Maarten Paes is the starting goalie for the Major League Soccer team FC Dallas. Yet he could walk down a busy street in Dallas, Texas and no one would notice him.
Not so online. Or even in Indonesia.
Like his teammates on the Indonesian national team, Paes is often confused when he visits Indonesia, and has a huge following on social media, which is to be expected for a player who has yet to trouble the higher echelons of football. It far exceeds.
Paes, 26, was born in the Netherlands but became an Indonesian citizen in April and was shocked by the rapid growth of social media. He has 1.7 million followers on Instagram and 1.2 million followers on TikTok.
“You already know before it happens because you see the same thing happening to other players. It's a very big country and everyone loves football,” Paes says.
The 26-year-old knew he was eligible to play for Indonesia for several years, but the team contacted him again late last year. “My grandmother's health was declining at the time,” he says.
“She's from there and I talked to her a lot about it. It was the least I could do to make her smile at the end of her life. That meant a lot to me. She said, ' I would be really happy if you did that.” So she encouraged me and it was an honor to do that for her. ”
His life changed after news broke that he was moving to Indonesia. “That's when I felt like I needed to engage with social media in a different way. It can get a little overwhelming, so it's okay to step away from it for a while,” he says. “It's hard to believe that all of a sudden I'm loved by so many followers and such a huge audience.”
Paes, who represented the Netherlands at youth level, played his first two matches for Indonesia during the recent break. He said the goalless draw with Australia, who are 109 places above Indonesia in the FIFA world rankings, in front of more than 70,000 fans at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was an eye-opener.
“I felt like it was the first time I realized how big it was,” he says. “You look at it on the internet, you look at the numbers, but you can't really wrap your head around it. Then you can't leave the hotel without security.”
Oxford United, who sit ninth in the English Second Division Championship, rarely generate big numbers on social media, but a video they posted on Instagram in August racked up 5.2 million views.
Australian A-League side Brisbane Roar have similarly experienced an interesting turnaround in engagement across their social channels this month. Like Oxford, videos of Brisbane posted on Instagram typically receive thousands of views. Still, the series of videos posted on Instagram received 1.7 million views, compared to 4.5 million for Roar.
What's the explanation? As you might have guessed, two of Indonesia's soccer superstars, young players from the national team, Marcelino Ferdinan and Rafael Šturic, arrived in the summer.
Ferdinan is a 20-year-old attacking midfielder who signed for Oxford last month from Belgian second division side Deinze. Struijk is a 21-year-old forward who joined Brisbane (part of Indonesian conglomerate Bakley Group) this month from Dutch second-division side ADO Den Haag.
Neither were household names, at least not in Europe or Australia, nor did they come from big-name clubs.
Within days of Ferdinan joining Oxford, his Instagram following grew from 83,000 to 226,000. Some of Brisbane's previous posts received fewer than 10 replies. Mr. Struik's announcement was 9,000.
This is the Indonesia effect. This Southeast Asian country has a population of over 280 million people, and soccer is the number one sport. It inspires adoration and enthusiasm for national team players both online and offline.
To illustrate this point, here are some statistics summarized below. The Athletic This is to compare the Indonesian starting lineup to the U.S. men's national team starting lineup, but does not take into account expected goals or progressive passing. Let's compare the number of followers on Instagram.
The Indonesian national team, who started the match against Australia in the World Cup qualifier, had a total of 26.9 million followers on Instagram. The 11 clubs they play together have less than 10 million followers on the same app.
By comparison, the USMNT's last starter in a friendly against New Zealand had just 1.4 million total followers.
The figure could have been higher, but AC Milan forward Christian Pulisic, who has 7.8 million followers on Instagram, was on the bench.
Comparing the two starting XIs highlights the level of support for Indonesian players compared to, say, a country of more than 335 million people that will host the Men's World Cup in 2026.
With Indonesia in the starting lineup for their goalless draw with Australia, the players who have less support than their clubs are Rizky Lido, a center back for Indonesian Liga 1 team Persija Jakarta, and Wolverhampton. -Justin Hibner, who plays for the Wanderers, is the only one. premier league.
