Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his subordinates welcomed the arrival of teams that will compete in the International Youth Championship (IYC) 2021 tournament at a dinner at Jakarta City Hall, on Tuesday (4/12).

After the final match that will be held on April 19, we will prepare for JIS Grand Launching

This tournament initiated by Pancoran Soccer Field (PSF) would be participated by Barcelona U-18, Atletico Madrid U-18, Bali United U-18, and Indonesia All Stars U-20 as a series of Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) Soft Launching from April 13 to 19, 2022. It was delayed last December due to a surge in the Omicron variant of COVID-19 cases.

The Governor welcomed the tournament which was held through the collaboration of the entire JIS Soft Launching committee, including PT. Jakarta Tourisindo (JXB), PT. Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), and regional apparatus organizations (OPDs) under the Jakarta Government.

"I would like to thank all parties, especially the central government through Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs, BNPB, and all parties. After the final match that will be held on April 19, we will prepare for JIS Grand Launching, since currently, it is only a soft launching event,"  he said as quoted from Jakarta PPID Press Release.

At JIS Grand Launching, he continued, the Government invited Persija as the team that would play first and assigned Bambang Pamungkas as the first person to kick the ball.

He hoped that all the teams who compete could show the best performance. "We believe that it will help us to send a message to the world that Jakarta is ready to host an international football event. Indonesia is ready to host a world event," he asserted.

Meanwhile, Pancoran Soccer Field (PSF) Chairman Gede Widiade explained that the event had two objectives. First, it was to inform the outside parties about COVID-19 handling in Indonesia which had passed through difficult times.

"Second, the Soft Launching of a stadium that Jakarta is very proud of, a stadium that we can show off to the world. Even today, Michael Salgado is very impressed with the stadium we have," he conveyed.

Moreover, the Real Madrid legend and promoter of La Liga junior teams (Barcelona and Atletico) Michael Salgado also welcomed the dinner.

"I am honored that the tournament can be held in Jakarta. I also thank two Spanish teams for their great efforts to visit Jakarta. We hope Indonesian fans can directly watch this match on television," he stated.

"Thank you for a very magnificent stadium and is one of the biggest stadiums in Indonesia. This is very important to show FIFA that Indonesia is very ready for the World Cup," he closed.