FIFA President Gianni Infantino (middle) during a press statement at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday, November 10, 2023. (ANTARA/Yashinta Difa/rst)
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino stated that the Indonesian national football team's training center, being built in the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara, is important for the development of young footballers.
Infantino made the statement after receiving the Bintang Jasa Pratama Award from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday.
If a country has great young footballers, it must have a training center to gather the talented players to train together. This is for the development of women's and men's football in Indonesia, Infantino remarked.
As was known earlier, FIFA contributed to build the IKN Football Training Center through the largest FIFA forward funding in Southeast Asia, amounting to Rp85.6 billion, channeled through the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI).
With this training center, his side aims to ensure that the best footballers can train and play together to compete in international championships.
Meanwhile, at the training center's groundbreaking ceremony recently in IKN Nusantara, President Jokowi stated that the facility was the nation's investment for the achievement of the Indonesian football team at the international level.
The president affirmed that the Indonesian national team's achievements can be realized with the presence of the IKN National Training Center with support from professional management, adequate facilities and infrastructure, and support from the entire community.
On that occasion, he also noted that despite the presence of several international-standard football stadiums in Indonesia, such as in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua, the Indonesian football team does not yet have a centralized and integrated training ground.
The National Training Center at IKN was built on an area of 34.5 hectares, equipped with eight fields and various other supporting facilities that are integrated with the IKN development.
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Translator: Rangga Pandu/Yashinta Difa, Resinta SEditor: Rahmad Nasution Copyright © ANTARA 2023
