Indonesia Vs Bahrain Record: Bad History of Indonesian Supporters with the Bahrain National Team

The Indonesian national team will host Bahrain for the fourth time at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Jakarta, in the 2026 World Cup qualification duel on Tuesday (25/3/2025) at 8:45 PM WIB. The "Garuda" squad must anticipate the non-technical actions that Bahrain has displayed during their previous three visits.

Indonesia's finest memory in a home match against Bahrain was presented during the opening game of the 2007 Asian Cup on June 10, 2007. Two legendary Indonesian strikers, Budi Sudarsono and Bambang Pamungkas, scored goals that secured a 2-1 victory over the team from the Arabian Peninsula.

"The fighting spirit and hard work of all the players in executing the instructions of coach Ivan Kolev were the key to that historic victory. The players' motivation was also ignited by the support of fans who filled Gelora Bung Karno," said Syamsuddin Umar, assistant coach of the Indonesian national team at the 2007 Asian Cup, recalling the match on Sunday (23/5/2024).

In two other matches against Bahrain, Indonesia recorded no victories. This occurred in the first duel during the 1988 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 19, 1988, which ended in a 0-0 draw, followed by Garuda's defeat, 0-2, in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers on September 6, 2011.

Not only did the results fail to secure a victory, but those two matches also displayed Bahrain's tendency to consistently exhibit poor behavior whenever visiting Jakarta.

Bahrain's first visit to Indonesia occurred during the 1988 Asian Cup qualifiers. Although the match ended in a goalless draw, significant drama unfolded at the end of the game. The situation escalated and remained tense until the day after the match.

The team coached by Berce Matulapelwa failed to gain points against Bahrain, so Indonesia was unable to compete with Bahrain and South Korea to qualify for the main round of the 1988 Asian Cup in Qatar. The disappointment was felt in the stands. A number of Indonesian supporters hurled taunts at Bahrain's reserve players.

As a result, the Bahraini players became furious and argued with the Indonesian supporters. The Bahraini players were furious and shouted Arabic. Meanwhile, the audience also shouted in Indonesian. Only two Arabic words meaning "stupid", namely bahlul and jahil were used by the audience in the west stand of the stadium to make the Bahraini players even angrier.

At its peak, the Secretary General of PSSI at that time, Nugraha Besoes, who was in the middle of the audience, was almost hit by a Bahraini player. In fact, he tried to break up the fight.

In addition, Bahrain striker Ebrahim Essa Ahmed threw his shoe towards the stands. The shoe almost hit another PSSI official. Essa Ahmed also said negative words to the Japanese referee who led the game, Sono Tahikazu.

"As an individual, I will report this to PSSI. I feel insulted. As an institution of PSSI, we will report this to AFC," said Nugraha as reported by Kompas on June 21, 1988.

After conducting an investigation, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) through the Disciplinary Commission of Group D of the 1988 World Cup qualifiers, Kompas, Wednesday edition (22/6/1988) reported that the five Bahraini players involved in the riot were punished with a one-match ban and were banned from coming to the stadium for the final game against South Yemen, 22 June 1988.

They were Essa Ahmed, Ebrahim Abdulla Hardan, Ebrahim Abdulla Sayaf, Yassin Mohamad Abbas, and Mohamed Saleh Ali. The punishment was decided after the disciplinary commission held a hearing on Monday (20/6/1988). The hearing was led by Farouk Buzo from Syria, then the members of the Disciplinary Commission were K Ziauddin (India) and Minang Warman (Indonesia). The coach, manager, and all Bahrain players also attended the disciplinary committee hearing.

"They (Bahrain) are not being sporting. If they were offended by the comments of the audience, they should have reported it to the committee. Moreover, the four reserve players (besides Essa Ahmed) have been provided with a special place (reserve bench), but they chose to sit in the main tribune," explained Minang.

Bahrain was also given an additional penalty by the AFC of a fine of 2,000 US dollars. The penalty was announced at the AFC congress in Doha, Qatar, December 1988.

In the 1988 Asian Cup qualifiers, PSSI was troubled by Bahrain from the start. The Middle Eastern team arrived earlier than scheduled, then they also arrived in Jakarta without a visa.

Six years earlier, in January 1982, Bahrain had postponed their arrival in Jakarta to play two friendly games against PSSI Utama and PSSI Junior. The reason was that their coaching staff and players had difficulty obtaining Indonesian visas.

In addition to the arrival problem, during the 1988 Asian Cup qualifiers, Bahrain also complained about the training field in the Senayan complex. They also asked to move hotels because they considered the first hotel's service to be unsatisfactory. The committee was also accused of cutting off communication between team members because they gave them rooms far apart.

It is no wonder that Bahrain had threatened to be reluctant to go to Jakarta to undergo the 2026 World Cup qualifying match. They were worried about the safety of the team after receiving terror in cyberspace after the first match ended in a 2-2 draw, last October 2024.

PSSI General Chairman Erick Thohir even ensured PSSI General Secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John and Bahraini Ambassador to Indonesia Ahmed Abdulla al-Harmasi al-Hajeri for the safety of Bahraini players while in Jakarta. Since arriving in Jakarta, Friday (3/28/2025), the Bahrain squad has received the best service similar to other teams, such as Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia.

"We as a great nation have shown that we can be good hosts when playing against Saudi Arabia and Japan. We want all home fans and the visiting team to enjoy the match safely and comfortably," said Erick after meeting with Ahmed Abdulla.

The incident between Bahraini players and Indonesian supporters occurred again in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. In the match that Bahrain won, which was also their first victory over Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesian supporters threw mineral water bottles at the technical zone of the Bahraini coach and players.

The situation made Bahrain ask referee Lee Min-hu to stop the match. After the match was paused, all Bahrain players and coaching staff left the field and entered the locker room.

The Indonesian national team coach at that time, Wim Rijsbergen, team manager Ferry Kodrat and team captain Bambang Pamungkas, needed to persuade referee Lee to restart the match immediately. After the situation of the supporters calmed down, one of the indications was that there were no firecrackers and flares lit in the stands, the referee continued the match.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who watched the game live also left the stadium when the match was temporarily stopped. According to Minister of State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, President SBY went home because he was disappointed with the actions of the audience, Kompas (7/9/2011).

The 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday will certainly present greater tension than the three previous meetings between Indonesia and Bahrain in Jakarta. Hopefully the match can run smoothly and there will be no more incidents involving supporters and Bahraini players.

Most importantly, the Garuda squad is expected to be able to add to their record of wins over Bahrain in order to maintain their hopes of qualifying for the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.