Maarten Paes is the starting goalkeeper for Dallas in Major League Soccer. Yet no one would notice him as he walked down a busy street in Dallas, Texas.
This is not the case online. Or in Indonesia.
Like his teammates in the Indonesian national team, Paes has been mobbed when he visits the country and he has a large following on social media, far beyond what is expected from a player who has yet to cause problems at football’s highest echelons.
Paes, 26, who was born in the Netherlands but became an Indonesian citizen in April, has been stunned by his rapid social media growth – he has 1.7 million followers on Instagram and 1.2 million on TikTok.
“You know it before it happens because you’ve seen it happen to other players. It’s a big country and they all love football.
The 26-year-old knew he was eligible to play for Indonesia for a few years, but he was contacted again late last year. “At that time, my grandmother’s health was declining,” he said.
“She was from there and I talked to her a lot about it. It was the one thing I could do to make her smile at the end of her life. That meant a lot to me. She said, ‘If I’m really happy that you’re willing to do this.” So she encouraged me and it was an honor to do this for her.
His life changed when news broke that he was moving to Indonesia. “That’s when I felt like I needed to have a different relationship with my social media in a different way, and you kind of put it aside for a while because it can be a little overwhelming,” he said. “It’s surreal that all of a sudden you have so many followers and such adoration from such a large crowd.”
Paes, who represents the Dutch youth team, played the first two games for the Indonesian team during the recent break. He said the goalless draw against Australia in front of more than 70,000 fans at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was an eye-opener.
“It was like the first time it hit me, how big it was,” he said. “You see it online, you see the numbers, but you can’t really understand it. And then we couldn’t leave the hotel without security.
Oxford United, ranked ninth in England’s second tier, rarely generate much attention on social media, but in August a video they posted on Instagram was viewed 5.2 million times.
Australian A-League side Brisbane Roar have seen a similarly bizarre uptick in engagement on social channels this month. Like Oxford, Brisbane’s videos posted to Instagram are often viewed thousands of times. However, the consecutive videos Roar posted to Instagram received 4.5 million and 1.7 million views respectively.
explain? You’ve guessed it: two Indonesian football superstars are coming in the summer, young national team players Marcelino Ferdinand and Raphael Struck.
Ferdinand is a 20-year-old attacking midfielder who joined Oxford from Belgian second division side Deinze last month. Struck is a 21-year-old forward who joined Brisbane (part of the Indonesian Bakrie Group) this month from ADO Den Haag in the Dutch second tier.
None of them are household names, at least in Europe or Australia, nor do they come from high-profile clubs.
Within days of Ferdinand joining Oxford, their Instagram following increased from 83,000 to 226,000. Some of Brisbane’s previous posts received fewer than 10 replies. Struick’s announcement had 9,000.
This is the Indonesian effect. This Southeast Asian country has a population of over 280 million, and football is the number one sport. Cue the admiration for national team players and the fanaticism online and offline.
To illustrate this, here are some statistics Competitor Compare Indonesia’s starting lineup to that of the U.S. Men’s National Team – but we’re not taking expected goals or progressive passes into account. We are comparing Instagram followers.
Indonesia’s starting lineup for the World Cup qualifier against Australia has a total of 26.9 million followers on Instagram. The 11 clubs they play for have a combined following of less than 10 million on the same app.
By comparison, the U.S. national team’s last starting lineup in a friendly against New Zealand only had 1.4 million fans.
The number could have been higher, but AC Milan forward Christian Pulisic, who has 7.8 million followers on Instagram, was on the bench.
What should highlight when comparing the two starting line-ups is the level of support among Indonesian players compared to a country of more than 335 million people that will host the Men’s World Cup in 2026.
In Indonesia’s goalless draw with Australia, the only players in the starting line-up with fewer fans than their clubs were Rizky Ridho and Justin Hubner, with the former playing for He plays for the Indonesian first division team Jakarta, who plays for Wolves.
The 21-year-old Huebner joined the Wolves youth team in 2020. It’s the same as playing for Wolves.
“I couldn’t leave my hotel[in Indonesia]because there were people waiting for me, running towards me. It was crazy wherever I went. Competitor. “If I walk into a store and walk out, there might be 100 people waiting. I’m their idol, so they’re waiting for me, asking for photos and autographs.
More on social media and the world of football…
Huebner was born in the Netherlands and worked with Xavi Simons (an Instagram star in Barcelona as a teenager who had 1 million followers by the age of 14 and now plays for RB Leipzig). Plays for the Dutch youth national team. Since Indonesia was once a Dutch colony, an increasing number of players in the national team have dual nationality.
“I had about 5,000 followers on Instagram, and when fans realized I was of Indonesian descent, that grew to 30,000, and now I have 2.7 million followers,” Hubner said. “Everything is moving so fast as far as social media is concerned. Everything is coming from brand offers. There are so many things coming to me now. It’s a dream.
the day before speaking Competitorhis deal with deodorant company Rexona was launched. “Many of my teammates at Wolves joked, ‘Can I switch the national team to Indonesia?'”
“But people here support me and are happy for me. They also want followers because it’s good to have followers, but it’s not about followers, what’s important is that I’m playing for the national team and everything that comes with that Really good.
Hubner spent last season on loan at Japanese side Cerezo Osaka, where he said there were always Indonesian fans watching his games, but when he returned to England after two World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Australia , and there was no welcome party like there was supposed to be at Jakarta Airport. He returned to his apartment alone and did not need security.
“It’s a different world,” Huebner says of his quiet life in Wolverhampton. “When I come back to Europe, it’s like I’m living my life, no pressure. In Indonesia, there’s a crazy side. You don’t have privacy, there’s always someone recording wherever you go, which is nice, but back to yourself The space and privacy are also great.
“When I arrived in Indonesia, I tried to hide myself with a hat and a mask, but they recognized me immediately. Even security and the police wanted to take pictures with me. There were 50 to 60 people who wanted to take pictures. My family is also famous now . I created an Instagram account for my mom and she had almost 50,000 followers. The first time she went to Indonesia, she asked why people wanted to take pictures with her.
When fans meet Huebner, he says it’s not uncommon for them to be emotionally overwhelmed. Some people cried. His mother, Brigitte, received direct messages from fans who dreamed of marrying her son. That star factor is something the club is trying to capitalize on.
“Dallas has taken notice,” goalkeeper Pace said. “There’s been a huge increase in club involvement. If I play for a club I like to help them as much as possible because they’ve given me a lot of help too. My main focus is to keep the ball out of the net but to help build that Club, raising awareness.
Ferdinand’s new club Oxford is co-owned by Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir, who helped the club return to the second division after a 25-year hiatus. Tohir was also appointed president of the Indonesian Football Association last year and is committed to improving the standards of the Indonesian national team, youth teams and wider football.
“The exciting thing about Marcelino is that he is the best young talent in Indonesia,” Thohir said. “He is 20 years old and has been playing and training in Belgium.
“We need to invest in young players at Oxford. He is young but he has played more than 20 times for our national team, so the Oxford coach wants to give him a chance and that is the most important thing.
“If he brings more visibility to Oxford, that’s additional value.
“We want to give an opportunity to any player who can play,” he added. “So let’s see if Marselino can survive in Oxford because we don’t offer any red carpet or VIP treatment. He has to compete.
(Top: Robertus Pudyanto, Mohamed Farag, Zhizhao Wu, Noushad Thekkayil, Getty Images; Design: Meech Robinson)
