FIFA asks RI Indonesia to back women's soccer

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 05/08/2008 11:04 AM

A visiting coach from world soccer governing body FIFA urged Indonesia to promote and better support women's soccer in the country.

FIFA's visiting coach for Asian countries, Monika Staab, said here Monday that many Indonesian women footballers had fantastic skills, especially those from Papua province.

"Unfortunately, the apparent lack of promotion and the absence of government support leave such great potential to go untapped and unnoticed," she said during a one-day workshop.

She said the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) should be able to find more talent in a country with a population of 230 million, 60 percent women.

"Indonesia should learn from Vietnam, which has a lot of good footballers although it only has a population of 85 million people," she said.

National league competitions, she said, should be held on a regular basis with every province sending a club.

Also, she said, soccer for girls should be introduced at schools to find young talent.

"I believe Indonesia will have a bright future in women's soccer should those two efforts be carried out," she said.

Currently, the Indonesian women's soccer team ranks 70th out of 150 countries. The men's team is 123rd out of 202 in FIFA's world rankings.

However, the Indonesian women's soccer is ranked well below neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, which are ranked 34th and 37th, respectively.

Women's soccer here has yet to be included in the National Games.

"It has been two years since we filed a request with the State Ministry for Youth and Sports Affairs to include women's soccer in the Games, but the sports minister turned down the request arguing that there were too many events in the quadrennial event," PSSI's head of women's soccer development, Eha Habibah, said.

Eha said her department planned to train players, coaches and referees in an effort to build a stronger national team and earn better results in international competitions.

"We hope we can select some great players to compete in the upcoming Asian Football Federation Women's Championships in October," she said.

She said they also would "sell" women's soccer to attract sponsors for domestic competitions.

"The more competitions the better for building a strong national team," she said. (ewd)

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