Marselino Removed From SEA Games 2025 Due To Injury, Indra Sjafri: The Future Is More Important

Indra Sfari decided that Marselino Ferdinand would recover his injury rather than force him to appear with the U-23 Indonesian national team at the 2025 SEA Games (doc. PSSI).

JAKARTA - The U-23 Indonesian national team coach, Indra Sjafri, revealed the reason for removing the name Marselino Ferdinand from the list of players brought to the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand.

The condition of the player who suffered a hamstring injury is a consideration for Indra Sjafri. He also said that the decision to cross out Marselino was for the continuation of the player's future.

"Marselino Ferdinand's last condition is injured. We decided to think about his future. We agreed that Marselino would not join and it would be better to focus on recovery first," said Indra Sjafri at a press conference in Thailand.

Even without the presence of Marselino, Indra Sjafri has appointed other players to fill vacant positions. The figure of Rifqi Ray, who is a Persik Kediri player, is the coach's choice.

Rifqi has also joined Garuda Muda in Thailand. With this decision, now the composition of Indonesia U-23 is confirmed to be complete.

"With the arrival of Rifqi, the composition of the players is complete again," said the coach.

Currently, the U-23 Indonesian national team squad is still in Bangkok for a training camp. The plan is for Kadek Arel and his new colleagues to go to Xian Mai, the location of the match, on Saturday, December 6, 2025.

"As of today (Thursday), our squad is complete, 23 players are in accordance with regulations. We are at the training camp and will move to Xian Mai on the 6th (December 2025) afternoon (local time)."

"The players are ready to compete in the first match on the 8th and the second match on the 12th (December 2025)," said the coach from West Sumatra explaining the team's current condition.

Indra also could not hide his joy because Indonesia's U-23 match schedule is now the same as other groups that have only appeared twice in the group phase.

"This is quite positive for us, including the change in the schedule for the first match from 5 to 8 (December 2025). This change gives us better preparation space," said Indra.