Indonesia's World Cup Fever: A Nation's Hope Rides on 2026
02 April 2025
“If we qualify for the 2026 World Cup,” says Tio Utomo, “we will forgive anything!”
The Indonesian men's football team are still in contention to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup. If they make it, it would be the first time as an independent nation. Their most recent appearance was in the 1938 edition in France as the Dutch East Indies, when they became Asia’s first participant at the showpiece event.
Edward Russel spoke with experienced Jakarta-based sports journalist Tio Utomo to discuss the nation’s passion for a team that could rewrite history.
“All Indonesian people,” explains Tio, “even the people who don't like football, even my mum, who never watches football, they get the vibes to support the international team like we never have before. It's a good time for us, for Indonesian football.”
As Indonesia, international football has proved a tough nut to crack, but times they are a-changing. The Renaissance began with the appointment of Shin Tae-yong as head coach in 2019. Under Shin, Indonesia made it to the 2020 AFF Championship final with an average player age of 23. After that, and for the first time ever, they progressed to the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup. Their run was ended by a 4-0 loss to Australia in the Round of 16. A young team participated in the 2024 ASEAN Championship, but failed to impress. Shin was dismissed and Patrick Kluivert was appointed.
The Dutch manager’s first win came against Bahrain in the World Cup qualifiers, and the nation is at fever pitch.
“If we can go to the World Cup, it's really good,” Tio enthuses. “I mean, we have a thousand and one problems in the country right now. But with the football, everyone will forget the problems for a while.”
The winning goal against Bahrain was scored by 24-year-old Ole Romeny, who’d also struck on his international debut for Indonesia in the defeat to Australia. Netherlands-born Romeny qualifies for the nation through his maternal grandmother and attained citizenship in February. Tio is delighted that players like Romeny are improving the current national team, but insists that domestic development is also required.
“It's good for us that we can draw upon players who have heritage from Indonesia. But the thing is that if you want to have a long term, you need to fix the quality of the leagues, our local league as well. Yes, we are happy with the national team right now, but some of the people in Indonesia also thinking like, yeah, if our national team is happy, we also need to fix our local league.”
