Maarten Paes: See you in September!

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Maarten Paes glad to get the last chance to defend it Indonesia national team. Paes can’t wait 2026 World Cup Qualifier next month.

After winning an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last August 15, PSSI was able to use the services of Paes in the Indonesian National Team.

This is a sweet end to Indonesia’s struggle to get Paes to play. Paes’ future was unclear after he went natural on April 30 last year.

The reason is, Paes once defended the Dutch national team in the age group division when he was 22 years old. At the same time, FIFA has a rule that players cannot play for another country over the age of 21 when they want to change associations.

Paes himself was part of the Netherlands age group team. Starting from the Netherlands U-19, U-20 and U-21, these are the teams he played for in the period 2016-2020.

Now Paes no longer has to worry because he can be called up to the Garuda team starting from the 2026 World Cup Qualifier in September. In that month, Indonesia will meet Saudi Arabia on September 6, before hosting Australia on September 10.

Paes also couldn’t wait to get into action in front of the Indonesian National Team supporters who packed the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

“It’s an honor to join the Indonesian National Team. I’ll see you in September,” Paes said on his X account, including a bird’s head emoji and a red and white flag.

(mrp/flight)