President Jokowi Chairs Cabinet Meeting on Preparations for FIFA U-20 World Cup

President Jokowi chairs a Limited Cabinet Meeting on the Organization of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cupat the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Thursday (09/08). (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Rahmat)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday (09/08) at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, chaired a Limited Cabinet Meeting on the Organization of the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

“During the cabinet meeting chaired by the President, we discussed Indonesia’s preparations to host the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup,” Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali said after attending the meeting.

According to Zainudin, President Jokowi ordered relevant stakeholders to take measures on the preparations, including the infrastructure and facilities in accordance with the standards set by the FIFA.

The Minister also said that the FIFA has applauded Indonesia’s commitment to host the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The Government has signed a number of guarantee letters related to the organization of the international football competition.

Regarding the preparations for the Indonesian football national team that will compete in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, Chairperson of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) Mochamad Iriawan said that the postponement of the U-20 World Cup had an impact on the composition of players. A number of players who were originally prepared to compete in 2021 no longer meet the age requirements to compete in the next year U-20 World Cup, so the PSSI has prepared a new team eligible to compete.

“The U-20 national team consists of 36 players, and the PSSI will organize training camps for the team.

Iriawan went on to say that the process of naturalization for a number of players is underway.

“There are seven naturalized players from the Netherlands that we will hire. Two of them have had their final status while five of them are still undergoing the process. The President has approved it because it was a request from the coach,” Iriawan remarked.

For the record, the FIFA Council Meeting on October 24, 2019 in Shanghai, China had designated Indonesia as the host country for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition has been postponed to 2023. (FID/TGH/UN) (RI/MMB)