Indonesia Bids to Host 2028 Futsal World Cup

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is bidding to host the Futsal World Cup in 2028. Erick Thohir, the president of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) revealed that the proposal has been communicated with FIFA during the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada, on April 30, 2026.

"Yes, we relayed this to them and of course, it's up to FIFA to decide," said Erick after attending the Indonesian Futsal Federation (FFI) 2026 congress on Tuesday, May 12.

According to Eric, the opportunity to host the Futsal World Cup must come alongside organizational readiness; thus, FFI must make improvements to the Indonesian national futsal team—which has been increasingly better over the years.

"This is what I always refer to as an ecosystem. As the level of play has improved, the organization must also step up," said Erick while adressing the congress, as quoted by Antara.

"We don't want to be given the chance [to host] the World Cup event only to find the organization in disarray," he said.

Indonesia previously successfully hosted the 2026 Asian Futsal Cup in Jakarta, where the country's national team made history by reaching the finals for the first time. 

Indonesia even managed to force a 5-5 draw against Iran until overtime before eventually losing 4-5 in a penalty shootout. Iran claimed its 14th title in the tournament.

The President of FFI, Michael Sianipar, acknowledged that hosting the Futsal World Cup is a big dream and hoped that the earlier success with the Asian Cup would help in applying for a world-level tournament.

"Since we have previously hosted the Asian Cup, we hope to aim for the World Cup next," said Michael, adding that while not guaranteed to host the 2028 event, possibilities remain open for Indonesia to host the following editions of the Futsal World Cup.

Indonesia has been seeing an improved performance in futsal in the past two years. In addition to being a finalist in the 2026 Asian Futsal Cup, Indonesia also won the 2024 ASEAN Futsal Cup, secured the gold medal in the 2025 SEA Games, and was the runner-up in the 2026 ASEAN Futsal Cup.

This improved performance has also led to Indonesia's futsal FIFA ranking climbing to 14th in the world from its previous position of 24th.

Erick emphasized that PSSI is not hesitant to learn from the development of futsal in Indonesia, even though FFI is under the supervision of PSSI. "We should emulate what's good in futsal, and vice versa. There's no need for rivalry," said Erick.

Read: Indonesia Futsal Team Climbs to 14th in World Rankings

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