Nova Arianto Pockets 20 Diaspora Players To Strengthen The U-20 Indonesian National Team
JAKARTA - The U-20 Indonesian national team coach, Nova Arianto, revealed that he has pocketed around 20 names of diaspora players who have the potential to strengthen his squad ahead of important agendas next year.
The U-20 Indonesian national team will face two major tournaments, namely the 2026 AFF U-19 Cup and the 2027 U-20 Asian Cup Qualification.
Nova explained that the monitoring process was still ongoing, including assessing the performance of the players through video recordings and their game history.
"Quite a lot, yes, there are about 15 or 20 players. However, we still see performance through their videos and backgrounds. We will call and see for ourselves through training," Nova said in Jakarta, quoted Friday, December 12, 2025.
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The 2026 AFF U-19 Cup is scheduled to take place between May and July next year. Meanwhile, the U-20 Asian Cup Qualification will be held around September or October 2026.
To prepare for the two tournaments, Nova compiled a program of 11 trial matches. However, he admitted that he had not been able to announce the details of the schedule because he was waiting for the alignment of the program with the federation.
"In accordance with what coach Alex (Alexander Zwiers/Director of PSSI Engineering) said, we have prepared 11 trials for the 2027 U-20 Asian Cup Qualification. That includes the 2026 AFF U-19 Cup match," he said.
In addition to finalizing the team's program, Nova is also waiting for instructions from the PSSI Technical Director regarding the possibility of traveling abroad to directly monitor the diaspora players. However, the agenda is not final because PSSI is still focused on preparing for the 2025 SEA Games.
"For the blusukan, I don't know how the structure is, but we have reported everything to the PSSI Director of Technology. Maybe after their focus on the SEA Games, we will see if the roadmap can go according to plan," said the coach.
With a list of diaspora players starting to shrink and a trial plan drawn up, the U-20 Indonesian national team is now entering the early stages of preparation for a busy season.