The dream of the Rajah of Makassar: a prince from Spain must lead Indonesia to the 2026 World Cup

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Noble blood in professional football is a rare commodity. There is the story of the ‘richest footballer in the world’, Faiq Bolkiah, who pursues a career as a footballer in Thailand as Prince of Brunei. And then – also in Southeast Asia – there is the much lesser-known story of Jordi Amat (31).

Amat, a Catalan who has completed all of Furia Roja’s youth academy, recently became an Indonesian international. And has the dream of leading the island state with 275 million inhabitants to the next World Cup in 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico. This will be possible thanks to his experience as a defender for many years in the Premier League (Swansea) and LaLiga (Espanyol Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano).

Royal blood thanks to the grandmother

But how come a Spaniard suddenly plays for Indonesia? Especially since he doesn’t even play there, but now makes his money in another Asian country, namely Malaysia with series champion Johor DT? The answer is extraordinary: Amat’s grandmother comes from a royal family from the Indonesian province of Sulawesi.

This means that the footballer not only has Indonesian citizenship, but as the first-born of his generation he also has the title of Rajah, a ruler from the time of the Ottoman Empire. Amat is the direct descendant of the 14th and 17th kings of Sulawesi, Jacob Ponto (1850-1889) and Manalang Doelag Kansil (1895-1908). Since 2022, he is also a member of the Royal Council of the Sultanate of Nusantara. He said in an interview with FIFA that he expects to be officially crowned prince soon. All this while you keep kicking the ball at work every day.

Going to the World Cup with Indonesia?

Amat was naturalized in 2022 and has since represented his grandmother’s homeland internationally. Playing for Indonesia is a great honor for the heir apparent of Sulawesi. “Defending the colors of such a great country makes you proud,” he explains.

Given the vast reservoir of sporting talent in the world’s fourth most populous country, Amat believes there is great potential in Indonesia. “Our goal must be to quickly break into the top 100 in the world.”

Thanks to the expansion of the World Cup field to 48 countries from 2026, Amat sees a real opportunity to participate in the next tournament with Indonesia. “I truly believe we will see a significant upturn in the coming years. The expansion of the World Cup was monumental news for us and for all of Southeast Asia.”

The road to the World Cup is anything but easy for Indonesia, despite a blue-blooded defense team. First you have to win a play-off against Brunei. If successful, Indonesia will qualify for the second qualifying round, where it will play in a group against Vietnam, Iraq and the Philippines. The two group winners will advance to the third and final qualifying stage, where the Asian World Cup participants will be played in three groups of six.

Source : Blick