PSSI Akan Carter Pesawat Untuk Timnas Indonesia Di Kualifikasi Piala Dunia 2026

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team will face a busy schedule in the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification in the Asian Zone.

One of them is having to travel to Chinese headquarters. In order to keep the players fit, PSSI decided to charter the plane for the Garuda Squad trip.

In the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification, the Indonesian national team is part of Group C. The meeting with China is the fourth match and will be held on October 15, 2024.

For the location, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) decided to use the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium as a venue for the match against the Indonesian national team.

The distance between Beijing, which is the capital city of China to Qingdao, is about 633 kilometers away. If you travel by land vehicle such as a bus, it will take up to 6.5 hours.

"We got this data that we played in China. If the trip from Beijing to there was on a bus for about 6.5 hours. If you take a plane for 1.5 hours," said Exco PSSI member Arya Sinulingga, quoted on Friday, August 2, 2024.

In addition to the fairly time-consuming distance, PSSI's decision to charter the aircraft was also due to the busy schedule of the Indonesian national team. Before fighting China, Shin Tae-yong's troops had to face Bahrain on October 10, 2024.

That means the Indonesian national team only has three days to make preparations and travel. Especially if it is calculated directly from Bahrain, the flight to Qingdao will take up to 30 hours.

With that duration, it will clearly make the players tired. Therefore, PSSI said that the best choice was to charter the plane for time efficiency and maintain the condition of the players.

"If we count from Bahrain directly to China using commercial, a total of 30 hours of travel. We haven't transited and so on," said Arya again.

"Players are tired. While we only have five days. We can't help but charter the plane," he said.