Kluivert, shown in Indonesia

The new coach Indonesia, Patrick Kluivertwants to take his team to the final stage of 2026 World Cup and is looking to get off to a flying start in his first game in charge against Australia. The former Dutch striker replaces South Korean Shin Tae-yong, who was sacked on Monday and Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) chief Erick Thohir has called for better leadership.

“I want to get at least four points from the first two games,” Kluivert said in his presentation at a press conference in Jakarta. Indonesia finished third in its qualifying group, ahead of Japan, but just one point behind Australia in the battle for two automatic places in the world tournament. Kluivert’s first qualifying match is Indonesia’s trip to Australia on March 20, before facing Bahrain in Jakarta five days later.

Kluivert, 48, said he prefers to play attacking football in a 4-3-3 formation, but is open to flexibility. “When you play football, the system changes… the most important thing is that the players understand what to do and when,” he added.

After years of stagnation, Indonesia has seen a major rebound due to the influx of members of the Indonesian diaspora, mainly Dutch-born, into the national team. They gave Indonesia hope of a long-awaited return to the World Cup final after their only appearance in 1938 as the Dutch East Indies, when the country was still under Dutch colonial rule.

Kluivert enjoyed a great playing career where he won the Spanish league title with FC Barcelona in 1999 and scored 40 goals in 79 international matches. After working as an assistant coach in the Netherlands and Australia, Kluivert was appointed coach of Curacao, his mother’s homeland, in 2015 before returning to work at Ajax Amsterdam’s academy less than 18 months later. He has signed a contract with Indonesia until 2027 and will be assisted by his compatriots Alex Pastoor and Denny Landzaat.