The Hekari United Football Club will leave for Jayapura today to play a friendly match against one of the clubs in Jayapura called Persipura Football Club. Hekari’s both men's and women's teams will travel together to Jayapura to participate in the friendly matches against Persipura FC.
Hekari has already traveled to other countries and played a couple of friendly fixtures against them in the past, but they have never traveled to any Asian country to have a friendly match. This will be their first time to travel to Jayapura and have a friendly game against an Asian team.
It is not an ordinary trip but an important and historic visit. It is a first-of-its-kind fixture between Hekari United FC and Persipura FC. It is indeed one of the biggest trips that Hekari has ever taken, according to the team Manageress, Vonnie Kapi Natto.
“I am looking forward to the upcoming friendly games. This is my first time managing two teams to travel together. This is the biggest trip that Hekari has ever taken. It is an important trip for the
club,” Hekari United FC Manageress, Vonnie Kapi Natto said.
Hekari and Persipura have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this year for the two countries to host friendly matches this year and into the future. The PNGFA and Oceania
Football Federation have also given the approval for the planned fixture to go ahead.
“We followed the protocol to stage this friendly match. We wrote to the PNGFA Secretariat Office and they wrote to OFC to grant us the approval. There is nothing hidden or secret about this friendly match against Persipura. We have followed the protocol in accordance with the rules of
international football standards,” Mrs. Natto added.
The 8-time Champions of National Soccer League in PNG have taken the initiative to establish
relation with Jayapura, through football. Manageress Natto wants to give an opportunity to the
players to showcase their talents on the international level. For this reason, they have started this
relation with Persipura to hold the forthcoming fixture.
“I have taken this initiative because it is very important for football in the country. We are not trying to promote Hekari only but PNG football in general. I am doing this because I want our players to expose their talents to Jayapura and other countries. This is a club’s initiative and I am encouraging other clubs to do the same thing,” she stated.
Meanwhile, after the friendly games in Jayapura, Persipura FC will travel to Port Moresby to play a
couple of friendly matches against the President 11 Legends and Hekari in the nation’s capital next month. Hekari has also been invited by Fiji and the Solomon Islands to have friendly matches against them next year.
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