Soccer is undoubtedly the number one sport in Indonesia, but Indonesia is nowhere near being the number one country at soccer (Indonesia is 156th in the latest FIFA rankings).
It’s odd how terrible we are at soccer, given that the majority of the Indonesian population of almost 250 million are crazy about the sport. Surely there’s got to be the next Lionel Messi or Neymar among us?
According to Vice President Jusuf “JK” Kalla, the reason we’re so bad at soccer is that there’s nowhere for our kids to practice and hone their skills.
“Now where can our kids in Jakarta, Bandung, or Surabaya go for a run? Everywhere there are malls, shops. That’s why we never win a soccer championship, because [kids] can’t train,” JK said during a speech at an event in Senayan yesterday, as quoted by Okezone.
JK is urging Indonesia’s city governments to allocate more green spaces to parks and recreation areas to strengthen Indonesia’s soccer and sports culture.
Who knows, maybe then we can finally win a soccer competition worthy of Indonesia’s fanaticism for the round ball. Truthfully, we can’t remember the last time the Indonesia National Team won a soccer competition at any level.
