Yunus Mokhtar played for FC Twente from 2013 to 2015. Across Saudi Arabia, PEC Zwolle, Turkey, Norway, United States, ADO The Hague and Morocco, the left winger finished at Bhayangkara FC of Indonesia. He is currently in a training camp with this club in Bogor, two hours south of his hometown of Jakarta.
“Now we are in the middle of the mountains here,” Mukhtar says. international football. “We train here near a tropical forest. There are a lot of banana trees here, all the greenery mixes here.” It might be a nice area, but the field of training just isn’t there yet. “It is of course difficult to put a beautiful cover of grass on the mountains. We train here in a tuber field. It is not quite smooth, let me describe it this way. With each step I must watch where I put my feet.”
After leaving ADO Den Haag and summer 2021, Mokhtar was transfer free for some time. At the beginning of this year, he was chosen by Moroccan Raja Casablanca. “Marc Wilmots picked me up in January. But he was fired after three weeks. Then a local coach came along and of course wanted to get his players. Then it becomes a tough story in those kinds of countries. I ended up in a kind of hopeless situation,” Mukhtar said. A success at all in Morocco, he hasn’t played a single match with Raja Casablanca.
In May he moved from Morocco to Indonesia. “One way or another, clients from all over the world always know where to find you,” the 31-year-old left winger laughs. “I am really adventurous. I have visited many countries.”
Mukhtar is on an adventure with his move to Bhayangkara FC. The club is owned by the Indonesian police force, something he noticed upon his arrival in Indonesia. “The police knew I was coming, so the red carpet was rolled out right away. The whole process went through customs faster. 75 percent of the selectees are also a police officer. As long as they are contracted with Bhayangkara, they don’t have to report to their police force. But they do get paid. Doubly,” said the former Twente player.
The fact that Bhayangkara is a police club is reflected in a constant ritual of choice. Before the match they were shouting, ‘Bhayangkara! And then: “Police! law enforcement! law enforcement!’ This is of course a special matter if you yourself are not a police officer,” concludes Mukhtar.
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