The Defeat of the Indonesian National Team and the Vacant Position of PSSI Technical Director

The Football Association of Indonesia or PSSI has a new coach for the Indonesian National Team, Patrick Kluivert. Coach Kluivert is accompanied by three assistant coaches, namely Alex Pastoor, Denny Landzaat, and Gerald Vanenburg. In addition to the new coach, PSSI also introduced the national team's technical advisor Jordi Cruyff (11/3/2025). The debut of new coach Patrick Kluivert was marked by a crushing defeat to Australia. Indonesia lost with a score of 1-5 in the continued match of Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifying round which was held on March 20, 2025.

Despite appointing a new coach and a new technical advisor, PSSI has yet to fill the technical director position. In modern football organization and governance, a technical director is a very important position for a federation or elite club to have.

Since 2014, FIFA as the parent organization of world football has routinely campaigned for the position of technical director to be owned by federations in every country. In fact, it is so important, FIFA has made technical instructions on the position of technical director which are stated in the Handbook for Technical Directors.

In the organizational structure designed by FIFA, the technical director is included in the chart of the core management of a football federation. In addition to the executive committee, standing committee, general chairman, and general secretary, a federation also needs to have a technical director and a technical department. These six elements are the most important parts in building modern football.

The technical director has several main tasks. According to FIFA, one of the tasks of the technical director is to coordinate and consult regarding football development plans. Discussion space needs to be opened from the grassroots to the elite of football in a country in providing input. Reflecting on this task, a technical director must understand the condition of football in the regions to build a football climate that produces talent for the national team.

A technical director must also create a football technical development plan. This plan must be implemented which is led directly by the technical director. In carrying out this task, the technical director must really understand about planning in the realm of football so that it requires experienced people, both as players and coaches.

Another task carried out by the technical director is the dissemination of information related to the adopted football philosophy. Usually, each country has its own football philosophy that is developed. This philosophy must be understood down to the regional level, even football schools, in order to produce players and coaches who have the same vision when defending the national team.

PSSI itself once promoted filanesia as the philosophy of Indonesian football. Referring to the PSSI page, the formulation of the Indonesian Football Philosophy (Filanesia) is stated in the Indonesian Football Development Curriculum book. Filanesia is a way of playing that emphasizes the character and potential of Indonesian football players. Culture, sociological aspects, and geography are also considered in the development of filenasia. Previously, filanesia was used as a curriculum in coaching license courses held by PSSI.

Spreading football philosophy to all corners of the country is certainly not easy. Therefore, Indonesia needs a technical director who understands the football philosophy that will be developed. In addition, the technical director also needs to have good communication skills in disseminating information related to Indonesian football philosophy.

In carrying out his duties, the technical director will often coordinate with the PSSI secretary general. The PSSI secretary general will receive regular reports from the technical director regarding progress in implementing strategic plans in the development of Indonesian football.

The technical director is also tasked with providing player recommendations, tactical development, and academy development. Considering the important role that is carried out, the technical director is a very important position for a federation to have. This is because this position has a role in developing football in the long term. If the technical director carries out his duties optimally, then Indonesia will be able to produce players who can be relied on by the national team.

The technical director not only oversees the coaching that occurs in the senior team. He has a broader responsibility, namely the junior team starting from the 16-year-old team, 19-year-old team, 21-year-old team, and also the 23-year-old team. Proper football coaching cannot be done piecemeal. This means that coaching in one team must be able to support the team above it. The coaching program carried out for his team is always consulted with the head coach in the senior team with the technical director as his supervisor (Kompas, 4/22/1991).

Given the importance of this position, countries in the world that have developed modern football, the technical director is a position filled by famous figures. Argentina, for example, from 2019 to 2024 appointed Cesar Luis Menotti as technical director. Menotti is the coach who successfully led Argentina to become the World Cup champion for the first time in 1978. Argentina also became the 2022 world champion.

The Netherlands also has a renowned technical director, Nigel de Jong. The former Ajax, Manchester City, and AC Milan player has been trusted since 2003 to fill the position of technical director at the Dutch Football Federation (KNVB). Experience playing at major European clubs is the main capital for de Jong in maintaining the quality of Dutch football.

Since FIFA routinely campaigned for the importance of the technical director position in 2014, PSSI in the same year had a technical director. At that time, the technical director was held by Pieter Egge Huistra, a former player for clubs in the Dutch league such as Groningen and Twente. Huistra was also a coach for the Ajax U-21 club, coach for the FC Groningen club, coach for the De Graafschap club, and assistant coach for the Dutch U1-7 National Team.

Since the beginning of his tenure as technical director, Huistra conducted a comprehensive assessment of the condition of Indonesian football as a provision for the preparation of a development plan. However, the program prepared by Huistra failed to be optimally planned because PSSI was frozen by FIFA in 2015. As a result, PSSI did not continue its cooperation with Huistra.

In 2017, after PSSI was no longer sanctioned by FIFA, PSSI again had a technical director. The position was given to Danurwindo, a former coach of the Indonesian national team. Danurwindo has also coached a number of elite Indonesian clubs, from Pelita Jaya, Persema, Persebaya, to Persija.

Under Danurwindo's leadership, the development of early age football began to be carried out along with the teaching of philanthropy to coaches. Through this program, PSSI targets that Indonesia can qualify for the 2030 World Cup.

PSSI has again appointed a new name to fill the position of technical director in 2020. Indra Sjafri, the coach who once led the Indonesian U-22 National Team to win the 2019 AFF U-22 Cup, was entrusted to hold the position of PSSI technical director until 2023. During Indra Sjafri's leadership, the search for young players was not only carried out domestically, but also for players of potential descent abroad.

In 2023, PSSI had planned to appoint the advisor of the Indonesian U-17 national team at the U-17 World Cup, Frank Wormuth, to serve as technical director. However, Wormuth decided to return to Germany after the U-17 World Cup ended so that the technical director remained with Indra Sjafri. Until now, PSSI is still trying to bring in a new technical director, a replacement for Indra Sjafri.

Although at the federation level Indonesia still does not have a technical director, at the club level, several clubs in League 1 are starting to realize the importance of the technical director position. Persib Bandung to Bali United are some of the clubs that already have technical directors. Bali United has I Made Pasek Wijaya as the Technical Director of Bali United Youth.

Meanwhile, Persib Bandung has Robert Rene Alberts as the technical director. Robert Rene Alberts was once the coach of the South Korean U-17 National Team, the coach of the Malaysian U-19 National Team, and the Technical Director of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).

The existence of national clubs that have technical directors is a positive note amidst the football transformation agenda carried out by PSSI. The importance of this position as part of the new direction of national football that will also determine the future of Indonesian football. (LITBANG KOMPAS)