Indonesia national football team

The matches involving sides from the Dutch East Indies (or Netherlands East Indies) were organised by the Nederlandsch Indische Voetbal Bond (NIVB), or its successor, the Nederlandsch Indische Voetbal Unie (NIVU). The matches that were run prior to the nation's independence in 1945 are not recognised by the PSSI.[4]

The first recorded football match that involved a team from the Dutch East Indies was a contest against a Singapore national team on 28 March 1921. The match was played in Batavia and the Dutch East Indies won with a final score of 1–0. This was followed by matches against an Australian XI in August 1928 (2–1 victory) and a team from Shanghai two years later (4–4 draw).[4]

In 1934, a team from Java represented the Dutch East Indies in the Far Eastern Games that was played in Manila, Philippines. Despite defeating the Japan, 7–1, in its first match,[5] the next two matches ended in defeats (2–0 to the China national team and 3–2 to the host nation) resulting in a second-place tournament finish for the Java national team. Although not recognised by PSSI, these matches are treated by the World Football Elo ratings as the first matches involving the Indonesian national side.[6]

The Dutch East Indies were the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup, when the team qualified for the 1938 tournament after its opponent, Japan, withdrew from the qualification heats. The 6–0 loss to the Hungary football team, in the first round of the tournament in Reims, remains the nation's only appearance in the World Cup.

After the Second World War, followed by the Indonesian Revolution, a highlight of the football history of independent Indonesia occurred at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The team forced the Soviet Union to a nil-all draw, but lost 0–4 in the replay match.[4] This remains the country's only appearance in the Olympics.

In 1958, the team tasted its first World Cup action as Indonesia in the qualifying rounds. The team defeated China in the first round, but subsequently refused to play its next opponents, the Israel national team, for political reasons.[4]

Indonesian won the bronze medal at the 1958 Asian Games where it beat the India national team, 4–1, in the third-place match. The team also drew, 2–2, with the East Germany in a friendly match.[4]

The Indonesian team lifted the Merdeka Tournament trophy on three occasions (1961, 1962 and 1969). Indonesia were also champions of the 1968 King's Cup.[4]

Indonesia returned to World Cup qualification competition in 1974; however, the team was eliminated in the first round, with only one win, from six matches, against the New Zealand national team. During the 1978 qualification heats, the Indonesian team only won a single match, out of four matches, against host team, Singapore. Four years later, in 1982, Indonesia recorded two victories in qualifying matches, against Chinese Taipei and Australia.[4]

The 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification round saw the Indonesia advanced from the first round with four wins, one draw and one loss, eventually finishing at the top of its group. However, South Korea emerged victorious over the Indonesians in the second round.[4]

The team also reached the semi-final of the 1986 Asian Games after beating the United Arab Emirates in the quarter-finals; but the Indonesians then lost to hosts South Korea in the semi-finals. The Indonesian team also lost to Kuwait, 5–0, in the bronze medal match.[7]

A milestone during this era was the gold medal victory at the Southeast Asian Games in both 1987 and 1991. In 1987, the Indonesians beat Malaysia, 1–0; while in 1991, the team beat the Thailand, 4–3, in a penalty shoot-out.[4]

In the 1990 qualification, the Indonesian team lost in the first round, with only one win against Hong Kong, three draws and two defeats.[4] The team also only managed a single victory against the Vietnam in the 1994 qualification round.[4]

Indonesia's first appearance in the AFC Asian Cup was against the United Arab Emirates in the 1996 AFC Asian Cup. During the tournament, Indonesia only scored a single point from a 2–2 draw against Kuwait in the first round.[8]

The team's second appearance in the Asian Cup was in Lebanon in the 2000 AFC Asian Cup; again, the Indonesian team gained only one point from three games, and, again, from a match against Kuwait that finished without a score from either side. Indonesia eventually established a better record in the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, beating the Qatar national football team, 2–1, to record the team's first ever victory in the history of the tournament. Nevertheless, the win was not enough for the Indonesian team to qualify for the second round, having fallen 0–5 to host China and 1–3 to Bahrain.

