This decision was announced by PSSI this afternoon (October 16th). In a statement posted on PSSI's homepage and official fan page, PSSI stated: "The Indonesian Football Federation has officially ceased cooperation with the entire coaching staff of the Indonesian national team."
PSSI sacked coach Kluivert after only about 10 months in the job (Photo: Reuters).
“Coach Kluivert and his staff will no longer be working with the Indonesian national team, U23 team, and U20 team. The PSSI’s termination of the two-year contract with the coaching staff of the national teams is in line with the development direction of Indonesian football,” PSSI added.
Patrick Kluivert only took over the Indonesian national team in January of this year, replacing coach Shin Tae Yong (from South Korea).
At the time, PSSI's dismissal of coach Shin Tae Yong and replacement with coach Patrick Kluivert was considered a mistake, a hasty decision. This assessment stemmed from the fact that Kluivert had not yet made a significant impact in his career as a top-level football coach.
The Indonesian national team failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup (Photo: Reuters).
PSSI primarily wants to leverage Kluivert's reputation as a player to gain influence over the array of naturalized Dutch players that the Indonesian national team uses.
The consequence of this misguided decision was that the Indonesian national team lost both matches in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region, against Saudi Arabia (2-3) and Iraq (0-1). These defeats eliminated the team from the archipelago from the following year's World Cup.
PSSI further shared: “We thank Coach Patrick Kluivert for his contributions to the Indonesian national team over the past months, and wish him and his colleagues much success in their future careers.”
Notably, coach Patrick Kluivert was not present in Indonesia to receive his dismissal notice from PSSI. After the 4th round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, held in Saudi Arabia a few days ago, coach Patrick Kluivert went straight back to Europe, instead of returning to Indonesia.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/lien-doan-bong-da-indonesia-sa-thai-hlv-kluivert-20251016131208848.htm
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