Ilja Spasojevic has gained his Indonesia Citizenship, it makes him eligible to play for Indonesia National Team. He has been called up by Indonesia Coach Luis Milla for a friendly against Syria U23 and Guyana NT. Interesting story is he got a called to play for the Montenegro NT for the WC qualifiers earlier this year but he rejected it because he wanted to play for Indonesia NT.
Some highlights and goals from Piala Presiden 2018 group stage : Arema vs Persela Bali United vs Borneo FC Persija vs PSPS Sriwijaya vs PSM Makassar
This year for preseason my team PDRM from Malaysia went to Yogjakarta in Indonesia for a pre season tournament. In 7 days we played 4 games. 1. PSS Sleman 2. Kuala Lumpur Fc 3.Pakindo MP 4 Borneo FC.. Here are some of the behind the scenes of that week..
AFC Nations Ecosystem Ranking https://kassiesa.net/uefa/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=6034 I carried out some extensive research on the AFC nations and about where their programs stand right now. Here are the results: It's important to know that my grading system refers from 1 (lowest grade possible) to 10 (highest grade possible). NT form = national team form since the 2019 Asian Cup. Other than the Asian Cup, the World Cup qualifiers, the World Cup itself, the Gulf Cup, the AFF Championship and the Arab Cup 2021 are considered. Also friendlies for the lesser ranked nations who play less competitive matches. The weighting for "NT form" was 50% Youth = youth reusults in the last decade (last 8-10 years). Competitions taken into account include the U23 Asian Cup, U20 Asian Cup and the Asian Games as it's an U23 competition plus only three overage players. U17 results were not considered. A rating system was adopted to hand out points for a nation's final position in the final standings of each competition taken into account. The weighting for "youth" was 20%. Pedigree refers to a national team's results in the most important competitions since 2004 i.e. five World Cup cycles and five Asian Cup cycles are considered. Again competitions like the Gulf Cup and the AFF Champinship were taken into account. The weighting for "pedigree" was 20% Club success refers to a league's results in the two highest tier Asian club competitions i.e. AFC CL and AFC Cup since the 2016/2017 season. A rating system was developed in order to calculate a league's performance. Since the gap between first and second tier competition is big (probably bigger than in UEFA) my point system rewarded i.e. a quarterfinal run in the AFC CL more than winning the AFC Cup. The weighting for "club success" was only 10%. If two nations have the same overall grade the nation ranks first that has a better "NT form". Nation_____________________Grade 1. Japan__________________9.90 NT Form___________________10 Youth______________________9.5 Pedigree___________________10 Club success_______________10 2. South Korea____________9.30 NT Form___________________9.0 Youth______________________10 Pedigree___________________9.0 Club success_______________10 3. Australia________________8.15 NT Form___________________8.5 Youth______________________8.0 Pedigree___________________9.0 Club success_______________5.0 4. Iran____________________8.00 NT Form___________________8.5 Youth______________________6.5 Pedigree___________________8.0 Club success_______________8.5 5. Saudi Arabia____________8.00 NT Form___________________8.0 Youth______________________8.5 Pedigree___________________6.5 Club success_______________10 6. Qatar__________________7.05 NT Form___________________7.5 Youth______________________7.0 Pedigree___________________6.0 Club success_______________7.0 7. Iraq____________________6.95 NT Form___________________7.0 Youth______________________8.5 Pedigree___________________6.5 Club success_______________4.5 8. Uzbekistan_____________6.90 NT Form___________________6.5 Youth______________________9.5 Pedigree___________________6.0 Club success_______________5.5 9. UAE____________________6.40 NT Form___________________6.5 Youth______________________7.0 Pedigree___________________5.5 Club success_______________6.5 10. Jordan________________6.30 NT Form___________________7.0 Youth______________________6.5 Pedigree___________________5.5 Club success_______________4.0 11. China_________________5.95 NT Form___________________6.0 Youth______________________5.5 Pedigree___________________5.5 Club success_______________7.5 12. Bahrain_______________5.50 NT Form___________________7.0 Youth______________________2.5 Pedigree___________________5.5 Club success_______________4.0 13. Vietnam______________5.40 NT Form___________________6.0 Youth______________________7.0 Pedigree___________________4.0 Club success_______________2.0 14. Thailand______________5.35 NT Form___________________6.0 Youth______________________6.0 Pedigree___________________3.5 Club success_______________4.5 15. North Korea___________5.30 NT Form___________________5.0 Youth______________________7.0 Pedigree___________________5.5 Club success_______________3.0 16. Oman_________________4.95 NT Form___________________7.0 Youth______________________1.5 Pedigree___________________4.5 Club success_______________2.5 17. Syria__________________4.80 NT Form___________________5.5 Youth______________________5.0 Pedigree___________________4.0 Club success_______________2.5 18. Palestine______________3.65 NT Form___________________5.0 Youth______________________3.0 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________1.5 19. Lebanon______________3.60 NT Form___________________5.0 Youth______________________1.0 Pedigree___________________2.5 Club success_______________4.0 20. Malaysia______________3.60 NT Form___________________4.5 Youth______________________3.0 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________3.5 21. Tajikistan_____________3.55 NT Form___________________4.5 Youth______________________4.0 Pedigree___________________1.0 Club success_______________3.0 22. Kuwait________________3.40 NT Form___________________4.5 Youth______________________2.0 Pedigree___________________3.0 Club success_______________1.5 23. Indonesia_____________3.15 NT Form___________________3.5 Youth______________________4.0 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________2.0 24. Kyrgyzstan____________3.10 NT Form___________________4.5 Youth______________________1.5 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________1.5 25. Turkmenistan__________3.05 NT Form___________________4.0 Youth______________________2.0 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________2.5 26. India__________________3.00 NT Form___________________4.0 Youth______________________1.0 Pedigree___________________2.0 Club success_______________4.0 IMO the highest ranked 17 nations can eye a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Remember that with the expansion to 48 teams the AFC has 8+1 sposts for the World Cup. I think it will be an absolute dogfight for the last three four spots behind the usual suspects Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.