Crisis of local coaches in League 1, three promoted clubs opt for foreign tacticians

According to Bolasport.com, Indonesian football is facing a crisis in the availability of qualified local coaches — both at national team level and domestic competition.

This situation becomes evident as three promoted League 1 clubs decided to replace their local coaches with foreign tacticians. PSIM Yogyakarta released Erwan Hendarwanto to be replaced by Jean-Paul van Gastel, Bhayangkara FC removed Hanim Sugiarto to bring in Paul Munster, while Persijap Jepara replaced Widodo C Putro with Mario Lemos.

Malut United — the last club still trusting a local coach in League 1 — has recently dismissed their native tactician. This condition differs from Malaysia which still has Ong Kim Swee as a local coach in their top-tier league.

At national team level, the tradition of pairing local assistants with foreign coaches has also ended — Patrick Kluivert has no Indonesian assistant in his coaching staff lineup.