Indonesia-Jordan friendly cancelled: security concerns reshape November international window

Indonesia will not travel to Amman to face Jordan on 13 November. The Jordan Football Association officially announced the cancellation on Thursday 5 November, saying the request had come from its Indonesian counterpart, PSSI. The following day, an official from PSSI confirmed to Reuters that security considerations had weighed in the decision. Jordan’s match against Australia, scheduled for 17 November in the same city, remains in place for now. The episode leaves Indonesia without a confirmed opponent for this window and raises a broader question: how can international trips be organised when perceived risks, the calendar and sporting preparation are all changing at the same time?

Cancellation requested by PSSI

The statement from the Jordan Football Association, published on 5 November, says the match was due to be played in Amman on Friday 13 November and that Indonesia had requested its cancellation, apologising for being unable to honour the fixture. The statement does not set out the reasons for the decision.

Those reasons were clarified by a PSSI official, quoted by Reuters on 6 November: the regional situation and its possible effects on the players’ psychological well-being had been taken into account. Indonesia FA president Erick Thohir also told national news agency ANTARA that player safety had motivated the decision. The distinction matters: the cancellation is an official fact; the risk assessment is the responsibility of the federations and those in charge of the trip, and does not in itself amount to a claim that an incident had targeted the team.

Australia fixture remains scheduled, but discussions are ongoing

Jordan is officially keeping its friendly against Australia, scheduled for 17 November at Amman International Stadium. Its federation confirmed this in the same statement announcing the cancellation of the Indonesia match. But the published schedule does not mean the controversy is over: according to The Guardian, citing the Australian Associated Press, Australian players, through their union Professional Footballers Australia, have requested that the match be moved or rescheduled.

The union says it has consulted its own security specialists and reports that the players largely support the request. This position is distinct from a decision by Football Australia: the outlet reports that no definitive response from the Australian federation was known at the time of publication. Reuters also says the announcement of Australia’s squad had been postponed, without official confirmation linking the delay to a change of venue. The situation therefore calls for a clear distinction between established facts — the players’ request and the match still being on Jordan’s schedule — and decisions that are still pending.

Asian Cup postponement reduces the immediate value of the friendlies

These November matches had been planned as preparations for the 2027 Asian Cup. However, on 3 November, the Asian Football Confederation moved the tournament, originally scheduled to run from 7 January to 5 February 2027, to 23 December 2027–21 January 2028. The AFC announcement says the new dates still need to be submitted to FIFA for approval.

For Indonesia, the change takes away some of the immediate role these November matches would have played in preparing for the tournament. Erick Thohir acknowledged this to ANTARA: the coaching staff and national team board now need to discuss a “plan B”. This is a tangible sporting consequence, but not a sufficient reason to accept a trip that officials consider concerning. The postponement also gives coaches more time before the continental competition, while making the preparation planned for this window less directly comparable.

Replacement opponent still to be confirmed

The Indonesian official quoted by Reuters believes another match could be sought during the international window, but says the time available makes this difficult. ANTARA reports that Thohir has entrusted the discussion to the national team staff and John Herdman. No official announcement of a new opponent or venue was available in the sources consulted at the time of writing.

For the coaching staff, the choice is not simply a matter of replacing one fixture with another. A different opponent and venue would alter the level of opposition, travel arrangements and the time available to prepare the squad. A match organised at short notice can keep players active, but it does not automatically reproduce the technical objective of a fixture planned well in advance. Conversely, foregoing a friendly does not prevent the staff from working: depending on the options ultimately chosen, the window could also be used to assess players and strengthen combinations.

The schedule now depends as much on decisions as on the situation

The affair brings together three areas of responsibility that should not be conflated: Jordan, which wants to retain its home schedule; Indonesia, which requested the cancellation of its own trip; and Australia, whose players have expressed reservations about the 17 November match. The available information does not allow us to conclude that the situation will be the same for every delegation, or to predict the outcome of the discussions in Australia.

For Indonesia, the immediate priority is to clarify its schedule without presenting a replacement match as a certainty. For Jordan and Australia, the challenge is to reach an explicit decision about the venue and whether the fixture will go ahead, taking account of security assessments and the players’ positions. Until these points are confirmed, the announced schedule should be read as provisional for the discussions involving Australia, but officially maintained by the Jordanian federation.

The important news on 6 November is therefore not just the loss of a friendly: it is the uncertainty spreading to part of the November international programme. What happens next will depend on announcements from the federations and whether a replacement option is available. As things stand, only the Indonesia-Jordan cancellation is confirmed; the other scenarios remain open.