Hibner, 21, joined the Wolves' youth organization in 2020. He has yet to play in the first team and has played the majority of his games at academy level, but is being treated as if he is playing every week for the national team. Real Madrid, this is the fanfare he experiences both online and in person.
“I can't leave my hotel[in Indonesia]because there are people waiting for me and running up to me. It's crazy everywhere I go,” Hibner said. The Athletic. “When I walk in and walk out, there's probably about 100 people waiting for me, asking for pictures and autographs because I'm their idol.”
Learn more about social media and the world of football…
Hibner was born in the Netherlands and played for the Dutch youth national team alongside Xavi Simons (who became an Instagram star as a teenager at Barcelona, had one million followers by the age of 14, and currently plays for RB Leipzig). ) played with. Indonesia was once a colony of the Netherlands, and the number of players with dual citizenship on the national team is increasing.
“I started with maybe 5,000 followers on Instagram, but when my fans found out I was of Indonesian descent, I had 30,000 followers and now I have 2.7 million followers. '' Hibner said. “Everything is growing so fast when it comes to social media. Branded goods and everything. I have so much coming my way right now. It's a dream.”
The day before I spoke to The Athletica contract with deodorant company Rexona has begun. “A lot of my teammates here at Wolves say, as a joke, 'Can I change my national team to Indonesia?'
“But the people here support me and make me happy. They also want followers because they're happy to have followers, but it's not about the followers, what's important is that I represent them.” You're playing as a team and what comes with that is really great.”
Hibner spent last season on loan at Japan's Cerezo Osaka, where Indonesian fans always came to watch him, but when he returned to England after the two World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Australia, the local He says there was no such welcome party. He must have been at Jakarta Airport. He returned to his apartment alone, with no need for security.
“It's a different world here,” Hubner says of his quiet life in Wolverhampton. “When I go back to Europe, I feel like I'm living my life and there's no stress. There's a crazy side to Indonesia. There's no privacy. No matter where you go, someone's always recording you. That's a good thing, but… It's also good to get back to your own space and privacy.
“When I landed in Indonesia, I tried to hide myself with a hat and mask, but they recognized me right away. Security guards and police also wanted to take pictures with me. I wanted to take pictures. There were 50 to 60 people. My family is pretty famous now. I created an Instagram account for my mom, and she has almost 50,000 followers. When she first went to Indonesia, she asked why people wanted to take pictures with her.
When fans meet Hibner, he says, it's not uncommon for them to become emotional. Some people cried. His mother Bridget has been receiving direct messages from fans who dream of marrying her son. This star element is something the club is looking to exploit.
“Dallas was aware of that,” goaltender Paes said. “There has been a huge boost in terms of engagement with the club. If I play for the club they will also help me a lot so I want to help them as much as possible. My main focus It’s about not putting the ball in the net for them, but it’s about helping to build this club and raise awareness.”
Ferdinan's new club, Oxford, is co-owned by Indonesian businessman Eric Tohir, who helped bring Oxford back into the second division after a 25-year hiatus. Tohir was also appointed president of the Indonesian Football Association last year, and is responsible for promoting the improvement of the national team, youth teams and broader football across Indonesia.
“The exciting thing about Marcelino is that he is the best young talent in Indonesia,” Tohir says. “He is 20 years old, playing and training in Belgium.
“At Oxford we need to invest in young players. He is young but he has played over 20 times for the national team so the Oxford manager wants to give him a chance and that is the most important That's it.
“The more recognition he brings to Oxford, the more value he brings.
“We want to give every player who can play a chance,” he added. “Now let's see if Marcelino can survive at Oxford because we are not giving him any red carpet or VIP treatment. He has to compete.”
(Top photo: Robertus Pudyanto, Mohamed Farag, Zhizhao Wu, Noushad Thekkayil, Getty Images, Design: Meech Robinson)
