Jakarta-North Sumatra (North Sumatra) offers the U-17 World Cup warm-up with the 2025 Independence Cup Canopy in August 2025. In this match, four teams, including the Indonesian U-17 national team, will compete in the North Sumatra Main Stadium, Deliserdang, For Northern Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution, this is proof that Northern Sumatra can hold international events, especially football. Because the Soccer National Team match is only held in history outside Java and North Sumatra will make the host. “This is an extraordinary opportunity. Looking directly at the national team playing, we will give full support, and commit to this opportunity being successful, it is also a proof of Northern Sumatra to hold an international event,” Bobby Nasution said Thursday (7/31/2025) in a written statement. Browse to continue with the content at an online meeting with PSSI of Karo Regency, Bobby hopes the event will be successful due to the fact that this match will be followed by four countries participating in the Qatar U-17 World Cup. According to him, this event will also encourage the economy of Northern Sumatra and the door to other national events. “International opportunities that visitors will certainly bring from the inside and outside the country will be an economic encouragement, and this opportunity will also learn to become the organizer of other international opportunities,” Bobby continued. According to PSSI chairman Erick Thohir, the decision to appoint Northern Sumatra as host is a step on the spread of national team activities not to be centered in Java. The national team meeting outside Java is also expected to have local football passions and the opportunity to look at the international standard matches. “We see a trial opportunity for the U-17 national team, we are also trying to give it in the Sumatra region, so don’t be Java-centric. We also appreciate the stadiums restored by the government, the government’s support for the renovation of the stadium should be used in North Sumatra,” Erick said. So far, there are two teams that have confirmed that they participated in the 2025 Independence Cup, namely South African U-17 and U-17 Tajikistan. Meanwhile, PSSI hopes for one other participant to be filled by the South American team. “The presence of teams participating in the U-17 World Cup 2025 is expected to provide valuable experience for Garuda Asia,” Erick Thohir said. On the other hand, PSSI’s executive committee, Arya Sinulingga, said the match in Northern Sumatra was an attempt to provide the same standard for international matches outside Java. In addition, Northern Sumatra has never held an international game for 40 years. “It is an encouragement to see the national team in the region, although it is still an age group, and bringing international games to the regions, the international matches also did not take place in North Sumatra, perhaps it was 30-40 years,” Arya concluded. (Akn/Ega)
North Sumatra offering the U-17 World Cup warm-up
