In pictures he posted on his Instagram account, Erick, a prominent figure in sports management in the country, appears sitting alongside Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo and National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Indonesia chair Raja Sapta “Okto” Oktohari as Prabowo converses with Bach.

Erick, who heads the Soccer Association of Indonesian (PSSI), said the meeting was about explaining “Indonesia’s potential to host international-level sporting events, including the Olympics in the future” to the IOC president.

The IOC is the rights holder of the Olympics. 

It was not the first time the Indonesian government has approached about hosting the world’s biggest multisport event. In 2022, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said the country would be ready to host the 2036 Summer Olympics in the new capital city of Nusantara, which is still under construction.

Speaking of ambitions, Indonesia also dreams of hosting the FIFA World Cup. The world's premier soccer competition can rival the Olympics in terms of hosting, as it requires a large amount of money to build or renovate infrastructure and organize the event.

So, before we get too serious, let's take a look back at the last five years when we hosted prestigious and large sporting events and see what we got.

Last year, Indonesia earned the right to host the FIFA Under-17 (U-17) World Cup in November-December. The event was the first to be held after a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the country’s first time hosting a FIFA tournament.

Hosting the U-17 Cup was not on the country’s initial agenda as Indonesia was set to host the Under-20 World Cup in 2023. However, due to national controversy over Israel playing in the competition, FIFA withdrew Indonesia’s hosting right and gave it to Argentina.

Indonesia allocated at least Rp 700 billion (US$43 million) to run the U-17 Cup, which saw 24 teams competing.

The largest portion of the budget went to Cup hosting, at around Rp 440 billion, while the remainder went on infrastructure – the four stadiums used were the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) in North Jakarta, Surabaya’s Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in East Java, Bandung’s Jalak Harupat Stadium in West Java and Surakarta’s Manahan Stadium in Central Java.  

The national youth team exited early in the 2023 Cup after only collecting two points in the group stage, from two draws and one loss. Indonesia was in Group A along with the group’s top- and second-place Morocco and Ecuador, as well as fourth-placed Panama.

In 2018, Indonesia hosted the Asian Games, a continental version of the Olympics, which cost Rp 6.6 trillion, only to run the Games. According to some media reports, the overall budget for the event reached Rp 24 trillion, including infrastructure and the athletes’ training programs.

The host country finished fourth, after China, Japan and South Korea, collecting a total of 98 medals (31 golds, 24 silvers, 43 bronzes).

Learning from the two main events, we understand that Indonesia remains unable to match the great powers in sports. And such a burden is not solely on the athletes’ shoulders.

Dream big, they say, and we agree. But we must stay on the ground.

With what we’ve achieved so far, we think it would be wiser to allocate our energy and financial support to developing our athletes ­– nurturing them to be on par with their world-class peers.

The ability to balance natural skill, good preparation and attention to detail to benefit from the opportunity will lead an athlete into victory. And once our athletes are up there, great things will follow suit.

The winner takes all. So, let’s start focusing on athletes rather than plotting large-scale event hosting.