Bekasi, IO – The football academy in Bekasi, West Java, is Prabowo Subianto’s brainchild. It will plays a crucial role in producing football talents that will take Indonesia’s football to new height, said Prabowo on Thursday (14/12).
The inauguration was marked by plaque signing by Prabowo as chairman of Garudayaksa Football Academy’s board of patrons, accompanied by the Youth and Sports Minister Ario Bimo Nandito Ariotedjo and the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) chairman Erick Thohir.
It was then followed by a tour of the academy, which is equipped with various modern facilities such as classrooms, bedrooms, clinics, gyms and sports science lab which are rarely found in Indonesia.
“I just want to underline that for a nation to be strong, it needs strong young people. Physically strong, mentally strong, highly determined, and have strong spirit. Only with a young generation that is strong and enthusiastic, happy, optimistic, will Indonesia become a great country,” said Prabowo.
On the same occasion, Erick Thohir said that this development was a manifestation of Prabowo’s sincere commitment to improving Indonesia’s football achievement.
“Pak Prabowo told me personally how much he loves football. He was the captain of his school’s football team,” said Erick.
“So, this is his sincere contribution to invest in the development of Indonesia’s football. As we can seetoday, this training center is, I can say, the grandest in Indonesia.”
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Minister Dito also appreciated Prabowo’s attention to the national sports development, especially football. He said the football academy will contribute in honing the skills of the younger generation of athletes to compete in international tournaments.
“There is no questioning that Pak Prabowo is highly committed to sports. We already see how equestrian can develop in Indonesia. And today he has once again made a breakthrough, making a commendableinvestment in this football academy with the aim of producing Indonesia-origin international footballers,” he said.