Thom Haye Joins Persib, Will the Indonesian National Team's Chances of Qualifying for the 2026 World Cup Diminish?

Thom Haye, midfielder of the Indonesian national team, has put an end to speculation about his future as he was introduced as the 15th new player of Persib Bandung for the 2025-2026 season on Wednesday (27/8/2025). Thom's decision to "return to his roots" has raised concerns about a potential decline in the strength of the midfield of the "Garuda" squad in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

From a personal needs perspective, Thom, who is 30 years old, is entitled to embark on a new chapter in his professional career. Moving to Indonesia to play close to his extended family in Jakarta is a reasonable decision.

Despite playing for Persib, the defending champion of the Indonesian Super League, Thom has experienced a significant decline in his career. From playing in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football, Thom will now compete in the 24th ranked competition in Asia and the seventh position in Southeast Asia.

If he still prioritizes improving his performance on the green field, Thom should consider pursuing a career in competitions in East Asia, such as Japan or South Korea. If he is no longer "in demand" in Europe and East Asia, at the very least he could choose Thailand, which has a level of competition above that of Indonesia. The Thai league ranks seventh in Asia.

In fact, several rumors regarding the interest of European clubs had overshadowed Thom. NAC Breda, for instance, expressed interest in the former Almere City player. Moreover, the Transfermarkt website also mentioned that Watford in the English League was interested in utilizing Thom's services.

The Deputy CEO of PT PERSIB Bandung Bermartabat, Adhitia Putra Herawan, stated that Thom is present to enrich the options in the midfield. Thom will compete with several defensive midfielders who have adorned the lineup of Persib in the first three weeks of the BRI Super League this season, such as Marc Klok, Dedi Kusnandar, Adam Alis, and Luciano Guaycochea.

"We believe that Thom's quality and experience will be an important addition to Persib's ambitions in the Super League and the Asian Champions League," said Adhitia in the club's official statement.

Thom's decision to choose Persib has been made official. Bobotoh (fans) and national football fans can watch the player, who has made 14 appearances for the Indonesian national team, regularly every week on television and at matchday stadiums.

However, the performance in the Super League, which is not as stringent as in the Dutch League, may also lower Thom's level of play. The "Blue Prince" team will indeed compete in the Asian Champions League Two. However, this still does not compare to the quality of competition in Europe.

"I'm very excited to join Persib Bandung. Can't wait to play in front of you (bobotoh). Let's achieve more glory," said Thom in his introduction video broadcast by TVRI Jabar.

Before joining Persib, Thom's performance had tended to decline over the past year. Certainly, it would be unfair to only compare Thom's performance since making his debut with the Indonesian national team in the World Cup 2026 qualifying match against Vietnam on March 26, 2024.

Observing Thom's performance since returning to a full season with SC Heerenveen in the Dutch League 2022-2023, it can be said that his performance has improved from 2022-2023 to 2023-2024. It can be stated that the 2023-2024 season is the best season in the career of the player born in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

In the 2022-2023 season, Thom was in his prime season. He played 31 matches with a total of 2,725 minutes on the field. This means he averaged 89 minutes per game. A year later, in his final season at Heerenveen, Thom's number of matches increased to 32. However, his playing time decreased to 2,613 minutes, averaging 82 minutes per game.

In the last season, 2024-2025, wearing the Almere uniform, Thom, who had just joined after the international match in September 2024, appeared in 29 matches of the Dutch League. He recorded an average of only 71 minutes per match. Thom completed the full duration of the match only 10 times.

In addition to a decrease in playing time, Thom's crucial ability as a player at the heart of the game, namely distributing passes, has also deteriorated in both quality and quantity. With Almere, Thom averages only 34 successful passes per match.

Since returning to the Netherlands in the second half of the 2021-2022 season, Thom has not recorded an average of accurate passes below 40 per match. In fact, in the 2023-2024 season, he produced 53 accurate passes per match.

The number of successful passes is certainly related to the team's playing style. A team with superior ball possession tends to feature players with a greater quantity of successful passes.

Regardless of Almere's defensive playing style last season and their inability to avoid relegation penalties, individually, Thom's passing quality has also declined.

In the last two seasons at Heerenveen, Thom recorded an average of 82 percent (2022-2023) and 85 percent (2023-2024) accurate passes per match. Meanwhile, in the previous season, his average passing accuracy was only 78 percent per match.

The quality of long ball passes has also declined. In Almere, Thom's long ball passes averaged only 5.58 per match, with an accuracy rate of 62 percent. This figure once again indicates a decline in Thom's quality.

In 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, Thom recorded an average of 6.58 successful long passes per match with an accuracy of 64 percent, and 6.34 successful long passes with 67 percent reaching their intended teammates.

The positive aspect evident from Thom's performance in Almere is his record of creating opportunities. He created 2.33 chances per match last season. Meanwhile, in the two previous seasons while wearing the Heerenveen jersey, his opportunity creation was 1.59 per match and 2.14 per match, respectively.

During his career in the Dutch League over the past two seasons, Thom was able to play a key role in leading Indonesia to the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The two Indonesian national team coaches, Shin Tae-yong and Patrick Kluivert, relied on the 1.87-meter tall player as the main pivot for game creation in the midfield.

However, Thom's individual performance while representing the Garuda team is not statistically remarkable. Thom's statistics in 13 World Cup qualifying matches do not match his gameplay in the Dutch League with Heerenveen and Almere.

The accuracy of Thom's passes in the Asian international competition only reached 79 percent. His successful passes per match were only 29. Thom recorded five accurate long passes per match in the lead-up to the 2026 World Cup. The accuracy rate of his long passes was only 60 percent.

Thom has collected only 1.49 chances per match in 13 World Cup 2026 qualifying games. However, Thom's role is crucial in providing balance and assisting forwards in creating threats against the opponent's defense.

On the other hand, Thom is also struggling to perform at the highest level in Asia. In those 13 matches, he has only been able to play an average of 70 minutes per match. This duration is certainly very minimal given the high expectations placed on Thom, who is known as the best midfielder in Indonesia at present.

Therefore, if Thom was already overwhelmed while playing in Europe to uplift the Indonesian national team, how will his capabilities be when he has a career in his homeland?