia's world ranking plummeted

02:07to a lowly 191. However, in recent years, their fate has slowly turned after qualifying for the

02:132023 Asian Cup. They have seen a steady rise from 175th in 2017 to their current position of 129.

02:23So what's behind this resurgence in Indonesian football and how sustainable is it in the long

02:28term? It's always going to be a challenge when you're dealing with one of the most populous

02:32countries in the world and also people are spread out over various different islands and various

02:37different geographies. So trying to get all of them to sort of come together is also always going

02:41to be a bit of a challenge in that sense. But I think it has the potential to be sustainable

02:45because when you look at the age profile of the players that they're actually giving citizenship

02:49to, these are all younger players, you know, likes of Troy J. Noah, the central defender,

02:54Martin Paes, the goalkeeper is 26. So, you know, he's going to have some time at the side as well.

02:58So it's a younger generation of player coming through from Europe to help contribute,

03:02help out Indonesia on the senior international stage. But at the same time, they can't forget

03:08that they need to develop their own core talent of players and they need to be given opportunities.

03:12These young players who are developed by the Indonesian system to eventually go on and play

03:16for the national team, because I think that gives supporters and fans a little bit more of an

03:21element of pride. You know, these kids, you know, these guys have gone through the ranks, you know,

03:26the difficulties that they've gone through to get to that stage. And I think that makes their

03:30success on the international stage a lot better. The effects of their passionate fan base are not

03:35just being felt in Indonesia. The recent signing of Raphael Stroik by Australian club Brisbane Raw

03:41has seen their social media presence skyrocket. On September 16th, they had 69,000 accounts

03:47following them on Instagram. Two days after the arrival of Stroik, that figure was 89,000

03:53and has since reached 114,000 in under three weeks. So what is it about Indonesian fans that

04:00make them so passionate about their players? We love having Rapha. It's been amazing so far,

04:05and it's just, you know, great to have him. Was it a surprise from a brand perspective? No,

04:10like I could see what was going to come. It's, you know, the first thing when he signed and I

04:14saw those numbers, I'm like, okay, we should be doing a Rapha jersey with his name and number

04:18on that you can buy straight away. So we service their market as well and give back to the fans

04:23that are now supporting us through Rapha. So, you know, football is changing and the region is

04:27changing. And I think the eyeballs and the kind of coverage that Rapha's brought on us is something

04:32that we're really, really thankful for. And it's been great to have him on board and I'm excited

04:36to see what comes of it. For a player to be selected for international duty, they must

04:41qualify by their nationality, not where they were born. Stroik is one of many players selected for

04:47FIFA World Cup qualifying matches who was actually born outside of Indonesia. In fact,

04:52nine of the 11 players who started the match versus Australia were born in either Belgium

04:57or the Netherlands. So will we see other countries with large diasporas also adopt this same method?

05:03We live in such a multicultural society today. Young people are going to have parents,

05:08grandparents from a range of different cultures and backgrounds. So I think this is going to be

05:13a big change in international football. And I wouldn't be surprised if countries start to have

05:17recruitment staff the same way that clubs have them, because they'll be looking at players who

05:21could represent the country and then looking to convince them why they should play. And the World

05:26Cup's the biggest thing in football. Everyone wants to play in a World Cup. So that's the biggest

05:30thing you can offer. And I think with the expanded World Cup, you're now going to see more and more

05:34players make themselves available to play for different countries in Asia. Indonesia's rise

05:40up the ranks continues to delight their millions of avid supporters. Let us know if you think the

05:45Garuda Warriors can qualify for the next World Cup using the hashtag football now Indonesia 2026.

05:52That's all we've got time for here from the Albeit Stadium here in Qatar.

05:55We'll see you next time. Bye for now.

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