Colonization of Foreign Coaches in Indonesian League 1, Netherlands Dominates

The phenomenon of Dutch coaches has truly landed in Indonesian football. Starting from the decision of the All Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) to contract Patrick Kluivert as the head coach of the Indonesian national team, now four teams in the 2025-2026 Indonesian League 1 are coached by tacticians from the “Land of Windmills”.

Certainly, there is nothing wrong with the decision of the best clubs in the country to prioritize foreign coaches over local coaches. The demands for achievement and the intense competition in the highest tier of the league compel clubs to be willing to spend significant funds to hire quality coaches from abroad.

The end of the collaboration between Imran Nahumarury and Malut United has resulted in no local coaches being set to compete in Liga 1 next season. In fact, 17 teams have already announced foreign coaches as their leaders for the upcoming competition campaign.

In the 2024-2025 season, Imran is the only local coach who managed to remain for an entire edition of the competition, while three other local coaches had their contracts terminated midway through the competition due to their inability to meet the club's targets. Malut concluded its inaugural season in Liga 1 by finishing in third place and is entitled to participate in the ASEAN Championship 2025-2026.

If Malut United continues to hire a local coach, they will preserve the reputation of Indonesian tacticians in Liga 1. Conversely, if Malut follows the trend of hiring foreign coaches, it will mark the first time that Indonesian professional leagues will not have the presence of a local coach when the season begins.

Three promotion teams from Liga 2 2024-2025 that have reached Liga 1 with local coaches have now contracted new coaches with non-Indonesian passports. PSIM Yogyakarta, the champion of Liga 2 last season, has brought in Indonesian league debut coach from the Netherlands, Jean-Paul van Gastel.

Persija Jepara has decided not to continue its collaboration with local coach Widodo C Putro, opting instead to engage the services of Mario Lemos, a coach holding a Portuguese passport. Meanwhile, Bhayangkara FC has rekindled its relationship with Northern Irish coach Paul Munster, who managed Persebaya Surabaya last season.

There are eight countries of origin for the coaches in the Liga 1 team this season. The Netherlands has sent four coaches, followed by two Portuguese-speaking countries, Portugal and Brazil, each represented by three tacticians.

Subsequently, two Spanish-speaking countries, namely Spain and Argentina, sent two coaches each. Three other countries, consisting of Croatia, Northern Ireland, and Malaysia, were represented by one strategist.

On the other hand, Transfermarkt noted that there are 41 local coaches with A PSSI and AFC Pro licenses who are currently unemployed. They have at least coached in the Indonesian League 2 or League 1 teams.

The presence of six coaches from the Netherlands reinforces the current direction of Indonesian football towards the Netherlands. These six individuals include two coaches leading two national teams, while the other four are in Liga 1.

Referring to Transfermarkt data, the Netherlands sent 40 coaches to pursue careers abroad. Only Arne Slot and Erik ten Hag have coaching status in Europe's top five leagues thanks to handling Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. The condition actually reflects the quality of Dutch coaches.

With the number of coaches currently under contract, the 15 percent of coaches imported by the Netherlands makes Indonesia a destination. This percentage could increase to 17.5 percent when including Pieter Huistra, who managed PSS Sleman last season.

As PSS has been relegated to Liga 2, Huistra is confirmed to be unable to register as the head coach. He has the opportunity to be promoted to the Technical Director of PSS. This is because PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) prohibits foreign coaches from managing Liga 2 teams, thus PSS is required to appoint a coach with an Indonesian passport.

Kluivert and Gerald Vanenburg (the coach of the Indonesian U-23 team) are leading an ambitious project by PSSI alongside the "Garuda" team, which aims to secure a ticket to the 2026 World Cup and defend the gold medal at the 2025 SEA Games.

In the national competition, Jan Olde Riekerink is the most senior Dutch coach in the top-tier competition at present. Riekerink will undergo his third full season managing Dewa United since arriving in the middle of the 2022-2023 season.

Under the guidance of the former Galatasaray coach, Dewa's achievements gradually improved. They became the sole competitor of Persib Bandung in the battle for the Liga 1 2024-2025 title.

Supported by the best players in Liga 1, such as Nick Kuipers, Alexis Messidoro, Jaja, Egy Maulana Vikri, and Alex Martins, Dewa has the opportunity to disrupt the hegemony of Persib for the 2025-2026 season. The 2025 President's Cup also presents the greatest chance for Riekerink to secure a trophy since delivering the Turkish Cup in 2015-2016 and the Turkish Super Cup in 2016 for Galatasaray.

Riekerink's important role has elevated Dewa's status, prompting other teams to bring in tacticians from the Netherlands as well. Bali United, for instance, concluded a sweet chapter with Stefano "Teco Cugurra" after six seasons by recruiting Johnny Jansen.

In the Netherlands, Jansen is known for coaching mid-table teams, such as Heerenveen and PEC Zwolle. He led Zwolle to a 10th place finish in the 2024-2025 season.

"Serdadu Tridatu" will be the second foreign club in Jansen's coaching career. Previously, he only spent two months managing the Lebanese team, Safa, from April 2023 to June 2023.

Unlike Riekerink, Jansen has never delivered a championship title for his team. He has also produced an extremely low average points tally. His record shows an average of 1.34 points per match with Heerenveen from June 2019 to January 2022, and during two seasons in Zwolle, he managed only 1.07 points per game.

Jansen also brought his compatriots from the Netherlands to be assistant coaches. They are Ronnie Pander and Jeffrey Talan.

"I am inviting two assistant coaches from the coaching staff so that my training program aligns with Bali. Our target is to place Bali in the top ranks for the fourth or fifth position currently," said Jansen regarding his goals in his first season coaching in Indonesia.

The Dutch coach phenomenon is getting stronger as two teams from central Java also have meneers. Persis Solo recruited Peter de Roo, while PSIM brought in Jean-Paul van Gastel.

De Roo is a figure known for many roles behind the green field. He has served as the Technical Director for the Football Federation of Australia and the Football Federation of Malaysia.

His involvement as the new head coach began three years ago with the oldest football club in Singapore, Balestier Khalsa. He consistently led Balestier to finish in fourth place in the last two seasons of the Singapore League, which featured nine contestants. His record includes achieving an average of 1.48 points per match over 63 official Singapore League games.

Great enthusiasm surrounds Van Gastel. Known as the deputy to Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who helped Feyenoord secure five trophies, including one Dutch League title, Van Gastel is expected to elevate the performance of PSIM, which will make its debut in the era of Liga 1.

As the head coach, Van Gastel has yet to achieve any notable accomplishments. He recorded 0.97 points per game during 33 matches coaching Guangzhou City in the Chinese Super League, and then 1.63 points per game with NAC Breda over the course of 38 matches.

Seven experienced local players from Liga 1, such as Andy Setyo, Fahreza Sudin, Kasim Botam, and Reva Adi, have been recruited by PSIM. Two foreign players, Ze Valente and Nerjim Haljeta, reinforce the ambition of "Laskar Mataram" to remain in the top-tier competition.

"Our target is to achieve stability in League 1," said Razzi Taruna, PSIM Manager, about his team's ambitions in the 2025-2026 season.

Will these four coaches be able to follow in the footsteps of Henk Wullems (Bandung Raya 1995-1996) and Robert Alberts (Arema Indonesia 2009-2010), who successfully led their teams to become champions of Indonesia? Or will they merely replicate the path of Darije Kalezic and Joop Gall, who failed to maintain PSM Makassar's status as a top team in Indonesia? Time will tell.

One thing is certain, foreign coaches have truly “colonized” the Indonesian League 1, while local coaches are increasingly marginalized….