STEFANO LILIPALY

A winning mentality

Indonesian international footballer Stefano Lilipaly thanks his parents for being so supportive and encouraging him to succeed in his sport. One of the 10 most valuable players in the region, according to Fox Sports Asia, the attacking midfielder says: “The most important thing I learned from them is to never quit. Never give up, even in the hardest times. And to have faith in yourself, have faith in God. Because everything happens for a reason.”

Lilipaly began his career in the Netherlands as a teenager. Having Dutch and Indonesian parents, he had the choice of playing for the Netherlands or Indonesia. He took his Indonesian citizenship oath in 2011 and made his debut for the national team here in 2013. He played for Persija Jakarta for a year before joining Bali United.

It’s perhaps surprising that Lilipaly wasn’t very interested in football as a young boy. It was his friends who spotted his ability and encouraged him to join them on the pitch. When he tried it, he didn’t want to stop playing. He fell in love with football. His early heroes were Zidane, Ronaldinho and the Netherlands’ own Dennis Bergkamp.

Professional footballers need to be strong mentally as well as physically. “There’s a lot of criticism in the game, let’s just be honest about that. If you do well, you are a king, everybody loves you. But when you lose, it’s a different story. What’s inside your head really determines whether you’re going to break down or not. You need to learn even from the negative side of the sport.”

Residing in Bali with his wife and two sons, Lilipaly is quite the family man. “My family is everything to me. They are my motivation. I want to give my two sons a bright future, but at the same time I want to teach them that nothing in life comes easy. If you want something, you have to work hard for it. They’re still very young, but I want to teach them this early so that it’s instilled in their minds.”