U22 Indonesia carries high hopes to defend their SEA Games gold medal

As the reigning champions, U22 Indonesia carries great ambitions to repeat the gold medal achievement they secured at the previous games in Cambodia.

At that time, the team led by coach Indra Sjafri won an exciting final against Thailand. PSSI continues to entrust coach Indra Sjafri with leading the team in their mission to defend the crown on Thai soil this time.

Preparations are being intensively carried out by the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and the U22 Indonesia coaching staff, including centralized training and friendly matches to perfect tactics and select the best players from both domestic and overseas leagues.

The competition format at SEA Games 2025 is considered quite demanding. Only three group winners and the best runner-up will qualify for the semifinals. This makes every group stage match extremely important in Indonesia’s journey towards the gold medal.

U22 Indonesia is expected to demonstrate stability from the group stage to continue raising pride by placing the team at the top podium of SEA Games football.

U22 Indonesia officially began training in Jakarta from early October and played two friendlies against U22 India, resulting in a 1-2 loss and a 1-1 draw. Nevertheless, coach Sjafri still expresses strong confidence in the current squad’s quality, which includes many outstanding young players regularly competing in the domestic league.

In the first training phase, coach Indra Sjafri called up 32 players, including four Indonesian-origin players playing abroad: Adrian Wibowo (Los Angeles FC), Tim Geypens (FC Emmen), Dion Markx (TOP Oss), and Ivar Jenner (FC Utrecht).