Bagas began following the Foxes at the turn of the century, around the age of 10, and it was love at first sight. Although it has since become much easier to watch games from Jakarta, he still harbours dreams of visiting King Power Stadium and seeing his side in person.
“When I was in primary school, I watched Liverpool against Leicester at Anfield,” he explained. “Since all my friends supported Liverpool, I supported the opponent. Leicester won the game and Tony Cottee was a goalscorer.
“The jersey looked cool and I decided to become a Leicester City fan. I started to follow and during that season, we won the Worthington Cup. I thought: ‘this is a good club’.
“Around that time, I could watch Leicester if we played against a ‘big’ team, so it was quite hard, but the Club would release season review DVDs, and because some of my relatives live in the UK, they sent the videos.”
In May 2015, Zulfikar Sucipto, the first chairman, established the Indo Foxes, bringing together a community of fans from across the country, from Sumatra to Kalimantan and Papua to Bandung, all sharing a love for the Foxes and proudly representing LCFC in Southeast Asia.
Match screenings, social gatherings and joining other fan communities all form part of the group’s activities, also holding special events to celebrate City’s history and achievements.
Bagas continued: “We started finding members on social media and then after the Manchester United game, the first time Jamie Vardy scored in the Premier League, people messaged and me and my friend created a small group to be the home for fans in Indonesia.
“Before the end of the Great Escape season, we contacted the Club and became official. Once every two years we open the membership and we now have 55 members with 25 in Jakarta.”
Despite being over the other side of the world, Bagas recently had the opportunity to see some of his heroes, when a team of former City stars triumphed in the Soccer 7s Series Masters Cup.
“Last month the legends played in Singapore, and they won [the tournament],” he added. “I was there, met all of them and it was very nice, but that’s my dream, to watch a Leicester game live. I hope in one or two years I can.”