World Cup winners Argentina will visit Indonesia next month for a friendly against its national team, its top football official said on Wednesday, in a boost for a country that has suffered a succession of recent soccer setbacks.
The visit will be part of an Asian tour by the South American side that also includes a June 15 stop in Beijing for a friendly against Australia.
The announcement comes at a time when Argentina is hosting the Under-20 World Cup as a replacement for Muslim-majority Indonesia, which in March was stripped of the tournament over domestic resistance to the participation of Israel.
The friendly will take place eight months after Indonesia suffered one of the world's deadliest stadium stampedes, with 135 people killed in a scramble to flee as police fired tear gas into the stands in Malang in East Java.
Though soccer is huge in the country of 270 million people, Indonesia has struggled to make its mark in the international game since a single World Cup appearance back in 1938 as the Dutch East Indies.
Its fans are, however, currently on a high from last week winning the gold medal at the South East Asian Games for the first time since 1991.
"This is great momentum for Indonesian soccer to maintain its resurgence," Erick Thohir, chief of the Indonesia football association (PSSI) told a press conference on the Argentina match.
Erick, a former owner of Serie A side Inter Milan, did not specify the date for the match, which Argentina's football association said on Twitter would be on June 19.
Asked if captain Lionel Messi would be coming to Indonesia, he said "I believe Argentina will bring their best team."
The visit had nothing to do with Argentina hosting the youth tournament instead of Indonesia, but was based on "mutual cooperation" between them, he said, adding Inter's former Argentine defender Javier Zanetti had played a role.
Argentina and Indonesia last met in the World Youth Championship in Japan in 1979, a match in which the great Diego Maradona played. Indonesia lost 5-0.
The friendly will take place eight months after Indonesia suffered one of the world’s deadliest stadium stampedes, with 135 people killed in a scramble to flee as police fired tear gas into the stands in Malang in East Java.
Though football is huge in the country of 280 million people, Indonesia has struggled to make its mark in the international game since a single World Cup appearance back in 1938 as the Dutch East Indies.
Its fans are, however, currently on a high from last week, with Indonesia winning the gold medal at the SEA Games for the first time since 1991.
“This is great momentum for Indonesian soccer to maintain its resurgence,” Erick Thohir, chief of the Indonesia football association (PSSI), said on the Argentina match.
Erick, a former owner of Serie A side Inter Milan, did not specify the date for the match, but Argentina’s football association said on Twitter it would be on June 19.
The PSSI also said details on the match still need to be ironed out, but it is likely that it will be played at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium in Jakarta.
Asked if Argentina’s superstar captain Lionel Messi would be coming to Indonesia, Erick said: “I believe Argentina will bring their best team.”
The visit had nothing to do with Argentina hosting the youth tournament instead of Indonesia, but was based on “mutual cooperation” between them, he said, adding that Inter’s former Argentinian defender Javier Zanetti had played a role.
Argentina and Indonesia last met in the World Youth Championship in Japan in 1979, a match in which the great Diego Maradona played. Indonesia lost 5-0.
Want to Play Messi’s Argentina? Prepare to Pay Up.
All told, there were around a dozen offers for officials at Argentina’s national soccer federation to contemplate. They came, largely, from the game’s commercially lucrative emerging markets: the United States, China, Australia, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates. The only outlier, really, was an unlikely bid from Bangladesh.
Each suitor wanted the same thing — the chance to host Lionel Messi and Argentina in one of two designated windows for friendly matches this summer — but all had their own motivation. Some were inspired by the sporting prestige of gracing the same field as the World Cup champions. For others, the potential benefits strayed into the political.
They were all, though, prepared to pay for the privilege. Each offer promised the A.F.A., Argentina’s soccer federation, not just a slice of ticket sales, television rights and commercial revenue from the games, but an eye-watering appearance fee, too.
Five months since it won the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina has become the most in-demand, and possibly the most expensive, opponent in international soccer. The going rate for a single game with the world champion has climbed so high that $5 million is now just the starting point, according to officials with knowledge of the discussions.
The identity of the winning bids for the two matches in June is not yet official. The A.F.A. is continuing to assess its options, and will only make a firm decision once Lionel Scaloni, the national team’s coach, indicates he is comfortable with their plans.
Sources inside a number of the national associations involved, though, have suggested that the most likely schedule is for Argentina to play its first game in China — possibly against Australia, pending Scaloni’s approval — and then travel to Indonesia for a game against a host team currently ranked 149th in the world. ,
Those matchups illustrate the extent to which the benefits of a meeting with the reigning world champion stretch far beyond the sporting. Such is Argentina’s cachet, in light of its victory in Qatar, that Australia’s soccer authorities have been encouraged to agree to host a game in China in the hope that it might strengthen political and economic ties between the countries, according to an official involved in the talks. The Indonesia game could be seen as a similarly pragmatic reward: Last month, Argentina stepped in as host of this year’s Under-20 World Championship after Indonesia was stripped of the tournament over protests against Israel’s involvement.
That schedule would, however, mean passing on an encounter to play in the United States, though only for the time being. In recent years, the A.F.A. has embarked on a plan to increase both its commercial revenue and its reach — traditionally overshadowed by its archrival, Brazil — as part of a strategic attempt to capitalize on its global appeal.
Recent success has played into that. After lifting the Copa América trophy in 2021, its first major international honor since 1995 and Messi’s maiden championship with his country, Argentina could claim more sponsors and partners than any other national team on the planet.
That expanded again after Qatar. The A.F.A. has signed deals with four more partners, largely in India and Bangladesh, in the months since the World Cup. There has been a downstream effect for the country’s domestic league, too: It has more sponsors for this season than it has had at any point in its history.
It is the United States, though, that is Argentina’s “priority for the next four years,” said Leandro Petersen, the A.F.A.’s chief commercial and marketing officer. To deepen that connection, the federation plans to build a $10 million training facility in North Bay Village, Fla., a tiny outcrop of land between Miami and Miami Beach, to act as a gathering spot for its national teams during international breaks.
The complex may be just the first of a number of facilities in the United States: The A.F.A. is also considering establishing a physical presence in several other cities as part of what Petersen called a “landing strategy.”
Argentina’s national team is scheduled to play on American soil in both 2024 and 2026 — first to defend its Copa América crown, and later its World Cup championship — but the A.F.A. would like to make the team’s visits an annual event. It is likely to arrange at least one game in North America in 2025 as part of its preparations for the World Cup, and may even seek to face Mexico — which now plays the bulk of its friendlies in America — and the United States that year.
Neither nation would, in all likelihood, turn down that chance. After all, Argentina is now the biggest show in town: not only the world champion but, thanks to its nerve-shredding, emotional journey through Qatar, the most compelling team on the planet. Sharing the field with Messi and Co. these days, it would seem, is almost priceless.
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