D

espite the lack of success of the national soccer team, the fascination for the sport in the country is at an all-time high.

Beverage maker Nestlé Milo announced on Wednesday the start of the 2016 Milo Football Championship featuring 32 elementary schools with about 1500 kids participating from Jakarta, Makassar, Medan and Bandung.

'€œMilo Football Championship is a competition among primary schools students to nurture young soccer talents,'€Rashid Qureshi, president director of Nestlé Indonesia, said during a media conference at the Atlet Century Park hotel on Wednesday.

'€œThere is nothing more gratifying for us than seeing these young talents, in 10 to 15 years from now, representing Indonesia at international championships,'€ he said.

The program will see Zainal Abidin, coach of the under-12 national team, and Indonesian soccer-legend Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto help identify soccer talents across the region during the tournament.

At the end of the championship in March, they will pick the best players of the tournament, who will then have a chance to participate in a special training camp.

'€œI see that today Indonesia is in need of more young talented soccer players who are skilled and possess a winning mentality. It would be very good if their talents are nurtured from an early age,'€ said Kurniawan, former member of the Indonesian primavera team.

Qureshi expressed his confidence about the program in helping the government produce soccer talents.

'€œWe are hoping that in the coming years, the Milo Football Championship can reach more young talents in more cities'€.

With the establishment of the program to overview and nurture local talents in schools around the country, there is new hope for the future of Indonesian soccer.

Indonesia is currently serving an international ban imposed by the world soccer governing body FIFA in the wake of conflict between the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI).

'€” The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post