In the 2007 tournament, Indonesia acted as one of the four Southeast Asian co-hosts, and get eliminated from the first round.[9]

Indonesia reached the finals of ASEAN Football Championship on five occasions (2000, 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2016), albeit never managing to lift the trophy victoriously. The team's claim of regional titles came in the Southeast Asian Games of 1987 and 1991.[10][11]

After the Withe era, the inability to fulfil the ASEAN target has been cited as the reason for Indonesia's "revolving door" in terms of team managers. Over the course of two years, the Indonesia's manager changed from Kolev to local coach, Benny Dollo, who was in turn sacked in 2010. The head coach position was then held by Alfred Riedl who failed to lift any cups and in July 2011 was then replaced by Wim Rijsbergen.[12]

The regional 1998 ASEAN Football Championship saw the group stage match between Thailand and Indonesia with both teams had already qualified for semi-finals but were also aware that the winner would have to face hosts Vietnam. Indonesian defender Mursyid Effendi deliberately kicked the ball into the Indonesian's own goal as a Thai attacker ran towards the ball.[13] FIFA fined both teams $40,000 for "violating the spirit of the game", while Effendi was banned from international football for a lifetime. Indonesia then lost to Singapore in the semi-finals.[14]

In March 2012, PSSI received a warning for the divided state of Indonesian football, whereby two separate leagues existed: the rebel Super League (ISL), which isn't recognised by the PSSI or FIFA, and the Premier League (IPL). The National Sports Committee (KONI) encouraged the PSSI to work collaboratively with Indonesian Football Savior Committee (KPSI) officials to rectify the situation, but KONI chairman, Tono Suratman, stated, in March 2012, that KONI will take over the beleaguered PSSI if matters are not improved.[15] FIFA did not state whether Indonesia would face suspension, but on 20 March 2012, FIFA made an announcement. In the lead-up to 20 March 2012, the PSSI struggled to resolve the situation and looked to its annual congress for a final solution.[16] The PSSI was given until 15 June 2012 to settle the issues at stake, notably the control of the breakaway league; failing this, the case was to be referred to the FIFA Emergency Committee for suspension.[17]

FIFA eventually set a new 1 December 2012 deadline and in the two weeks preceding the deadline, three out of four PSSI representatives withdrew from the joint committee, citing frustrations in dealing with KPSI representatives. However, FIFA stated that it would only issue a punishment to Indonesian football after the Indonesian national squad finished its involvement in the 2012 AFF Championship.[18]

In 2013, the president of PSSI, Djohar Arifin Husin signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with La Nyalla Matalitti (KPSI-PSSI) that was initiated by FIFA and the AFC through the Asian Football Confederation's Task Force. Since then, the control of Indonesia Super League was taken by Joint committee to remain manageable by PT Liga Indonesia until the establishment of a new professional competition by the committee.[19] This means the Indonesian players from ISL were able to play and join the national team. The PSSI called players from both football leagues, ISL and IPL to fortify the national team for Asian Cup qualifier of 2015. On 7 January 2013, PSSI announced a lists of 51 players from both side football leagues regardless of whether players from the breakaway Indonesia Super League (ISL) would make an appearance, allegedly ISL clubs were reluctant to release players because they doubted Djohar's leadership.[20] During the friendly match, Indonesia lost 0–5 to Jordan and lost 0–1 to Iraq in 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification.

The PSSI appointed Luis Manuel Blanco from Argentina as the head coach on 9 February 2013.

On 18 March 2013, the PSSI held a congress at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both parties, PSSI and KPSI (breakaway group) solved their differences in four contentious points; such as; Reunification of two leagues; Revision of the PSSI Statutes; Reinstatement of the four expelled PSSI Executive Committee members La Nyalla Mattalitti, Roberto Rouw, Erwin Dwi Budiawan and Toni Apriliani; and agreement of all parties to the Memorandum of Understanding from 7 June 2012 on the list of delegates to the PSSI Congress based on the list of the Solo Congress of July 2011.

The new PSSI called 58 players from both sides leagues (ISL and IPL) for the national squad. Rahmad Darmawan returned as the caretaker coach for the senior team and his friend, Jacksen F. Tiago was also in-charge as the assistant coach. Both Rahmat and Jaksen trimmed the 58 players initially called for national training to 28. The list would then be trimmed again to just 23 players for the Saudi Arabia match. Victor Igbonefo, Greg Nwokolo, and Sergio van Dijk the three naturalised players were on the final list.[21]

On 23 March 2013, Indonesia was defeated 1–2 by Saudi Arabia at home. Boaz Solossa was the man who gave Indonesia the first goal at their long-running campaign at AFC Asian Cup qualification; the home team started with the goal in the sixth minute but the Saudi Side fought back with the equaliser from Yahya Al-Shehri in the 14th minute before Yousef Al-Salem the scored what turned out to be the winner on 56th minute.[22]

The Indonesian Football Association was suspended by FIFA because of government interference in the Southeast Asian country's national league on 30 May 2015. The ban took effect immediately and meant that Indonesia would not be eligible to compete in the next round of qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup, starting less than two weeks later. FIFA took action against Indonesia following a row between local government and the football association which has resulted in the cancellation of the domestic competition.[23]

The suspension was lifted at the 66th FIFA Congress.[24] By then, hurried perpetration was done for Indonesia in order to get in touch for the upcoming 2016 AFF Championship, where Indonesia eventually reached the final, but once again fell to Thailand in process.[25]

A few weeks after finishing second in the ASEAN Football Championship, The Indonesian Football Association held a congress on 8 January in efforts to sign Luis Milla to handle their senior and U-22 team. It is understood as well that they are also making significant changes in their domestic football league system and attempting to minimise the number of naturalisation players in 2 years time.

