Raffi Ahmad Acquires Cilegon United, Observer: As Long As You Have Money, You Can But Want To Pay Attention To Developing Young Players?

JAKARTA - Football observer Anton Sanjoyo assesses the news of celebrity Raffi Ahmad acquiring Liga 2 club Cilegon United FC as a positive phenomenon that will bring better changes to the future of Indonesian football.

"Raffi already has popularity, is already rich. Take advantage of his popularity to develop the club, look for sponsors," said Anton, when contacted by Antara in Jakarta, Monday.

Previously, the news of Raffi buying Cilegon United FC was uploaded to Raffi's Instagram account with the name @ raffinagita1717, Sunday, March 28, which exhibited the celebrity's photo with Cilegon United President Yudi Apriyanto.

There is not much information written by Raffi accompanying the photo. Only the words "Please pray ... Bismillah ...," which was then greeted by a number of supports from national football artists and players in the comments column.

Anton suspects Raffi used his extraordinary energy to buy a club because he was truly interested in developing Indonesian football by buying a League 2 club.

Because, he admitted, football does have an extraordinary appeal so that many people also buy football clubs with different goals, such as seeking popularity, and so on.

"Actually, when it comes to buying a club, as long as you have money, you could. But, what is important is that they pay attention to developing young players, developing referees, and so on?" he said.

Anton hopes that many other millennial celebrities will imitate the steps of Raffi, or Kaesang Pangarep, the son of President Joko Widodo who has also just bought up 40 percent of the club's shares in Persis Solo.

It is possible, he said, that Raffi and Kaesang would increase in popularity with the club they bought, but the value would be different from those that simply seek popularity.

However, both Raffi and Kaesang, Anton reminded them to think about youth competitions, such as the competition for goal boys to ensure good and quality regeneration in football.

Apart from reportedly buying Cilegon United FC, Raffi also met Dewa United Chief Operating Officer (COO) Rendra Soedjono, whose photo Rendra shared on his personal Instagram page.

"Cilegon United and Dewa United. Friendship on the national football stage," wrote Rendra.