Indonesia’s Struggle With It’s Most Popular Sport

Abdullah Akmal Sutoyo (s4190579)

Popularity of Football in Indonesia

  • Indonesia is one of the biggest footballing nations in the world.
  • They have one of the biggest fan bases in the world, comparable with other football giants.

The Reality of the Garuda Squad

  • Despite football’s immense popularity in Indonesia, the national team has consistently under performed.
  • Recently, they were knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers after losing 3-2 to Saudi Arabia and 0-1 to Iraq (TEMPO, 2025).
  • A study by Garry A. Gelade & Paul Dobson (2007) shows that countries with a high culture of football tend to have better-performing national teams.
  • However, this trend does not apply to Indonesia’s football team.

Indonesia vs Iraq

Comparison With Other Countries

  • Compared to other highly followed national teams, Indonesia’s FIFA ranking is much lower.

Possible Reasons of Underperformance

  • A study shows that footballers’ performance is significantly enhanced by participating in a high-quality and competitive league environment. Countries with stronger domestic leagues are better able to develop talent and improve the overall level of their national teams.
  • The same study shows that majority of players in successful national teams play for clubs in the Top 5 domestic league (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, or Ligue 1), where they gain valuable experience against world-class competition (Wang, Shen, Qin, & Li, 2022).

Top 5 Domestic Leagues

Comparison With Other Leagues

  • Indonesia’s domestic league, Super League, has a much lower market value compared to major football nations.

Players in Top 5 Leagues

  • The Indonesian squad also has a relatively low percentage of players that plays in the Top 5 domestic leagues compared to other major nations.

Conclusion

  • Indonesia’s national team has a massive popularity but ranks far lower on the pitch, confirming a clear popularity–performance gap.
  • Two possible reasons explain this gap: (1) a lower domestic league market value, and (2) a smaller share of national‑team players active in the top five leagues.

References

References