Inter Milan to open schools in Indonesia

Inter Milan will open football schools in Indonesia, the club said in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday, following a trend started by Arsenal and Liverpool.

"We are planning to build several football schools here," club chief executive Ernesto Paolillo told reporters through a local translator.

"Indonesia is very important for us because the country has a lot of Inter Milan fans," he said, without giving further details of the plan.

Local media showed images of the team arriving at the airport in Jakarta, where throngs of fans greeted them. The club claims to have 15 million fans in the country of 240 million people.

The team will play a friendly on Thursday against an all-star Indonesian team made up of players from the national team, elite leagues and the under-23 youth team.

They will play the same team in a second friendly on Saturday.

"It's the first time I've been to this country and it's a real honour," said captain Javier Zanetti.

"Thank you for the warmth you've shown. It's been a tough season but we hope to make our fans happy, at least over the next few days."