Indonesia and the 'curse' of nearly four decades of failure at Bung Karno

TPO - Bung Karno Stadium is considered by Indonesian fans to be the pride of football fans, the “sacred land” of football in this archipelago. But the sad reality is that whenever they play in the finals on this stadium, Indonesian representatives always fail.

Following their defeat to Vietnam U23 in the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship final, Indonesia extended their losing streak in finals at Bung Karno Stadium to 38 years. This statistic is truly unacceptable for Indonesian football, but it is the truth. Since the 1987 SEA Games men's football final, Indonesia has never won the championship when playing their final match at this stadium, which has a capacity of nearly 90,000 spectators.

At the national team level, Indonesia has finished second in the AFF Cup six times, and the "curse" of Bung Karno Stadium has been a prominent factor in many of these matches. In 2002, the Indonesian team lost on penalties to Thailand at Bung Karno. Two years later, they also used this stadium as their home ground, but Indonesia lost again to Singapore and had to settle for second place.

2010 was a rare occasion for Indonesia to win at Bung Karno. Unfortunately, before defeating Malaysia 2-1, they had lost 0-3 away from home. This rare victory at Bung Karno was not enough to secure the championship for the Indonesian team.

Bung Karno only helped the Indonesian U23 team come from behind to defeat Thailand in the semi-finals.

At the youth level, Indonesia has won numerous titles. In the U19 tournament, they have claimed the championship in both of their most recent editions (2013 and 2024). Ironically, however, on both occasions, they didn't hold the tournament at Bung Karno Stadium, instead choosing less well-known venues like Bung Tomo or Gelora Delta. Similarly, in the U16 competition, Indonesia's two most recent victories were achieved on local pitches rather than their biggest tournament.

This year, Indonesia brought the U23 tournament to the Bung Karno Stadium as a move to demonstrate their determination to win the championship. They wanted to turn this place into a "cauldron of fire," creating immense pressure on their opponents. Unfortunately, in the end, Bung Karno became a jinx preventing Indonesia from reaching the pinnacle of glory.

Watch the Mandiri Cup™ 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Football Championship live and in its entirety onFPT Play, visit http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://tienphong.vn/indonesia-va-loi-nguyen-gan-4-thap-ky-that-bai-tai-bung-karno-post1764767.tpo