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I have loved Indonesia since I first set foot in this country. I am pretty sure that this love is a special one, the kind that will last forever. I only have one small problem with this country: It is located in the wrong time zone — that is, when it comes to football.

As a football fan in Indonesia, I must arrange my sleeping schedule according to games that are held half a world away. This means that in order to catch most football games on TV, I must often wait until past midnight to watch games that can sometimes last until dawn.

I have already made my peace with the fact that Indonesians seem to be more interested in the English, Italian and Spanish leagues than the German one. (I would probably be, too, if I weren’t German. Ah, the power of your origins.)

But being the football-obsessed person that I am, I don’t believe in recording important matches and watching them the next day. It just wouldn’t feel right. While everyone already knows the results, am I supposed to sit in front of the television in my PJs, slurping coffee and pretending I am watching a live game? Uh, no, that doesn’t do it for me.

So there is only one way to work around this problem: I have to stay awake, whether or not I have to be in the office early the next day.

But that is not all. If I want to do this right, I need to go all the way. For me, watching football is a social event, something I do with my friends. We have a couple of beers, heated discussions about teams, players and strategies and make bets on who’s going to win.

It would feel weird to sit by myself in front of the box, swearing, cursing, throwing peanuts or pillows at the screen and jumping around like the Easter bunny and cheering — without anyone next to me.

I also need someone to either cheer me up when my team has lost, or to be as psyched as I am after a sensational win.

But the night doesn’t end there.

If the game is exciting, I am usually too wired to go to sleep right away. First, I have to smoke a couple of cigarettes to cool down. Then, I must wait for the mandatory phone call from my parents in Germany who feel the same need as I do to discuss what we have just seen.

And then, finally, I can lie down in bed, where I might shed some tears in secret, either out of sorrow or joy, before I start thinking about the fact that I have to get up again in three or four hours to go to work and that I probably shouldn’t have ordered that last beer — which upsets me so much that sometimes I end up not sleeping at all.

If this would only happen once every two or three months, I am sure I could handle it.

But there are exciting football matches almost every week. There is the domestic league, there is the Champions League, there are friendly games, and then, of course, there is the European Championship and the World Cup.

“Just watch the important games,” my friends and family advised me when I was whining about the fact that I will have sleepless nights through the whole month of June until mid-July because of the upcoming World Cup.

But which games are the important ones, really? Or rather which ones are not important?

Of course, when Germany plays I will be up regardless of the time. Missing my team play is absolutely out of the question.

But do I have to miss out on Portugal battling Brazil and the Ivory Coast, or watching the dashing Italians dive their way through the tournament? How can I not see the French take on the host South Africa and cheer for my favorite underdog, Japan? Will I really not have the chance to boo the teams I despise?

Where would be the fun in that?

Well, I actually already know the answer to those questions: I have no choice. Of course, I will stay awake. Of course, I will watch all the games. Of course, I will be sick after the World Cup because there is only so much my body can take.

So I beg you, Indonesia, my love, my adoptive home country: Please, pull it together and make another bid to host the World Cup in 2026.

I am not getting any younger, and I really, really need my sleep.

Katrin Figge is deputy features editor at the Jakarta Globe.