Inp.polri.go.id – Jakarta. The President of International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino says Indonesia could be one of the faces of football, not just in Southeast Asia, but Asia and the world. According to him, this argument is based on the huge population of Indonesia with most of them took interest in football. He thought that this is an important value that would continue to be developed for the better of football as a whole. “Football is the number one sport in Indonesia. However, we should not focus in the Indonesia alone, but expands it to Asia and the world,” says Gianni on Friday (11/10/2023). To realize the goal, FIFA is ready to have a stronger cooperation with Indonesia, including opening its first office in Indonesia at Jakarta. However, the main reason of why FIFA establish their first office in Indonesia is due to the last year tragedy in Kanjuruhan stadium, where hundreds of people died after a chaos inside the stadium. “When I came here last year following the tragedy, we decided that we need to strengthen our presence here, in another case this country truly deserves it,” adds Gianni. Gianni believes that by establishing office in Indonesia, FIFA could be more involved in supporting Indonesian football by providing football experts. In supporting Indonesian football, FIFA ready to deploy its safety experts, and stadium experts in fighting against match fixing and other football issues. Other than providing experts, FIFA could also support in organizing player’s development through various tournaments. (ad/ndt/pr/nm)