Jokowi Will Establish A Football Training Center At IKN Nusantara, Targets 1 Year Development

Jokowi during the inauguration of the Papua Football Academy (PFA) at the Lukas Enembe Stadium, Jayapura, Papua, Wednesday, August 31. (Setkab-Agus S Bureau Press)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) directly set a location for the construction of a football training center in the State Capital (IKN) of the Archipelago in East Kalimantan (Kaltim).

This was conveyed by Jokowi when he visited the 1B sub-regional planning area (SWP) with the ranks of ministers and PSSI administrators in North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan, Friday, February 24 morning.

The President was seen talking with the Head of the IKN Authority Bambang Susantono and the Minister of SOEs as well as the General Chairperson of PSSI 2023-2027 Erick Thohir before his index finger pressed at one point on the SWP 1B IKN project map.

"This is a training center for PSSI, for football, for the national team. Later there will be eight football fields later here," Jokowi said in a video review activity broadcast on the official YouTube channel of the Presidential Secretariat, Friday, February 24, which was confiscated by Antara.

The appointment of the location for the construction of the football training center was responded positively by the PSSI chairman who immediately expressed his gratitude for the decision.

Erick also said that the construction of the training center would be assisted by funds from the world football authority, FIFA.

"It is an extraordinary honor that you have decided to build a training center in the middle of the city. This is something we will make sure it will be completed soon, because the funds from FIFA have been prepared, it's just a matter of the land process," said Erick.

Furthermore, the chairman of PSSI even admitted that he would look for time to invite the coach of the Indonesian National Team, Shin Tae-yong, to come directly to the point where the training center was built.

Meanwhile, the President is targeting the process of building a football training center at IKN to be completed by no later than one year.

Erick's arrival with PSSI officials to IKN followed up on the results of their meeting with the President on Monday, February 20, after the election of the general chairman, deputy chairman, and executive committee (exco) for the period 2023-2027.

At that time, Erick said that the President emphasized the readiness of the Indonesian Government to provide support for infrastructure development for national football development, including the national training center at IKN.