Coach Shin Tae-yong (54) elevated the Indonesian national team, which took office in January 2020, 39 places from 173rd to 134th in the FIFA world rankings.
After Shin Tae-yong’s appointment, Indonesia has been rewriting its sports history by ▲ runner-up at the 13th Southeast Asian Championship in 2022 ▲ Men’s soccer bronze medal at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in 2022 ▲ runner-up at the 4th Southeast Asian U-23 Championship in 2023 ▲ advancing to the 33rd Paris Olympics qualifying playoff in 2024. 안전놀이터
Coach Shin Tae-yong was signed by the Indonesian Football Association through June this year. However, on Apr. 26, Eric Tohir (54), the country’s state enterprise minister, proposed a three-year extension.
It was the day when “Shin Tae-yong Magic” was displayed, in which Indonesia beat South Korea, ranked 23rd in the world, to advance to the semi-finals of the 26th Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup. Minister Eric Tohir has also served as the president of the Indonesian Football Association since February 2023.
According to a May 21 report by news channel CNN Indonesia, Shin Tae-yong said, “I’m sorry and sorry that I couldn’t interview you in Indonesian. I’ll be with the national team until 2027, so I’ll learn Indonesian.” He naturally admitted to renewing his contract.
Indonesia is a world-class country with the fourth-largest population and the seventh-largest gross domestic product in terms of purchasing power. As the fifth-year head coach of the Korean national soccer team, the public is naturally very positive about coach Shin Tae-yong’s determination to learn the local language.
Coach Shin Tae-yong is on the verge of leading Indonesia to a breakthrough in the men’s soccer preliminary round for the first time at the Summer Olympics, but leaves behind the disappointment of not being able to achieve his will and will play the rest of the 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup qualifying round.
Indonesia is second in Group F of the second Asian qualifying round for the North and Central America World Cup, which belongs to ▲ 58th-ranked Iraq ▲ 115th-ranked Vietnam ▲ 141st-ranked Philippines.
If the team keeps the top 2 even after home games against Iraq and the Philippines on June 6 and 11, it will advance to the final qualifying round for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in Indonesia. The team ranked 15th in the 1938 World Cup in France as an automatic participant.
For Shin Tae-yong, it is a good idea that he not only led Indonesia by passing the first preliminary round of the Under-23 Asian Championship, but also ranked fourth in the finals. Attention is focusing on whether he will join the final preliminary round in Asia for the World Cup.