PSSI CONFIDENT OF INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT BACKING

“We’re waiting for the government to make their decision whether they will back the bid,” said PSSI secretary-general Nugraha Besoes to Reuters.

“It involves so many ministries and a lot of deep, internal discussions before we can get the guarantees we want, but we’re very optimistic they’ll get behind this.”

The surprise bid pledges to build seven new stadiums with matches to be played in 11 major cities.

“The bid is still going on, we are still very serious about having the World Cup Finals here,” Nugraha said.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, have only qualified for one World Cup in 1938 as the Dutch East Indies.

They will compete with Australia, England, Japan, Holland and Belgium, Russia, Spain and Portugal, United States, Qatar and South Korea to host the event, with FIFA announcing the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 editions in December.