Bali Breaks The U-17 Indonesian National Team Selection Record, Evidence Of The Abundance Of Young Player Talenta

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir briefed hundreds of participants in the U-17 national team selection at the Bali United Training Center. (Photo via ANTARA/Dewa Ketut Sudiarta Wiguna)

GIANYAR - A total of 947 young players participated in the selection of the U-17 Indonesian national team which was held in Gianyar, Bali. This number is much larger than other regions which also held a selection for the 2023 U-17 World Cup team.

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir said, with that number of participants, Bali Province broke the U-17 national team selection record.

"Let's give the best for ourselves and for Garuda," said Erick when meeting face to face with the U-17 national team selection participants in Gianyar Regency, Bali, Sunday.

The selection process is centered at the Bali United Club Training Center on Purnama Beach, Gianyar Regency, July 15-16.

Not only from Bali, the selection participants also came from a number of cities in East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, and Maluku.

Bali is the third place in 12 regions in the country to hold a selection of U-17 national team players. Previously, the selection had been held in Bandung and Palembang with 187 participants and 147 participants, respectively.

From Bandung, four young players were selected and from Palembang there were two players.

Meanwhile, in Bali, it is estimated that competition is getting tighter and the number of selected participants is possible to be more than the previous two cities.

Participants who pass the selection will join the U-17 national team training camp in Jakarta in August.

"Later in Jakarta, they will be re-selected to be sent to Germany," Erick said, adding that the exercise in Germany lasted about 1.5 to two months.

Meanwhile, the Head of the U-17 Player Selection Team, Indra Sjafri, has yet to reveal the number of participants from Bali who will be sent to Jakarta.

"We don't know how many there are because we need to look at their quality," said the former Bali United coach.

One of the main points of assessment in finding the seeds of young players is the tactical ability of the participants both individually, in groups and in the team.

There are also conditions in the selection are players born January 1, 2006-December 31, 2007.