Benfica Unveils Key to Developing Indonesian Talent for European Football Through Partnership with Malut United

Portuguese football giant, SL Benfica, believes that long-term projects and consistent knowledge transfer are crucial for developing young Indonesian players capable of competing at the European level.

This was stated by Benfica International Technical Coordinator, Davide da Rocha Gomes, when answering questions from Kompas.com regarding the potential for young Indonesian players to follow in the footsteps of Latin American talents who have repeatedly developed and succeeded at the club, which has 38 Portuguese League titles.

The statement was made during the announcement of the cooperation between Malut United and Benfica at the Gelora Kie Raha Stadium, Friday (15/5/2026).

The event was also attended by the President Director of PT Maluku Maju Sejahtera, Dirk Soplanit, and Benfica International Business Manager, Lourenco dos Reis Ferreira.

“It’s not an easy question to answer. In fact, we discussed this carefully last night and we spent hours discussing it,” said Davide.

“What is happening and what can we do to change it?”

According to him, Indonesia still needs a lot of improvements to reach the highest level of world competition.

“In the past, Indonesia has never qualified for the World Cup, so there is still a lot of work to be done to reach the best level of competition,” he said.

“Clubs need to grow, academies need to grow, there must be knowledge transfer,” he continued.

The cooperation between Malut United and Benfica is said to be one form of knowledge transfer that is expected to accelerate the development of Indonesian football.

“This is a good example of how we start this knowledge transfer. You have to look for the best place to get the best knowledge so that you can accelerate the process,” said Davide.

He also highlighted the geographical challenges of Indonesia, which has thousands of islands, making it difficult for logistics and investment in the development of national football.

“Officials and federations must also act. Of course, in Indonesia it is not easy with thousands of islands scattered, in terms of logistics and investment there are many difficulties,” he said.