Football West News
Football West Chief Operating Officer Darcy Coffey and Advisor – Asia Robbie Gaspar recently travelled to Indonesia as part of WA’s ongoing commitment to strengthening football, government, education, and business relationships with the country.
The visit to Jakarta and Surabaya included meetings with a range of key stakeholders, including the representatives of the Australian Embassy in the Indonesian capital, Australia’s Consul-General in Surabaya, Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI), the Secretary of East Java, members of Persebaya Surabaya FC, Invest and Trade WA, and Australian and Indonesian business representatives.
A key focus of the trip was advancing plans for the Football West tour to Surabaya in November 2026, during which the WA Men’s State Team will play against Persebaya Surabaya. This is part of the growing football relationship between Western Australia and East Java.
Football West signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Persebaya in 2024, while last year the State Team faced the top-flight professional team at the Sam Kerr Football Centre, a game that attracted more than 20 million viewers in Indonesia.
The visit also provided an opportunity to explore future opportunities to collaborate across player and coach development, football exchanges, education partnerships, sports diplomacy initiatives and commercial engagement.
Mr Coffey said: “The trip reinforced the importance of Football West’s Asian Engagement Strategy and highlighted significant opportunities in football to create lasting relationships and outcomes for both regions.
“The conversations we had were extremely positive and we look forward to exploring some exciting opportunities going forward.”
Mr Gaspar said: “We are strong believers in football as a platform to strengthen people-to-people, business-to-business and government-to-government connections between WA and Indonesia, building on the long-standing sister-state relationship between Western Australia and East Java.
“I’d like to thank all our Indonesian and Australian partners for their time, hospitality and support throughout the visit. We look forward to welcoming our Indonesian friends to Western Australia and continuing to build these important relationships through football.”
Football West thanks the WA Government for its support of our Asian Engagement Strategy.
