Indonesian Football History: Dutch East Indies Qualified For The 1938 World Cup Thanks To WO's Win Over Japan And The US

Auguste-Delaune Stadium, Reims, a silent witness to Indonesia's appearance at the 1938 World Cup (photo: dock. wikipedia)

JAKARTA Indonesian football has a long history of recording brilliant moments in the era before independence. In 1938, when Indonesia was still named Dutch East Indies (Hindia Belanda), this football team made history as the first Asian representative to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals.

This success was supported by a series of important events in the qualifying round involving Japan and the United States. In addition, the Dutch East Indies national team is also strengthened by players of Dutch descent, similar to the current Indonesian national team.

In the 1938 World Cup qualifying round, the Dutch East Indies are scheduled to play against Japan. This match was supposed to be a tough test for the Asian representatives, but Japan surprisingly stepped down. This made the Dutch East Indies declared a winwalkover (w/o) and advanced to the next round without the need to compete. The incident occurred on January 25, 1938 in Saigon (now the Ho Chi Minh City section, Vietnam), which is an important record in the team's travel history.

After Japan's trackover win, Dutch East Indies is again scheduled to face the United States in the next qualifying round. However, a similar situation happened again. On May 26, 1938, the United States decided to resign from the match it was supposed to be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Thus, Dutch East Indies was again declared to have won awalkover and was entitled to step into the 1938 World Cup finals which were held in France.

This success marks a great history for Asian and Indonesian football, which became the first country of the region to appear on the world football stage. However, the Dutch East Indies move at the World Cup did not last long.

On June 5, 1938, they met with a strong European team, Hungary, in the first or last round (which at that time used a direct knockout system). Located at the Auguste-Delaune Stadium, Reims, Dutch East Indies had to admit a big defeat with a score of 0-6. The Dutch East Indies players at that time were Mo Heng (kiper) - Hukom, Samuels - Nawir (backward), Meeng, Anwar - Hong Djien (medium), Soedarmadji, Zomers, Pattiwael, Taihitu (front).

Despite losing, the presence of Dutch East Indies at the 1938 World Cup is still remembered as an important moment that shows the beginning of Asian participation in the world's biggest football tournament. This struggle is an inspiration for generations of Indonesian football in the future to continue to excel at the international level.

Now, the struggle of the Indonesian national team in the modern era refers to the enthusiasm and determination shown by Dutch East Indies more than eight decades ago. Especially