Liverpool plan Indonesian football academy

English football club Liverpool FC is planning to set up its first Southeast Asian academy for young players in Indonesia next year, its coordinator said Monday.

The proposal will be pushed this week when the Reds’ legendary former striker Ian Rush on Thursday visits the country of 240 million people, where football is hugely popular.

Rush, 49, will “give impetus and assess developments”, said Chris Wren, executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, which acts as a bridge to the club.

“This is the first formal academy pilot in Southeast Asia. It does not necessarily follow that a full academy will materialise,” he told AFP.

“However, if this pilot is successful, as we believe it will be, then it makes the establishment of a permanent academy more likely” in 2011, he added.

The academy is likely to be set up in Jakarta, with its Football Association-accredited coaches coming from England, The Jakarta Globe newspaper reported on Monday.

Ranked a lowly 131 in the FIFA world rankings, Indonesia nonetheless comes to a virtual standstill for events such as the World Cup.

English clubs, among them Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, enjoy very strong support, complete with fan clubs, in the world’s fourth most-populated country.