In a written statement received here on Tuesday, secretary of the ministry, Gunawan Suswantoro, said that the government has continued to strive to encourage the advancement of football in the country.
The sport’s development is supported by Presidential Instruction Number 3 of 2019 on national football development.
As part of measures taken to advance national football, a coaching training for former senior players of the national team was organized by the National Football Association at the Fox Jimbaran Hotel, Badung, Bali. The training, which ended on Monday, was joined by 24 former national team players.
“So, fellows who used to be on the Indonesian national team must have the enthusiasm to create the next generation who, in the future, will be able to make Indonesia proud at the global scope," Suswantoro said.
"Should be proud of the President's direct attention to football. There is a challenge for us in developing Indonesian football," he added.
The training this time was seen as a blessing because it coincided with the G20 Summit, which was attended by two important figures, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, he said.
The monitoring of young talents must be conducted extensively, even at the sub-district level, he added.
"As you know, football is a sport that is loved by the public. We have to monitor talent all the way, down to the sub-district level, in order to produce strong athletes," he explained.
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In addition to the football coaching course, training was also conducted for the main health workers attached to the sports branches that have been included in the National Sports Grand Design.
The training was part of the ministry's efforts to improve human resources and create jobs, especially for football coaches and sports health support workers.
Meanwhile, head of the training division of the National Football Association, Yeyen Tumena, lauded the ministry's initiative to host the PSSI C license training course for former national team players.
According to him, coaches in Indonesia must be of good quality in order to shape talent into reliable players.
"Appreciation and thanks for this collaboration and cooperation in creating (good) quality coaches. I think there needs to be a massive initiative on this," Tumena remarked.
Similar coaching courses had to be halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the situation improving, the training courses have begun to run again, he noted.
"Slowly, we will push for equality because there are no great players without a great coach. Thus, a training course is needed," he stressed.
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Translator: M Ramdan, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Suharto
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