Ridho has dared to choose to live alone outside his hometown, without parents, without relatives, in order to study football.
Ridho Syuhada's journey to reach out his dream of a career in football is pretty challenging. Born in Kuantan Siningi, Riau in 2004, Ridho has loved football since he was a child because his father also likes football. “Papa really likes football. When Mom was pregnant, she was often taken by my dad to watch football. Even when Ridho was just able to walk for the first time, he was immediately given the ball,” said Ridho.
His first place to study football was SSB Gasela Lamandau when he was still 8 years old. Three years later, Ridho moved to SSB Kobar Muda, Pangkalan Bun. Since graduating from elementary school (SD), Ridho has dared to choose to live alone outside his hometown, without parents, without relatives, in order to study football.
He chose to go to Java island because, according to him, Java has more developed football knowledge and training venues. “At that time my mother asked, 'Where do you want to go for junior high school?'. I chose Java because the football there was more advanced. My parents were worried because we had no relatives at all in Java,” said Ridho.
“My parents were pretty worried but I told them: ‘It is okay, we could look for an academy with a dormitory'. It turns out that my coach has an acquaintance in Semarang. Then during the midterm holidays, my parents and I went to Semarang and we visited one of the academies, namely Akademi Satria Kencana Serasi.
“A brief visit to Satria Kencana Serasi during the holidays solidified Ridho's will to move to Java, so he could focus on practicing football. In 2019, Ridho successfully passed the PSIS U16 selection for the Elite Pro Academy. A year later, he was called up to train with the U18 and U20 teams. He was the only U16 player called up for the training. September 2020, he was chosen to be one of the PSIS representatives to take part in the #GarudaSelect selection. Finally, he was selected for the #GarudaSelect Program.
According to Ridho, "The #GarudaSelect program is useful for developing talents and also it gives me the experience of playing football in Europe. Of course, I want to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible, so that I can later join the Indonesian national team. I also have a dream to play for European clubs.”