Cindy hails from a village in Gunung (Mountain) Kidul, located southeast of Jogyakarta, Indonesia, and it was in her village that she discovered the joys of playing football despite receiving strong opposition from her brother.
“I loved football the moment I joined my brother when he played the sport in primary school. In the beginning, he did not allow me to play football but asked me to cook instead because it was a rough sport. I cried then,” she recalled.
It's My Game - Tugiyati Cindy
“But I really wanted to show him and to all the other boys that I could play football better than them. So, I trained hard and eventually, the local women’s football club came to my village and I was selected to join their team.”
Such was her dedication to succeed that Cindy would walk several kilometres every day from her village to training.
Her big moment came in 2004 when she was selected to represent her country in the Southeast Asian Games and AFF Women’s Championship, though she admits the difficulty of moving out of her comfort zone.
“The biggest challenge for me was when I was called up to the national team. It wasn’t easy to leave my parents but deep down, I knew that they prayed very hard for my success. And I knew that if I made football my career, I would be able to support them financially so that really motivated me,” said Cindy.
With the impending launch of a women’s football league in Indonesia, Cindy believes that the future of the sport remains brighter than ever.
“You don’t see many women playing football in Indonesia because it isn’t as popular as the men’s game, but I think through this league, women’s football in Indonesia will move forward and gain recognition internationally,” Cindy added.
The AFC’s It’s My Game campaign, which was launched to recognise and encourage more women to join the workforce in football, has been viewed more than 440,000 times and reached over 1.37 million people across the AFC’s digital channels.
