John Heitinga Rejects Coaching Indonesian National Team, PSSI Still Hunts for New Coach

The position of head coach for the Indonesian national team is once again under the spotlight after reports from the Netherlands stated John Heitinga declined an offer to manage the Garuda squad. Dutch media, on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, revealed that the former Ajax Amsterdam coach was not yet willing to accept PSSI's approach.

“According to several sources, PSSI recently contacted Heitinga to ask if he was interested in coaching the Indonesian national team. Heitinga declined the offer for now but is still open to the possibility in the future," wrote the Dutch online media soccernews.nl, quoted on Thursday, December 11, 2025.

This news emerged alongside rumors circulating in recent days, especially after the 42-year-old man started following the official Instagram accounts of the Indonesian National Team and PSSI Chairman, Erick Thohir. However, that step apparently wasn't enough to make Heitinga accept the offer at this time.

PSSI's move to find a new coach came after parting ways with Patrick Kluivert in October 2025, following the failure of the Garuda squad to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. 

That decision was also followed by the termination of contracts for Kluivert's entire coaching staff, including Alex Pastoor, Denny Landzaat, and Gerald Vanenburg, who also handled the Indonesian U23 national team. Not only that, the coach of the Indonesian U20 national team, Frank van Kampen, was also removed from his position.

Unlike the senior national team, the U20 and U23 squads now have new helmsmen. The U20 national team is managed by Nova Arianto, while the U23 national team is led by Indra Sjafri.

The search for a new coach continues. PSSI is said to have interviewed several European coaching candidates. However, the federation has yet to provide an official update on the selection process.

Besides Heitinga, two other strong candidates are in the running for the Indonesian national team coaching position: Giovanni van Bronckhorst and John Herdman. 

Van Bronckhorst is currently still serving as assistant manager to Arne Slot at Liverpool. Meanwhile, Herdman is known as the figure who led Canada to the 2022 World Cup before pursuing a career at Toronto FC until 2024. Herdman is now without a club.

Another name that had surfaced was Timur Kapadze. However, that opportunity closed after Kapadze officially took charge of the Uzbek club Navbahor since early December.

With one candidate having declined and several other options still in the exploratory phase, PSSI is in a crucial phase to determine the new architect behind the national team's journey towards its next international agenda.