Shin Tae-yong Reveals His Intention To Stay In The Country If He Successfully Qualifies The Indonesian National Team For The 2026 World Cup

Shin Tae-yong (Doc. AFC)

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong, expressed his intention to stay in Indonesia for the rest of his life. However, this will only be realized by the coach if he manages to deliver the Garuda Squad to the 2026 World Cup.

Shin Tae-yong himself has been guarding the Indonesian national team for almost five years. Since he first served as a coach in 2019, the South Korean coach has tasted the bitter journey with the Garuda Squad.

Throughout his tenure, Shin Tae-yong continued to strive to improve the achievements of the Indonesian national team to compete in the international arena.

A number of histories have been recorded by Shin and the Indonesian national team, starting from breaking through the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup to entering the third round of the 2026 Asian Zone World Cup Qualification.

With his focus right now on realizing his dream for the Indonesian national team to be able to appear in the 2026 World Cup, Shin even admitted that he was ready to spend the rest of his life in Indonesia if the Garuda squad was able to qualify for the tournament.

"Maybe I should stay in Indonesia for the rest of my life. I really like it here (in Indonesia)," said Shin Tae-yong as quoted by Isplus on Sunday, September 29.

Shin's contract actually still has three more years left, to be precise until 2027. The 53-year-old coach also admitted that he was very happy with the positive support that the Indonesian national team supporters always did.

"What's surprising is that when the game is over, you should call the names of the players who look good, but all the fans just call my name. It was amazing even for me to see it," said Shin.

The Indonesian national team is currently struggling in the third round of the 2026 Asian Zone World Cup Qualifiers. In that qualifying round, the top two teams will immediately qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Meanwhile, two third and fourth ranked teams will fight in the fourth round of qualifying. The fourth round has two tickets left to fight for a straight pass to the main tournament.

Then, the team in second place will fight for a place in the fifth round. In the fifth round, teams from Asia who qualify will face teams from other continents.