South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong is let go after four years as Indonesian football chief eyes World Cup qualification.
Indonesia have sacked their men’s football coach Shin Tae-yong with the country’s football chief saying the team needed stronger leadership as they battle for a place at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
“We need a leadership that implements strategies as agreed with the players, communicates better, and implements better programmes for our national team,” Erick Thohir, who heads the Indonesia Football Association (PSSI), told a news conference on Monday.
Thohir said Shin’s work with the team had “ended” and his replacement, whom he declined to name, would arrive in Indonesia on January 11.
The Southeast Asian nation has tens of millions of passionate football fans, but Indonesia’s sole World Cup appearance came during Dutch rule in 1938 and the country has rarely threatened a return since independence in 1945.
Indonesia are third in their World Cup group after six of 10 matches, one point behind Australia in the battle for the second automatic spot in the finals.
If they finish third or fourth, they could still get to the finals in North America through further rounds of qualifying and an intercontinental playoff.
Thohir, who said he had interviewed three candidates to replace Shin during a recent trip to Europe, was not concerned that changing coaches in the middle of the campaign would disrupt the team.
“It’s normal. Lots of countries switch coaches during World Cup qualifiers,” he added.
“This is something we’ve been discussing for many months back, but I think the moment is right, because we still have two and a half months to prepare for the next games.
“We still have four matches and we want to get as many points as we can.”
South Korean Shin took over as coach in 2019 and Thohir said he would be compensated for the remainder of his contract, which runs to 2027.
Shin benefitted from a PSSI policy of enticing members of the Indonesian diaspora, mostly born in the Netherlands, to play for the national team.
Indonesia were the only Southeast Asian nation to reach the third round of qualifying and last November stunned regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia 2-0 in Jakarta.