Maarten Paes is the starting goalkeeper for the Major League Soccer team FC Dallas. But he could walk down a busy street in Dallas, Texas and no one would recognize him.
Not so online. Or in Indonesia.
Like his Indonesian teammates, Paes attracts crowds whenever he visits the country and has a huge social media following, much larger than would be expected from a player who is yet to cause trouble at the top echelons of football.
Paes, 26, was born in the Netherlands but became an Indonesian citizen in April and has been shocked by the rapid growth of his social media presence. He has 1.7 million followers on Instagram and 1.2 million followers on TikTok.
“You know before it happens because you’ve seen it happen to other players. It’s a really big country and everyone loves soccer,” says Paes.
The 26-year-old has known he could play for Indonesia for several years, but the team contacted him again late last year. “At that time, my grandmother’s health was declining,” he says.
“She’s from there and I’ve talked to her a lot about it. Making her smile during the last moments of her life was something I could do. That was huge for me. She said, ‘I would love it if you would do that.’ So she encouraged me and it was an honor to do this for her.”
When news broke that he was moving to Indonesia, his life changed. “At that time, I felt like I needed to engage with social media in a different way. I could put it on the back burner because it can be a bit overwhelming,” he says. “It’s surreal that suddenly you have so many followers and the love of the crowd.”
Paes, a Dutch youth international, played his first two matches for Indonesia during the recent break. He said the team held a goalless draw against Australia, who are 109 places above Indonesia in the FIFA World Rankings, in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
“I think the first thing that struck me about this whole thing was how big it was,” he says. “When I look at the numbers on the Internet, I can’t get my head around it. Then we couldn’t leave the hotel without security.”
Oxford United, who sit ninth in the English second-tier Championship, rarely do much on social media, but a video they posted on Instagram last August garnered 5.2 million views.
Australian A-League team Brisbane Roar has also seen an interesting increase in engagement across its social channels this month. Like Oxford, Brisbane’s videos posted on Instagram typically get viewed thousands of times. However, subsequent videos posted to Instagram garnered Roar 4.5 million views and 1.7 million views.
explanation? As you may have guessed, two Indonesian football superstars arrived in the summer – national team youngsters Marselino Ferdinan and Rafael Struick.
Ferdinan (20) is a 20-year-old attacking midfielder who transferred to Oxford from the Belgian second division team Dane last month. Struick is a 21-year-old forward who joined Brisbane (owned by Indonesian conglomerate Bakri Group) from ADO Den Haag in Dutch football’s second tier this month.
He didn’t arrive as a celebrity, at least not in Europe or Australia, nor did he come from a famous club.
Within days of Ferdinan joining Oxford, his Instagram following increased from 83,000 to 226,000. Some of Brisbane’s previous posts received fewer than 10 replies. Struick’s presentation had 9,000.
This is the Indonesian effect. The Southeast Asian country has a population of over 280 million people and soccer is its top sport. Cue worship and fanaticism for national team players both online and offline.
To illustrate the point: athletic We are going to compare Indonesia’s starting XI to the US Men’s National Team starting XI. However, it does not take into account expected goals or progressive passes. Comparing Instagram followers.
Indonesia’s starting XI ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Australia has a total of 26.9 million Instagram followers. Their 11 clubs all have less than 10m followers on the same app.
By comparison, the USMNT’s last starting XI in a friendly against New Zealand had a total of 1.4 million followers.
That number could have been higher, but AC Milan striker Christian Pulisic, who has 7.8 million followers on Instagram, was on the bench.
What should be highlighted in comparing the two starting XIs is the level of support for Indonesian players compared to, for example, the country of over 335 million people that will host the 2026 Men’s World Cup.
The only players in Indonesia’s starting XI for the goalless draw with Australia with a smaller following than the club they play for are Riziki Lido, who plays as a centre-back for Indonesian Liga 1 side Persija Jakarta, and Justin Hubner, who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Premier League.
Hubner, 21, joined Wolves’ youth team in 2020. He is yet to feature for the senior team and plays most of his matches at academy level, but is treated as if he plays seven days a week for the national team. That is the fanfare that Real Madrid experiences online and offline.
“I can’t leave my hotel (in Indonesia) because there are people running to me waiting for me. “It’s such a mess wherever you go.” Hubner says: athletic. “If you go into the store and leave, there will be about 100 people waiting. “They are waiting for me for pictures and autographs because I am their idol.”
Learn more about the world of social media and football…
Hubner was born in the Netherlands and played for the Netherlands youth national team alongside Xavi Simons (an Instagram star as a teenager at Barcelona, who had one million followers before the age of 14 and currently plays for RB Leipzig). Since Indonesia was once a Dutch colony, the national team has a growing number of players with dual citizenship.
“I had about 5,000 followers on Instagram, but when my fans found out I was Indonesian, my follower count grew to 30,000 and now I have 2.7 million,” Hubner said. “Things have grown so fast in terms of social media. All about brand deals. There is so much coming to me now. “It’s a dream.”
The day before the call athleticA deal has begun with deodorant company Rexona. “A lot of people here at Wolves jokingly say, ‘Can you change the national team to Indonesia?’
“But people here support me and are happy. They also want followers because it’s nice to have followers, but it’s not about the followers. “The important thing is that I am playing for the national team and I love what comes with it.”
Hubner, who was on loan at Japanese club Cerezo Osaka last season, said there were always Indonesian fans waiting to see him, but there was no such welcome party when he returned to England after two World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Australia. It must have been at the Jakarta airport. He returned to his apartment alone, without any security guards.
Hubner says of his quiet life in Wolverhampton: “It’s a completely different world.” “When I return to Europe, it feels like I am living my own life without stress. Indonesia has a crazy side. There is no privacy, and people are recording wherever you go. While that’s a good thing, it’s also good to go back to your own space and have some privacy.
“When I arrived in Indonesia, I tried to hide myself with a hat and mask, but I was recognized right away. Even security guards and police wanted to take pictures with me. There were about 50 to 60 people who wanted to take pictures. My family is also quite famous now. I created an Instagram account for my mother and she has almost 50,000 followers. Everyone recognizes her. “When I first went to Indonesia, people asked me why they wanted to take pictures with me.”
He says it’s not uncommon for fans to be overcome with emotion when they meet Hubner. Some cried. His mother Bridget received direct messages from fans who dreamed of marrying her son. This star element is something the club is looking to capitalize on.
“Dallas was noticing it,” said goalkeeper Paes. “Participation in the club has improved significantly. When I play for a club, I want to help them as much as I can because they also help me a lot. My main focus is to help build this club and raise awareness while getting the ball out of the net.”
Ferdinan’s new club Oxford is co-owned by Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir, who helped the club return to the second tier after 25 years. Thohir was also appointed president of the Indonesian Football Association last year and is supporting efforts to improve the national team, youth teams and wider football across Indonesia.
“The interesting thing about Marcelino is that he is the best young talent in Indonesia,” says Thohir. “He is 20 years old and plays and trains in Belgium.
“We need to invest in Oxford’s young players. He is young but he has played over 20 times for our national team so the Oxford manager wants to give him a chance and that is the most important thing.
“If he brings more awareness to Oxford, that is additional value.
“We want to see opportunities for every player who can play,” he adds. “So let’s see if Marcelino can survive Oxford because we don’t have red carpets or VIP treatment. He has to compete.”
(Top photo: Robertus Pudyanto, Mohamed Farag, Zhizhao Wu, Noushad Thekkayil, Getty Images; Design: Meech Robinson)
