President Jokowi's Surprising Idea, Keep Uniting Indonesian U-20 National Team Players In One Club

President Jokowi met with the Indonesian U-20 national team players at SUGBK, Jakarta. (Photo: Doc. PSSI)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has a somewhat surprising idea. He plans to continue to unite the U-20 Indonesian national team players in one club.

This was revealed by the U-20 national team striker Hokky Caraka who quoted a statement from President Jokowi when he met them at the Bung Karno Stadium. Later, this team will take part in regular competitions.

"Earlier, Mr. President planned for the U-20 national team children to be combined into one team so that our chemistry would not be destroyed, because yesterday we went home a week and got together again, the chemistry must have disappeared again," said Hokky.

"Maybe it's still in the plans, maybe it can still be realized," said Hokky when met after undergoing training, as reported by Antara, Saturday, April 1.

Regarding the competition that the National Team will take part in, Hokky indicated that they might compete domestically, namely in League 1.

"In that case, we will definitely participate in the Indonesian League 1. We will compete in one of those teams, so hopefully, Mr. Jokowi's hopes will come true," said the player who was Indonesia's only goal scorer at the U-20 Asian Cup in early March.

The team formation model to accommodate the national team is not new in Indonesia. Previously, the national basketball competition had the Indonesian Patriots team competing in IBL.

The Indonesia Patriots are a model of long-term coaching, and have participated in the IBL since 2020. Even though they are in regular competition, Indonesia Patriots are unlikely to become champions because they are not eligible to enter the playoffs.