Indonesian soccer body to start league on March 22<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Soccer Federation meeting
\ndecided on Thursday to delay the fourth Indonesian soccer league,
\nwhich originally started on Feb. 8, to March 22.<\/p>\n
The meeting -- which was attended by the State Minister of
\nYouth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, the federation chairman
\nAzwar Anas, the federation branches chairmen and owners of the
\nclubs -- also allowed all clubs to find their own sponsors for
\nthe league.<\/p>\n
The decisions were taken as the best solutions to continue the
\nleague during the economic turmoil in the country.<\/p>\n
Azwar, who is also Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare,
\nsaid that the government also urged the federation not to stage
\nthe league, which can cause riots, during the People's
\nConsultative Assembly's meeting from March 1 to March 11.<\/p>\n
Hayono supported the call saying: \"The federation and clubs
\nhave more time to solve their problems on finding new sponsors.\"<\/p>\n
The meeting's results also said that promoter PT Cipta Citra
\nhad no longer contract with the federation to stage the league.<\/p>\n
For this year's competition, each club can find its own
\nsponsors.<\/p>\n
\"But the federation still has the TV rights,\" the federation's
\nspokesman Tondo Widodo said.<\/p>\n
Most of the meeting participants agreed to continue the
\ncompetition despite the economic turmoil.<\/p>\n
Some clubs, including Balikpapan-based Persiba in East
\nKalimantan and Manado-based Persema in North Sulawesi, suggested
\nthe federation to only stage one season of the two-season
\ncompetition.<\/p>\n
But the meeting resulted to go on with the full competition.<\/p>\n
The federation's secretary-general, Nugraha Besoes, said clubs
\nhad to be able to finance themselves during the competition.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, they won't survive until the final stages,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The final stages, which will be participated by the best 12
\nclubs at the Senayan main stadium, will not use the round-robin
\nsystem anymore but the knock-out system due to the limited time.<\/p>\n
The league director, Iswadi Idris, told Antara that with the
\nnew system, the competition would likely finish in July.<\/p>\n
\"Without the new system, we predict the competition will
\nfinish by the end of August. We know that early September, we'll
\nstage the second ASEAN Tiger Cup and our national players must
\nperform at the championship,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In August, the Winners Cup and the Asian Champion competitions
\nwill start and the federation will have to send the teams to
\ncompete at both tournaments.<\/p>\n
The Bandung-based Persib manager, Dwi Kurnianto, and the
\nSurabaya-based Persebaya manager, Karwoto, expressed their
\noptimism that their clubs would survive during the league
\nalthough they would not receive Rp 100 million (US$10,000)
\nsubsidy from the main sponsor.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the Denpasar-based Gelora Dewata manager,
\nVigit Waluyo, was pessimistic on finding new sponsors during the
\neconomic collapse.<\/p>\n
\"It depends on the club owner now to finance the club,\" he
\nsaid, adding that his club would still compete at the competition
\nas long as it has the money. (yan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-soccer-body-to-start-league-on-march-22-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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