With a vision of improving the nation's fortune, Indonesia has started to increase its budget on training and developing its young football players, resulting with a new, promising era of Indonesian football. The U-16 and U-19 teams did have a well-promising performance in both 2018 AFC U-16 Championship and 2018 AFC U-19 Championship, both managed to advance to the quarter-finals before losing to Australia and Japan, respectively.[26][27] At the same time, the U-23 team also managed a respected performance at 2018 Asian Games with only brought down by the UAE U-23 team on penalty shoot-out.[28] Many Indonesians began to feel enthusiasm for the changes made to the Indonesian football.

Despite these successes, the past problems started to reappear. Indonesia's main domestic league, Liga 1, has been criticized for its complex and unfancy schedule that squeeze out players' energy, but PSSI had refused to address about the issue. Subsequently, the U-23 team suffered a humiliating setback when Indonesia failed to reach the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, falling behind Vietnam and Thailand. Meanwhile, Luis Milla, surprisingly departed without any explanations, causing angers among Indonesian supporters.[29] The senior side even suffered more humiliation, with Indonesia crashed out from the group stage in 2018 AFF Championship, led to the sacking of Bima Sakti.[30] In order to prepare for the 2022 World Cup campaign, Indonesia has reluctantly signed Simon McMenemy, with hope that his successful tenure with the Philippines could reinvigorate Indonesia's performance especially when Indonesia was grouped with three Southeast Asian rivals, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam alongside the UAE.[31] Yet, the 2022 World Cup qualification under McMenemy was a serious disaster, as Indonesia lost all four matches, two losses were exclusively humiliating: a 2–3 home defeat to Malaysia despite having taken a 2–1 lead prior, followed by a home loss to Vietnam for the first time ever in any competitive tournaments, leading to frustration among Indonesian supporters. On 6 November 2019, PSSI decided to sack McMenemy over the national team's deteriorating performance, shortly after Indonesia was awarded hosting rights for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[32] With the team in turmoil, the Indonesians traveled to Malaysia, where they lost to its rival 0–2 away and was officially eliminated from 2022 FIFA World Cup.[33]

Following the failure to qualify for World Cup, the PSSI hurriedly appointed former World Cup manager Shin Tae-yong as coach of Indonesian team, with hope to reinvigorate the team for the upcoming 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, using the success of Park Hang-seo in Vietnam as an evidence for their appointment.[34]

  Win   Draw   Loss

Thailand  v  Indonesia

25 March 2021 (2021-03-25) 2022 WCQ and 2023 ACQ R2	Thailand	v	Indonesia	Bangkok, Thailand
--:-- UTC+7				Stadium: Rajamangala Stadium

Indonesia  v  United Arab Emirates

30 March 2021 (2021-03-30) 2022 WCQ and 2023 ACQ R2	Indonesia	v	United Arab Emirates	Jakarta, Indonesia
--:-- UTC+7				Stadium: Madya Stadium

Vietnam  v  Indonesia

7 June 2021 (2021-06-07) 2022 WCQ and 2023 ACQ R2	Vietnam	v	Indonesia	Hanoi, Vietnam
--:-- UTC+7				Stadium: Mỹ Đình National Stadium

(Under-23 team since 1992)

Olympic Games finals record										Qualifications record
Host / Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA		GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1900 to 1952	Did not enter									Did not enter
1956	Quarter-finals	7th	2	0	1	1	0	4		Automatically qualified
1960	Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	2	6
1964	Withdrew									Withdrew
1968	Did not qualify									4	1	1	2	4	5
1972										4	2	0	2	8	6
1976										4	2	1	1	11	5
1980										5	1	0	4	7	12
1984										8	0	3	5	3	14
1988										4	1	0	3	3	8
1992–present	See Indonesia national under-23 team									See Indonesia national under-23 team
Total	Quarter-finals	1/18	2	0	1	1	0	4	31	7	5	19	38	56

Olympic Games history
Year	Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Stadium
1956	Round 1		South Vietnam	W1 w/o
	Quarter-finals	29 November	Soviet Union	D 0–0	Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
		1 December	Soviet Union	L 0–42

Note:

• ¹ : South Vietnam withdrew in the tournament.
• ² : A rematch of the quarter-finals.

As of 19 November 2019[43][44]