Decoding the miracle of U23 Indonesia: The 3.2 million USD contract and the 'Golden Generation' formula

In January 2018, Indonesian website Panditfootball published an article expressing admiration for the Vietnam U23 team after coach Park Hang Seo and his team defeated Qatar to reach the final of the U23 Asian Cup. In the article titled “The Golden Generation of Vietnamese Football”, Panditfootball praised Vietnam’s youth football development and predicted that players like Nguyen Quang Hai and Nguyen Cong Phuong would revive Vietnamese football.

After 6 years, Indonesian football also experienced the same thing. U23 Indonesia also made a splash at the U23 Asia when the players of the archipelago defeated U23 Korea in the quarterfinals. At this time, U23 Indonesia also had a "golden generation" and coincidentally they were led by Korean coach, Mr. Shin Tae-yong.

U23 Indonesia defeated U23 Korea

$3.2 million for coach Shin Tae-yong

At the end of 2019, Mr. Shin Tae-yong was appointed as the coach of the Indonesian team, concurrently in charge of the U23 team and as an advisor for the U16 and U19 teams. Mr. Shin's scope of work is even larger than that of his compatriot Park Hang Seo in Vietnam.

The former South Korean coach is expected to help Indonesian football achieve success when he arrives in the archipelago. The expectation is reflected in the 4-year contract with a salary of 1.1 billion rupiah/month (about 67 thousand USD). In addition to other expenses, including paying the salaries of 6 assistants of Coach Shin, the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) spends nearly 2 billion rupiah/month (123 thousand USD).

However, the time for Coach Shin to reap the "sweet fruit" of Indonesian football took much longer than Coach Park in Vietnam. A long-term plan focusing on developing young players was implemented by Coach Shin through two PSSI presidents. At one point, people thought that Coach Shin had failed when this coach could not help Indonesia win the championship at the AFF Cup 2020 and the gold medal at the SEA Games 2021.

Coach Shin Tae-yong helped Indonesian football make a leap forward after 4 years.

However, everything has changed completely after the beautiful first months of 2024 for Indonesian football. On April 25, PSSI President Erick Thohir announced that he had reached an agreement to extend the contract with coach Shin Tae-yong. According to what the billionaire wrote on social media, the negotiation took place in Qatar after a barbecue party.

Half a day later, U23 Indonesia made history by defeating U23 Korea. Mr. Erick Thohir called the U23 Indonesian players the “golden generation” and affirmed that they had written a new page in the history of Indonesian football.

Thus, if we only count Coach Shin's salary, PSSI had to spend 52.8 billion IDR (3.2 million USD) for about 4 years, to achieve the current success. That is not counting the amount of money PSSI spent to pay Coach Shin's assistants.

After coach Shin Tae-yong renewed his contract with PSSI, Insertlive revealed part of the former Korean national team coach's income: " According to the Transfermarkt website, PSSI had to pay at least 26.07 billion rupiah (1.6 million USD) to bring coach Shin Tae-yong to Indonesia. It is not surprising that coach Shin Tae-yong has assets estimated at nearly 75 billion rupiah (4.6 million USD)".

“PSSI also provides luxury facilities to make Coach Shin feel comfortable while living in Indonesia. Coach Shin Tae-yong is provided with luxury cars, police escorts, luxury apartments, business or premium seats for each trip, a special interpreter and allowances up to hundreds of millions of rupiah,” Insertlive continued.

The U23 Indonesia force is also the backbone of the national team.

Overseas training sessions

To improve the level of young Indonesian players, coach Shin Tae-yong has trained with his students in Europe many times, especially with the Indonesian U20 team to prepare for the 2023 U20 World Cup.

According to Indonesian press, Mr. Shin and the Indonesian U20 players will train in Spain and Türkiye from October 2022 to the end of November 2022. Of which, the Indonesian U20 will play 7 friendly matches in Türkiye and 4 other matches in Spain.

At the 2024 AFC U23 Championship, there are 5 Indonesian U20 players called up by coach Shin Tae-yong to the U23 team: Daffa Fasya, Dony Tri Pamungkas, Arkhan Fikri, Hokky Caraka and Marselino Ferdinand, who scored against Iraq at the 2023 Asian Cup.

The cost of these training sessions is said to be not small but has not been disclosed. In fact, Mr. Shin's predecessors also organized training trips to Europe for Indonesian players.

In 2017, Tribunnews reported that PSSI did not disclose the cost of training in Europe for the players, however, the newspaper revealed that the Indonesian Football Federation had to spend money on travel to Spain, hotel rental, meals, etc.

Indonesian players have trained together for many years and regularly receive training abroad.

Naturalized stars

Contributing significantly to the historic victory of U23 Indonesia were their naturalized players. In the starting lineup of U23 Indonesia against U23 Korea, coach Shin gave 4 naturalized players to start: Rafael Struick, Ivar Jenner, Justin Hubner and Nathan Tjoe-A-On. Of which, Rafael Struick scored a double against U23 Korea. Rafael Struick's second goal came after a precise long pass from Ivar Jenner.

The players are all of Indonesian descent and play in Europe, with the exception of defender Justin Hubner, who came through the Wolves youth ranks and recently moved to Japan to play for Cerezo Osaka. Rafael Struick, Ivar Jenner and Nathan Tjoe-A-On all play in the Netherlands.

The presence of these players is due to the efforts of PSSI. Mr. Shin Tae-yong himself went to Europe in March this year to watch the naturalized players, including Ivar Jenner.

U23 Indonesia has a chance to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics.

According to the revelation of Hasani Abdulgani, a former member of the Executive Committee of the Indonesian Football Federation (Exco PSSI) at the end of 2023, there is no budget for naturalizing players.

“I am a living witness. I will talk about what people consider wasteful spending by PSSI. There is no separate budget for naturalized players, only for administration and that is what usually happens in the administrative process,” Mr. Hasani Abdulgan revealed.

“To be honest, since I was assigned to look after the current naturalised players, we have not spent any budget on the players because according to the current regulations, every player called up to the national team is not paid because it is their obligation,” Mr. Hasani Abdulgan continued.

After 4 years working in Indonesia, Coach Shin Tae-yong has not won any championship at the national team level. However, the Korean coach has helped the football of the archipelago make history by leading the U23 Indonesia team to the semi-finals in their first participation in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship. Indonesian fans are confident that with this "golden generation", Coach Shin Tae-yong will continue to make more achievements.

Coach Shin Tae-yong affirmed: “ I have been with these players for 4 years and know them very well. I believe that if we can motivate the players, we can achieve good results.”

“I cannot say that U23 Indonesia will win the championship but we can definitely reach the final. I have instilled that belief in the players,” the 53-year-old coach declared.