The value of the Indonesian team is based on the recently announced 30-player squad (including the 3 most recently naturalized players), which is about to compete in the 3rd round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. The Australian team was previously worth about 39 million euros, but this training session is missing some important players from England and Italy, causing the value to drop to just over 30 million euros.

Photo: Reuters

The Australian team also currently has fewer overseas players than Indonesia, which has rarely happened before.

Specifically, the Australian team currently has 16 players abroad and 10 players playing in the domestic league. Meanwhile, the Indonesian team has 21 players playing abroad, with only 9 players remaining in the domestic league. But this number has now dropped to only 8 players, after striker Egy Maulana Vikri withdrew due to injury.

It is expected that when the official list of 23 players for the upcoming competition is finalized, the number of Indonesian players competing domestically will only be about 2 to 3 people, according to CNN Indonesia .

The massive naturalization policy of Indonesian football in the past and continuing today has caused the national team to significantly increase the number of players with foreign origins (mostly from the Netherlands) from 60% to 80%, after having 3 more naturalized players join.

They are Emil Audero Mulyadi (28 years old, goalkeeper, currently playing for Palermo Club in Italy), Dean James (24 years old, versatile defender for Go Ahead Eagles Club, Netherlands) and Joey Pelupessy (31 years old, defensive midfielder, Lommel Club in Belgium). These players are Italian and Dutch respectively, both of Indonesian origin.

Only 1 naturalized player of the Indonesian national team is more than all the other teams in Southeast Asia

According to Indonesian press, player Mees Hilgers, 23 years old, currently playing for FC Twente (Netherlands) is currently valued at 9 million euros, according to Transfermarkt .

Thereby, it has also surpassed the value of other teams in the Southeast Asian region, such as the Thai team at about 8.7 million euros, the Malaysian team (7.1 million euros) or the Vietnamese team valued at about 6.7 million euros (more than 186 billion VND), according to the Transfermarkt website, based on the value of the number of players just summoned in the FIFA Days competition in March.

Photo: Reuters

Despite the high value of the players, most of them have been naturalized by the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) recently and most of them are playing for clubs in Europe. But in terms of ability, that is a different story.

According to Australian coach Tony Popovic: "Integration and other issues will be key factors in creating a strong team. We do not underestimate the Indonesian team. But I believe, with the spirit of the Australian team and a good opportunity to consolidate our position in the group, we will aim to win 3 points in the match at home."

The Australian team will host the Indonesian team at home in Sydney at 4:10 p.m. on March 20 in the 7th round of the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. They will then travel to China to meet the Chinese team at 6 p.m. on March 25.

"These are two key matches against the Australian team. We aim to win both to firmly defend our second place in Group C (currently with 7 points). Thereby, we will have many opportunities to win a main ticket to the 2026 World Cup finals. We are not subjective, we need to focus as much as possible, because these are two extremely important matches," said coach Tony Popovic. In the first leg, the Australian team drew 0-0 with Indonesia, and beat the Chinese team 3-1.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is ranked 3rd in Group C with 6 points, above Saudi Arabia after beating them 2-0 last November, equal on points but with a better goal difference. The other 2 teams in the group, China and Bahrain, also have 6 points. Therefore, the next 2 matches (March 20 and 25) will be a huge turning point for this group. Except for Japan (16 points), they are far ahead of all their opponents.

After the away match against Australia, the Indonesian team will return home to face Bahrain in Jakarta on March 25. The Indonesian team now has a new coach, Patrick Kluivert, and a coaching staff consisting entirely of Dutch people, determined to make history by qualifying for the 2026 World Cup to represent Southeast Asia at the world football festival.