Kluivert Says Hopes To Take Indonesia To World Cup

As he was officially named as Indonesia’s new coach on Sunday, great football player from the Netherlands and Barcelona, Patrick Kluivert, announced his plans to take the country’s football-mad nation to their first World Cup since independence.

The 48-year-old former striker will be a part of a team that mainly features players who were born in the Netherlands and who were formally recognized as Southeast Asians.

“Everybody knows we will be playing four games, four finals, and we want to achieve what we want to achieve”, Kluivert told a press conference in Jakarta.

“The most important thing is to have results, and impact”.

Kluivert has signed a two-year contract from 2025 to 2027 with a two-year extension option, according to Indonesia’s football association (PSSI).

Denny Landzaat, a former Dutch international who will serve as one of his assistant coaches, and he and him arrived in Indonesia late on Saturday.

After Indonesia’s controversial firing of South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong on Monday, the Dutchman had been closely linked to the position.

Shin took Indonesia, who are 127th in the FIFA rankings, into the decisive third round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America.

Indonesia has only ever participated in World Cup events once, in 1938, during Dutch colonial rule.

After one win and three draws in six games, Indonesia are third in the group that qualifies.

The third and fourth places advance to a second qualifying round, with the top two going straight to North America.

Indonesia’s next qualifier is a crunch trip in March to Australia, who are second in Asian qualifying Group C but just a point ahead.

“Everybody needs the will to achieve this goal, and we need to do this together. Everybody needs to stand behind the team”, Kluivert added.

Kluivert was chosen because of his ability to communicate with the Dutch-dominant naturalized players, according to a PSSI source.

Amsterdam-born Kluivert retired as a player in 2008 after a stellar career that started at Ajax, where he won the Champions League, before moving to AC Milan and then Barcelona.

Kluivert’s managerial career has not been nearly as spectacular. His most recent coaching position was at Adana Demirspor for five months in Turkey in 2023.

Before that, he was caretaker manager of Curacao in 2021.

Source: Channels TV