Football is massive in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital. 433 traveled there to cover the Common Ground project from the Bundesliga. We took a deep dive into football culture in Jakarta and found out why Indonesia never produced a top level football player, even though football is the number 1 sport in this enormous country. 

When we landed in Jakarta, we drove to the training grounds of Persija Jakarta, the city’s biggest football club. Persija Jakarta is currently managed by Thomas Doll. He played for clubs like Lazio and HSV and managed clubs such as Borussia Dortmund. Thomas Doll was signed by Persija Jakarta last year to take over as the club’s manager. It’s been one big adventure for Thomas Doll so far in Jakarta.

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Napoli is on fire this season. The Italian team plays arguably the most entertaining football in Europe. They are leading the Serie A comfortably and have been impressive in the Champions League as well, beating clubs such as Ajax and Liverpool.

So what happened at Napoli? How did this squad develop into a machine? And what will happen in the city when the club wins its first national title in 33 years? We spoke with five different experts about this, to find out.

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On the sixth of January, over 250 million Indonesians held their breath, when their national team walked onto the pitch for the semifinal of the AFF championship in a game between Indonesia versus Vietnam. This was a massive game for Indonesia. The players lined up for the national anthem. Ten of them were born and raised in Indonesia, however one stood out: a player from Europe, who somehow became an adored international player for Indonesia.

This is the story of the man who is often called the David Beckham of Southeast Asia. Marc Klok was born and raised in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He played as a midfielder in Bulgaria and Scotland, before making a surprise move to the Indonesian league back in 2017. When Klok arrived in Indonesia, he thrived both on and off the pitch. He managed to become an Indonesian international player, even though he had no Indonesian roots. He has also captained their national football team several times over the last twelve months. 

We scheduled a call with Marc Klok for a podcast, to find out how he became the David Beckham of Southeast Asia. Welcome to the 433 podcast.

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For this episode, we traveled to south London to meet up with Arsenal talent Reiss Nelson. He’s from the area and we got together to chat at his old primary school, where he was opening an astroturf pitch he donated. Nelson made it as a professional footballer, but he saw lots of talented kids from his neighborhood go down a different path in life, ending up in jail, or falling victim to knife crime. That’s why he dedicates his time and money to where he grew up.

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Jamal Musiala will become one of the biggest players in international football, if he isn’t already. He’s nineteen years old and a regular starter for Bayern Munich for the third season in a row already. Magic happens when he has the ball at his feet, crowds hold their breath. He’s Germany’s Golden Boy, nicknamed Bambi. The world got to witness his talent during the World Cup as well, where he was the only bright spark in Germany’s disastrous tournament. We got to meet Jamal Musiala at his home near Munich, to talk about his meteoric rise in football.

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The USA will travel to the World Cup in Qatar with the youngest squad of the tournament. After missing out on the 2018 World Cup, the team went through a massive overhaul. DeAndre Yedlin is the last man standing from the squad who went to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The USA now has a very interesting team, full of promising young players who haven’t yet reached their full potential, such as Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Sergino Dest. What can we expect from this squad at the upcoming World Cup? And what’s the local football culture like in the US, where MLS is growing fast? We spoke with a USMNT legend, an American football journalist and a current USA international, to find out.

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Ghana has graced the world with several legendary football players, such as Michael Essien, Anthony Yeboah and Abedi Pele. But how is the local football culture structured in Ghana? And what can we expect from Ghana at the upcoming World Cup? That’s what we’re going to find out in this episode. We spoke with a current Ghanaian international, as well as a Ghanaian football journalist, to get the answers to those questions.

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During the coming weeks we will shed some light on the football culture of different countries that have qualified for the upcoming World Cup. From Cameroon to Australia, and from the United States to Ghana. In this episode we dive into the culture of a country best known for its delicious tacos, mariachi music and fearless football: Mexico.

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