0 Football: Chelsea ‘Delighted’ at Opportunity to Play Before Indonesian Fan Base

Indonesia’s Chelsea fans can expect to see “the strongest squad available” and “two to three new faces” when the Blues visit Jakarta for the last friendly match of the club’s preseason tour in July. Chelsea will follow on the heels of English Premier League foe Arsenal as the second big-time club from England’s top flight to play in the capital this year, with the match scheduled for July 25. Sponsored by lender Bank Negara Indonesia, the 2012 European Champions League winner will face the Indonesia All Stars, a team that will be selected by BNI customers via a poll starting today. 

“We are very pleased to announce this historic fixture — Chelsea’s first game in Indonesia,” club CEO Ron Gourlay told a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday. “We know there is huge support for the team in the country. The fan [base] here is enormous. A figure of over 2 million fans in Indonesia on our Facebook page demonstrates that, and we are delighted our supporters will have the chance to watch us play in Jakarta.” Gourlay first broke the news of Chelsea’s Jakarta visit on the club’s official website last month. “Our preseason preparations will be well underway by July 25 and we will be bringing the strongest squad available for the game against the Indonesia All Stars,” Gourlay said. 

“We expect to bring two to three new faces.” He also expressed Chelsea’s interest in opening a football academy in Indonesia. Felia Salim, BNI’s vice president director, said the bank was pleased to bring the London-based team to Indonesia earlier than its original plans for a 2015 visit. The lender has partnered with Chelsea on a program to co-brand debit, pre-paid and credit cards issued to Indonesian customers. “We had a previous talk with Chelsea that if we could achieve 25,000 BNI Chelsea payment cards per year after launching six months ago, we would be able to bring the team to Jakarta. 

Currently there are 106,000 cards in the market, so they decided to come earlier,” Felia said. Ticket information will be announced within the next 10 days by organizer MyEvents. National team coach Luis Manuel Blanco will take the managerial reigns for the Indonesia All Stars.

source : the jakarta globe