Heroic football coach Shin extends Indonesia contract

The news comes after weeks of high anxiety and tension over the future of the sport in the highly-populous country (4th in the world), which is aiming to become a major Asian competitor.

The nation’s football lovers and analysts alike had been waiting for news of a deal or no deal with bated breath.

On Wednesday evening, Thohir had dinner with coach Shin to discuss Indonesian football’s future goals.

He then posted on his Instagram that "coach Shin Tae-yong and I have agreed to continue cooperation until 2027."

Coach Shin Tae-yong (C) celebrates in the locker room after Indonesia beat Jordan 4-1 in the U23 Asian Cup on April 21, 2024. Photo by PSSI

Coach Shin’s first tenure with PSSI lasted from January 2020 to Dec. 31, 2023, but his contract was immediately extended until the end of June 2024.

For the past week, Indonesian media and fans have been on the edge of their seats with the possibility of Shin’s second extension hanging heavy in the air.

The South Korean coach has become a local hero ever since he helped Indonesia’s national and U23 teams outperform their previous incarnations by leaps and bounds.

Shin’s leadership lead to a series of unprecedented historic feats for Indonesian football: The national squad advanced past the group stage at the 2023 Asian Cup, and the U23 team advanced to the semifinals at this year’s U23 Asian Cup. The national team also advanced closer to the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. These were all first-time-ever events for the county.

Looking towards the continued development and progress of the sport in Indonesia, PSSI official Arya Sinulingga said of Shin’s recent deal that "new goals are now waiting."

As this next stage of the Shin era opens, speculation is also running high over how much the now nearly-legendary gaffer is costing his new home.

Without setting a timeframe, Member of the PSSI Executive Committee Arya Sinulingga told Indonesia newspaper Bola: "We will announce details of the terms agreed by both parties, including contract value and targets."

On Thursday, Shin and Indonesia beat South Korea in the U23 Asian Cup quarterfinals. Shin recently said he feels that "fate is playing" with him by forcing a faceoff with his home country so soon after his renewed commitment to "the competition."

At Indonesia’s first appearance at the tournament, they finished second in group A after a 0-2 defeat to host Qatar, a 1-0 win against Australia and a 4-1 victory over Jordan.

Before coming to Southeast Asia, Shin was already on a near-mythic level as one of his home nation’s most famous and popular top coaches.

In South Korean club football, he led Seongnam FC to the 2010 AFC Champions League title and the 2011 South Korean FA Cup.

At the international level, he took South Korea to the quarterfinals of the 2016 Rio Olympics and the U20 team past the group stage at the 2017 World Cup.

He brought the national team an impressive 2-0 upset win over Germany at the 2018 World Cup. Germany were the defending champions at the time, and Shin’s victory earned his spot as one of South Korea's most worshipped homegrown heroes.

What coach Shin has done for Indonesian football is being compared by the South Korean media to what coach Park Hang-seo impressively did for Vietnamese football from 2018 to 2022.

If Shin stays until 2027, he will become the longest-serving coach in the history of Indonesian football, surpassing former British coach Peter With, who led the team from 2004 to 2007.