September 14: Ajax has signed a football development partnership with the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), boosting the historic Dutch club’s international academy network in one of Asia’s biggest markets.
The two will create a national program for players and coaches based on Ajax’s coaching philosophy and youth development methods.
The smart part is the structure. Rather than planting a single academy in one city, the deal is heavily based on coach education, with Ajax coaches working with coaches across the country, so the methodology extends far beyond what any set of sessions could achieve.
PSSI has openly flagged youth development as an area to address and looks to the Dutch system as a benchmark.
Indonesia joins an international Ajax network that already includes Mexico, Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, Uzbekistan and Japan. For the club, these deals are a way to market and internationalize their biggest asset, their reputation for developing players, and Indonesia offers real scale with a huge, football-mad population.
PSSI president Erick Thohir said: “Football is the number one sport in Indonesia, but we have to admit that we still face challenges in our youth development system,” adding that Ajax’s experience could boost both coaching and player development. He also nodded to the historic ties between the two countries.
Ajax CEO Menno Geelen framed the strategy clearly. “We want to maintain our position as one of the best developers of talent in the world and share our knowledge in markets that are relevant,” he said, noting that the two had been in contact for years.
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