Indonesia’s players for the 2016 Homeless World Cup (HWC) left Glasgow with joyful smiles.

Not only because they finished seventh-best out of 52 countries, but also because disabled Eman Sulaeman was bestowed the best goalkeeper award during the closing ceremony on Saturday night.

The audience gave a standing ovation when Eman’s name was announced. The 27-year-old player from Majalengka, West Java, who was born without feet, was speechless.

“I just cannot express how happy I am,” he said after the ceremony.

Many might have overlooked Eman’s goalkeeping skill. But the players from Mexico, for example, faced hard times trying to score when playing against Indonesia. Indonesia did lose to the Central American nation, which eventually won the tournament, but not by a big margin like other teams.

“Bravo!” said Mexican players while carrying Eman up after the final whistle of the Indonesia-Mexico match during the first stage.

Indeed, Eman was the star. He was subject of numerous interviews and photo requests, be it from international media, players or just the general public. But Eman never complained.

Dubbed as one of the most inspirational figures during the tournament, Eman said he wanted to give all the appreciation (he received) to his parents.

“They never prevented me from playing soccer even though I was born like this,” he said.

Indonesia secured seventh place after taking down Bosnia Herzegovina 5-4 on Saturday evening. The match, which was also televised by STV, was also pushed into the spotlight since Indonesia was the only Asian team in the top eight.

Coach Sabrun Hanapi said he was happy to see that his players ended the tournament with a very good performance in their last match. “They played without burden. At the end of the day, being seventh is not bad at all,” he said.

When Indonesia lost to Mexico 2-6 in the quarterfinals on Friday, tension appeared to have had taken over the players. Seemingly mentally broken from the loss, led to a spiritless match against Hungary hours later in the first play-off for the fifth to eighth positions. It was not the best day for the team as they lost to the Europeans 4-5.

The team managed to bounce back after failing to improve on their HWC participation from the last three years. In 2013 in Poland, Indonesia managed to reach the quarterfinal but only to sit eighth-best. The following year in Chile, they dropped to 10th place. Last year in Amsterdam, Indonesia fell even further to 17th.

Indonesia’s best finish so far was in Mexico City in 2012 where they finished forth after losing in the semifinals.

The team’s manager Rijki Kurniawan of the Rumah Cemara (Pine Home) organization said he was quite satisfied with the team’s performance. “The players have given all they could performance-wise. We have to acknowledge that the teams who finished higher were much better prepared than us,” he said.

Dozens of Indonesians residing in Glasgow never stopped supporting the team. Daniel Agriva Tamba, the chairman of the Indonesian Students Association (PPI) Greater Glasgow, said the inspiration brought by team Indonesia drew them into every following Indonesian match.

“The players are those who are or have faced difficulties at some point of their lives. They are the forgotten people and yet many still stigmatize them. But look at them now, they were able to make us and Indonesia proud,” Daniel said.

Next year, the city of Oslo in Norway will host the 2017 HWC.

Even though the HWC is not a professional tournament, Indonesia’s remarkable successes since its first participation in 2011 have brought many smiles to the faces of Southeast Asian soccer fans.

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