First-Ever Instructor Training For Indonesian Soccer Coaches

JAKARTA, April 27 (Antara) - The All-Indonesia Football Association or PSSI is now striving to improve the quality of its national level coaches by training 22 coaches through an instructor training course at the National Youth Training Centre (NYTC). The NYTC is held from April 24 to May 5, 2017 in the West Java city of Depok, which shares border with Jakarta, capital city of Indonesia. The first-ever instructor training course led by Vincent Subramaniam from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is, among others, aimed at overcoming the underdevelopment of Indonesian football performances. "This course is aimed at overcoming the underdevelopment of Indonesian football. In this course, 22 best coaches in Indonesia are trained to become instructors, who can yield new trainers in Indonesia," Deputy General Chairman concurrently acting Secretary General of PSSI Joko Driyono said on Monday. The participants of this instructor training course are Indra Sjafri, coach of the U-19 (under 19 years old) national soccer team, Fakhri Husaini, coach of the U-16 (under 16 years old), Wolfgang Pikal, former assistant to coach of the senior national team, Widodo Cahyono Putro, former coach of Sriwijaya FC, Mustaqim, Mundari Karya, Sutan Harhara, Satia Bagdja Ijatna, Kibnu Harto Slamet, Danan Jaya, M Nasir, Safei Pylly, Hanafing, Ibnu Grahan, Maman Suryaman, Robby Maruanaya, Yudi Suryata, Deny Syamsudin, Syafrianto, Jessie Mustamu, Eddy Simon Badawi, and Bambang Nurdiansyah. The PSSI further expressed a hope that the 22 instructors will later design and implement national coaching programs or curricula with a uniform philosophy and vision throughout Indonesia. In the meantime, Technical Director of PSSI Danurwindo explained that this kind of training is joined by coaches with "A" AFC license. "So the participants are elite coaches in Indonesia. They are given theory and practices from morning to evening," Danurwindo disclosed. After all, the PSSI has been trying to improve various lines of weaknesses, among others, by hiring foreign coaches for the national soccer teams. This year, Indonesia named Luis Milla of Spain as coach of its national football team after agreeing a 2-year contract. The 50-year old coach was introduced by PSSI to the public during a press conference on January 20. "As a coach, I think he has a lot of good qualities," according to PSSI's technical director for the national team Danurwindo. Luis Milla's experience as a player for both Barcelona and Real Madrid as well as his role in making the Spanish Under 21 national team the best in Europe in 2011, should guide our senior national team and Under 22 team to success in the Southeast Asian Games this year and the Asian Games in 2018, he said. Indonesia will host the Asian Games 2018. Milla is expected to coach Indonesian players on how to play intelligently and apply pressure against the opposition in order to make up for their lack of physical stature. "He is good at understanding the game, teaching important skills, and applying tactics," he said. In response to his recruitment as Indonesia's national coach, Milla stated that he was glad to train the Indonesian national team, and hoped for support from the whole nation to form a good team that can compete at international level. "This is a very important job for me. After seeing the enthusiasm of the Indonesian public, I believe I can form a good team and I will work hard to achieve that," he said then. Milla replaced Alfred Riedl from Austria after the Timnas emerged as the runner-up at the 2016 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup. Additionally, in an effort to step up performances of the soccer players, PSSI had carried out the soccer competitions including the on-going Liga 1 (one) for several times. The Liga 1, which was participated in by 18 soccer clubs, kicked off on April 15. The clubs are Arema FC, Bali United, Barito Putera, Bhayangkara FC, Persegres Gresik, Madura United, Mitra Kukar, Persela Lamongan, Perseru Serui, Persib Bandung, Persiba Balikpapan, Persija Jakarta, Persipura Jayapura, PS TNI, PSM Makassar, Pusamania Borneo, Semen Padang, and Sriwijaya FC. The PSSI has used the Liga 1 to replace the previous Indonesian Super League (ISL) for the first level of the national soccer competition. Apart from that, a number of soccer clubs across the country have recruited foreign players since long time ago in order to get their better quality transferred to local players.