President Joko Widodo has voiced out his concern on solving All Indonesian Soccer Association’s (PSSI) issue prior to the next FIFA congress in May 2017.
“We hope our football issues can be solved before the next FIFA congress in Kuala Lumpur next year,” Jokowi said as quoted by Antara News.
The Indonesian government sat down with FIFA officials to discuss the issues regarding PSSI and hopes to achieve a few steps to restore their football and coordinate with FIFA again.
President Joko Widodo has asked Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi to conduct a soccer associations meeting to discuss the root of the problem of the breakaway association.
The PSSI were banned from playing international football by FIFA last year for allowing its government to take over football activities in the country. The statutes clearly state that associations can only run without any influence from third parties in the country.
The other country that was banned alongside Indonesia last year was Kuwait.
WHAT DO WE THINK?
Indonesia needs to play international football again. The supporters of the national team were left in the dark when FIFA banned their country last year. This ensured that they would miss out on the qualifications for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 Asian Cup. Under the Dutch East Indies, they became the first Asian country to participate in the 1938 FIFA World Cup in France. However, they were ousted 6-0 by a strong Hungary team in the first round. Hungry went on to the final but were defeated 4-2 by a Vittorio Pozzo-led Italy team. They have produced great players over the years such as Bambang Pamungkas, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Elie Aiboy. The Indonesian government need to revamp the entire PSSI, let them be an separate association on its own and not meddle with any of their affairs in order to be a participant of FIFA once more.
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