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ix boys were recently seen dribbling, passing and juggling to impress passersby at a shopping centers in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

The boys, all between 8 and 12, were among 20 who received soccer training scholarships from the Asian Soccer Academy (ASA) Foundation.

“I want to play for the national team when I grow up,” Fachri, 12, said. The first-year student at an Islamic junior high school in West Jakarta said that he had played soccer since he was 8.

Fachri’s father, Marjani, knowing his son’s interest in the sport, enrolled the boy in a local soccer school last year. “He is always called on to play on a team when the school participates in a competition. I fully support him to become a national player,” Marjani said.

Fachri’s soccer skills impressed ASA Foundation officials, who gave him one of the one-year scholarships.

The competition was tough, according to ASA Foundation technical director Lee Hawkins. “We selected around 500 children from all around Jakarta. We gave them tests, and we got 20.”

Hawkins, a former player for Southampton in the English Premier League, said that the program had made him optimistic about the future of soccer in the nation.

“It’s not all about soccer coaching. We educate them in health and nutrition. We develop their motivation, attitude, communications, teamwork and behavior,” he said.

The scholarship program is offered by the foundation and sponsored by Switzerland-based energy drinks producer Nestle MILO and food retailer Carrefour.

“Through this program, we give children who are not well off an opportunity to train to play soccer under the tutelage of professionals,” Prillia Sandra, Nestle business manager, said.

Prillia said that the one-year scholarships were funded by Rp 100 million (US$10,422) collected from customers in a donation program held in August.

“We set aside Rp 1,000 from each of certain items sold to customers, with the hopes that their donation could contribute to soccer development,” she said.

The unveiling of the scholarship comes in the wake of the failure of the Indonesian national team to win the AFF Cup after it was defeated by Malaysia 2-0. The loss denied Indonesia a place in the semifinals and the nation’s expectations of bringing home the most prestigious soccer trophy in the region crumbled.

The failure was the latest in a string of dismal performances by the national team in international competitions, and follows flops in the World Cup, Asian Cup qualifications and the Southeast Asian Games.

Marjani attributed the national team’s poor performance to “the unfair selection of players”, although Indonesia’s participation in the AFF Cup was also overshadowed by medical and legal problems that left coaches with limited choices for the lineup.

Apart from the rift that resulted in the establishment of a wildcat rival to the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI), Hawkins said that the nation had yet to optimize the development of the sport.

“We need to develop long-term sustainable grassroots soccer academies. We need to improve soccer coaching in the country,” he said.

According to Hawkins, the foundation holds nationwide sustainable community- and school-based project across Indonesia to train children when they are young for national team.