Rudy Alfonso: We Must Learn A Lot From The Portuguese Football Industry

JAKARTA - The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Portugal Rudy Alfonso assessed that Indonesia must learn a lot from the Portuguese football industry. Because, they are able to advance their football in the international arena by creating many players who are worldwide, even though the population is quite minimal.

"Imagine, the Portuguese population is only around 10 million, but football can be ranked 5th in the world. And almost all of the top clubs in Europe must have Portuguese players. So, indeed we have to learn a lot from football in Portugal," said Rudy Alfonso to host Eddy Wijaya on the EdShareOn podcast which aired on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.

One example of the progress of the Portuguese football industry, said Rudy, is the existence of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal. The two clubs were born in one city, namely Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, which only includes about one million residents.

According to Rudy, the audience of the two clubs always fills the stadium when competing. They are also able to score the world's top footballers. One of them is Cristiano Ronaldo, who has played in Sporting at the age of 12. Well, why do we have almost 12 million people in one city, can't make the football industry as great as they are? Even though our public interest in football is just as extraordinary as usual," said Rudy, who is also a Golkar politician.

As the Indonesian Ambassador to Portugal, Rudy admitted that he had tried hard to bring football closer to the country with football in Portugal. In fact, Rudy has met Fernando Gomes as president of the Portuguese football federation. To Rudy, Gomes is ready to facilitate great coaches for clubs in Indonesia at a lower cost.

"For example, PSM Makassar won Liga 1 in Indonesia last year (2022/2023) and the coach is Bernardo Tavares from Portugal. There are many great coaches that we can contract with a lower value than there."

Rudy admitted that he had met PSSI to discuss this. However, Rudy considers Indonesian football stakeholders to be less interested in collaborating with Portuguese football. "It seems that our orientation (of football stakeholders) has not yet gone to Portugal, but rather to Germany and Italy. In fact, Portugal is much easier, the opportunity is greater, and the person is more open to working together."

The Indonesian Ambassador to Portugal Rudy Alfonso stated that the number of Indonesian citizens in Portugal is more than 900 people. Around 600 of them work as sailors or fishermen who work on Portuguese fishing vessels. "So, after the pandemic the number of Indonesian sailors who come to Portugal continues to increase. When I came there in 2021 alone there were 200 Indonesians. Meanwhile, now there are 600 people, and it could be because every week there are newcomers," said Rudy.

According to Rudy, the chances of Indonesian sailors are wide open because the fishing profession is not in demand by Portuguese citizens. So many ships are forced to lean on the dock for a long time because they are not operating. On the other hand, Rudy continued, the consumption of Portuguese fish is very high so workers from the fisheries sector are urgently needed.

They are also happy with Indonesian sailors because of their extraordinary expertise in fishing. Therefore, for Indonesian citizens, there is no requirement for Portuguese or English to work there. Just come and work," he said.

Regarding the safety of work and wages, Rudy continued, the Portuguese government and local entrepreneurs also really care. Rudy admitted that he had met with the Portuguese Ministry of Maritime Affairs to discuss the safety of the work of Indonesian sailors. For them, work safety is number one,' said the figure from Mamasa, West Sulawesi.

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