Young Age Competition In Indonesia Minim Becomes Concerned By Former National Team Footballers

Elly Aiboy (second from the left), Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto (medium), Atep (second from the right), and Supriyono (rightest) attended a discussion event at Pancoran Soccer Field, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/7/2023). (Between/Rauf Adipati)

JAKARTA - A number of former Indonesian national team players complained about the lack of youth competitions, which resulted in it being difficult for the senior national team to make achievements.

Currently, the competition for young people in Indonesia is minimal. There are also a number of junior competitions that are mostly organized by the private sector.

"Talking about competitions, many competitions are organized by the private sector. Askot (city association) - askab (district association) is not running. This is a problem because (the players) are mature in the competition," said Supriyono at a discussion event at Pancoran Soccer Field, Jakarta, Tuesday.

"Ascots and askab must create a tiered and sustainable competition," said the PSSI Primavera dropout, quoted by Antara.

Supriono was grateful for the young competition such as the Elite Pro Academy (EPA) which was attended by League 1 clubs. However, he considered that currently many EPA participants do not have a good playing basis, so when they are at the club they still have to improve their basic skills.

On the other hand, another former PSSI Primavera player Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, believes that the coaching model by sending a team abroad as he has played is actually quite good, but the challenge is when a young player travels alone abroad.

"Playing football, yes, but there we (the Primavera players) gathered a lot with fellow Indonesian players. So it was a bit less. I actually learned to be independent at FC

Kurniawan, who is currently in FC Como's coaching team, gave an example of how professional the young players at the Italian club are.

"The mindset of Como's young players is extraordinary. They don't have many posts on Instagram because they pursue professional contracts. They can be kept mindsets like that to seniors," he added.