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View all search resultsCuraçao’s miracle, our trouble
Curaçao's qualifying for the 2026 World Cup finals presents a dichonomy of what the tiny island nation has done right and what our sprawling archipelagic country has yet to get right in developing the national soccer ecosystem.
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Indonesian midfielders Thom Haye (second right) and Miliano Jonathans (left) react after the national men’s team lost 0-1 to Iraq on Oct. 11, 2025, during their FIFA World Cup fourth-round qualifier match at King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (REUTERS/Stringer)
S
occer’s most unlikely fairytale has unfolded on the road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup: the qualification of Curaçao. There’s even a chance that Suriname, another former Dutch colony, could join the tiny island nation if it survives the March playoffs.
For Indonesia, a country of 280 million people that is obsessed with the sport, watching a Caribbean nation with a population smaller than a Jakarta subdistrict reach the finals stings. It forces us to look in the mirror. The contrast between the two nations is staggering, yet our shared history with the Netherlands offers insights into exactly where we’ve gone wrong.
The irony is thick, especially as regards Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert’s role in the two sides. He laid the groundwork for Curaçao’s rise during his stints as manager and interim coach, installing a professional philosophy and building a scouting network that properly tapped into the Dutch diaspora. As manager in 2015-2016, he helped Curaçao climb up the FIFA rankings ladder from 151st to 75th.
The fact that Curaçao ascended to the global stage after Kluivert left (incidentally, around the time he shifted his focus to Indonesia) speaks volumes. It tells us that success isn't about one savior figure, but the system that remains when the star leaves.
Curaçao built a structure that outlasted the architect. We, on the other hand, have a bad habit of firing the architect before the cement has dried.
On paper, comparing Indonesia to Curaçao should be laughable. We are a Group of 20 economy with vast resources and a talent pool it cannot match.
In soccer however, agility is frequently hampered by size. For many years, growth in Indonesian soccer has been impeded by an oversized bureaucracy that is as dispersed, disjointed and difficult to oversee as our geography.
