Having trained Kevin Diks and Thom Haye, Frank van's campaign has a tough mission to go to the 2027 U-20 World Cup

With extensive experience in coaching youth teams in the Netherlands, PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir has handed over the coaching baton of the Indonesian U-20 team to Frank van Kempen. In his coaching history, Van Kempen has previously trained two players from the Indonesian national team, namely Kevin Diks and Thom Haye.

Van Kempen has been involved in the coaching world for 18 years, starting in 2007. His main contribution has been managing youth teams of several Dutch clubs, such as Roda JC U-19, Helmond Sport U-21, Sparta Rotterdam U-19 and U-20, as well as NAC Breda U-21.

At the senior level, 53-year-old Van Kempen has primarily served as an assistant to several coaches. He undertook this role while assisting Jurgen Streppel at Helmond Sport (2008-2011), Ton Lokhoff at VVV-Venlo (2012-2014), Wil Boessen at Helmond Sport (2019-2022), and Rick Kruys at VVV-Venlo (2022-2024). Additionally, he also assisted Fred Rutten and Philip Coci when they managed PSV Eindhoven as a video analyst from 2011 to 2014.

In addition to having traveled the world to a number of mediocre Dutch clubs, Van Kempen also has experience working at the international level. This was obtained when he helped Remy Reijnierse handle the Dutch U-20 team from July 2014 to June 2016. Van Kempen played 13 trial matches with the Jong Oranje team.

The period during which he served as a coaching staff member for the Dutch U-20 team allowed Van Kempen to become acquainted with two junior Dutch players who are now strengthening the "Garuda" squad. Kevin played in five matches while Van Kempen was an assistant to Reijnierse.

All of those matches were created in a friendly game. Three victories against Turkey U-20, the United States U-20, and Germany U-20, followed by two defeats to England U-20, mark the collaboration between Van Kempen and Kevin.

Thom had the opportunity to play under the management of the duo Reijnierse and Van Kempen once. This moment occurred during a friendly match against the Czech Republic U-20 on September 4, 2014. After that, Thom strengthened the Netherlands U-21 team.

The duration of Kevin and Thom's collaboration with Van Kempen is actually longer than those games. This is because Van Kempen also served as a coaching staff member for the U-21/U-23 Netherlands team when Reijnierse was appointed as the interim coach of that youth squad during the period of 2015-2016.

The General Chairman of PSSI, Erick Thohir, revealed that Van Kempen's extensive experience with youth teams is the background for PSSI to grant an additional mandate to Van Kempen. Previously, Van Kempen had been appointed as the assistant coach for the U-23 Indonesia team to assist Gerald Vanenburg.

"Coach Frank (Van Kempen) has a lot of experience as a coach, especially at the youth level. At the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association), he has also been a coaching instructor for UEFA A, B, and C since 2014," said Erick in an official statement, Saturday (5/7/2025).

Van Kempen welcomed his new role in Indonesia. He is enthusiastic about joining the big project of Indonesian football.

"The young talent in Indonesia is extraordinary. My task is to create a development bridge so that they can compete at the highest level. This is built through discipline, modern tactics, and a culture of hard work," Van Kempen added.

Van Kempen's role as the new U-20 coach will be available in 2026. Next year, the U-20 team has several agendas lined up, starting with the AFF U-19 Cup 2026 and the qualification for the U-20 Asian Cup 2027.

With the main target of reaching the main stage of the 2027 U-20 Asian Cup and the 2027 U-20 World Cup, Van Kempen has a sufficiently ideal preparation time to scout players for his Garuda Muda team.

He can at least conduct talent searches for six months, both among the players developed by local teams and several diaspora players. The U-17 Indonesian team players prepared for the U-17 World Cup 2025 could also become key players for the U-20 Indonesian squad starting next year.

As is known, the U-20 Indonesia team failed to meet the target of participating in the U-20 World Cup 2025. The team coached by Indra Sjafri was eliminated in the group stage of the U-25 Asian Cup 2025 in China last February. Jens Raven and his teammates only earned one point against Yemen, then lost to Iran and Uzbekistan.

"With the presence of coach Frank, we want to build the strength of the U-20 team to be more prepared for the next level and able to compete at a higher level," said Erick.

Qualifying for the 2027 U-20 World Cup is not an easy task. Only four teams that advance to the semifinals of the 2027 U-20 Asian Cup will be able to progress to the global stage.

Indonesia has not reached the semifinals since the Philippines in 1970. At that time, Indonesia brought home a silver medal after losing 0-3 to Burma (Myanmar) in the final match. Meanwhile, the first and still the last moment Indonesia participated in the U-20 World Cup occurred during the 1971 edition in Japan.