REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia U-20 national team coach Indra Sjafri stressed the need for clubs in the Indonesian league competition to have talent scouts.

Indra Sjafri recounts his experience while coaching Garuda Muda at the 2024 Toulon Cup. At the time, the tournament was filled with talent scouts from clubs around the world to monitor the names of potential players from the age-group competition.

“So those talent seekers are very necessary. Now aren't there any League 1 and League 2 clubs that identify? Yesterday I went to Toulon and there were a lot of people in the stands. I thought it was the audience but it turned out it was talent scouts from all over the clubs in the world. Well, in Indonesia we need that way,” Indra told the press on Thursday (15/8/2024).

According to the coach who delivered the Merah Putih team to the 2023 SEA Games gold medal, with the talent search culture sent to every age group tournament across Indonesia, it will facilitate the regeneration process of the team. Indra said that the club is also an optimal place for the development of young talents because the club is viewed as a factory of players.

“I have met several times with club owners who have said that it is not PSSI who are told to look for talent. What do you want the player to do later? The player factory is in the club,” Indra said.

Indra explained that the presence of early age tournaments, one of which is the Mustika Java International Cup 2024, is a momentum for talent seekers to look for superior seeds of players from the age group.

“In the competition now we are grateful that we have more and more private parties, which are sponsored by private parties. If it used to be true, if it wasn't wrong just two first. There are, now there is Mustika, yesterday there were various that appeared to give children space to get those competitive values earlier,” said Indra, who now also serves as Technical Director of the Indonesian National Team.