VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali chaired a virtual coordination meeting with 20 ministries and institutions here on Tuesday on Indonesia’s preparations for hosting the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

He said that to bolster the preparations for the event, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has issued Presidential Instruction Number 12 of 2022 concerning support for the implementation of the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

In addition, the President has issued Presidential Decree Number 22 of 2022 regarding the national organizing committee for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The minister informed that based on the decree, he will act as the chair of the Indonesia FIFA U-20 World Cup Organizing Committee (INAFOC), while the members of the committee will be drawn from several institutions, ministries, provincial governments, as well as local governments.

"Each ministry and institution has been asked to send (their) representatives to join the committee, thus, the coordination will be easier since all of this work will be directly guided by FIFA -- all work will refer to FIFA rules,” he said, according to information posted on the website of the Youth and Sports Ministry.

Furthermore, the decree has also made the Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry in charge of infrastructure as well as chairperson of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Mochamad Iriawan, as the person in charge of the local organizing committee (LOC) of the cup.

Amali said that outside of the preparations made by the PUPR Ministry, the funding for the preparations for the tournament will be included in the budget implementation list (DIPA) of the Youth and Sports Ministry.

"Later, when the committee is complete, we will discuss (the preparations) per sector,” he stated.

Initially, the tournament was planned to be held in 2021. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to 2023, while Indonesia remained as its host.

The minister said that when Indonesia made the bid to host the event in 2019, FIFA asked for a commitment from all levels of government in Indonesia, including the head of state, related ministers, governors, and heads of districts/mayors.

In response, President Widodo sent a direct letter, accompanied by a government guarantee signed by several ministers, to the president of FIFA Gianni Infantino conveying Indonesia’s willingness to host the tournament, Amali added.

There will be six main venues for the tournament, including Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (Jakarta), Si Jalak Harupat Stadium (Bandung district, West Java province), and Manahan Stadium (Solo city, Central Java province).

Furthermore, the other stadiums comprise Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium (Surabaya city, East Java province), Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium (Palembang city, South Sumatra province), and Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium (Gianyar district, Bali province). (antaranews)