31 teams to participate in Indonesian league
31 teams to participate in Indonesian league
JAKARTA (JP): Despite its financial woes, the All-Indonesian
Soccer Federation (PSSI) confirmed yesterday that 31 clubs would
participate in the second leg of the Indonesian league
competitions, scheduled to kick off on Sunday.
Dali Taher, the federation's tournament and transfer affairs
director, said the teams were permanent participants in the
league.
"The monetary crisis has not reduced the number of clubs
taking part in the league," Dali said.
He said PSSI also had asked the clubs to finance their daily
needs during competitions as they no longer could depend on
sponsorships.
"The participating clubs will have to manage their own funds
despite the absence of a Rp 100 million (US$10,000) subsidy for
each club from the federation," he said.
Federation secretary Nugraha Besoes said the matches would go
ahead as scheduled.
The league, to be divided into three geographical divisions,
will end its round-robin in July. Only four top teams in each
division will qualify for the last 12 rounds in which losing
teams will be knocked out of contention.
Nugraha denied rumors that several clubs had pulled out of the
competition due to a lack of funds.
"So far, PSSI has yet to receive any letter from clubs
regarding pulling out of the competition, so we'll proceed with
the matches," he said.
The league matches were originally scheduled to start on Feb.
8, but were delayed due to the General Session of the People's
Consultative Assembly following a request from the Armed Forces
commander.
Nugraha said the league's winner and runner-up should be
decided by July to allow them to represent Indonesia in the Asian
Champions Cup and the Winners Cup scheduled to start in August.
He refused to comment on alleged collusive practices involving
some referees and soccer clubs, saying that the police were now
investigating the case.
Tiger Cup
He said the referees who would oversee the league matches
would be chosen by the federation and the fact-finding team that
probed the collusion case.
Nugraha said Indonesia could expect a well-organized
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tiger Cup here in
September if riots and cheating did not hinder the upcoming
league competitions.
He said eight ASEAN members -- defending champion Thailand,
Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos and
host Indonesia -- would participate in the competition.
The National Sports Council has announced that Indonesia's
performance in the Tiger Cup would decide whether its soccer team
would participate in the Asian Games.
The national team groomed for the Tiger Cup completed the
first phase of its training session in Surabaya, East Java, last
month. It will resume training next month.
Nugraha said the team was open to modification, but that the
federation would leave such decisions solely in the hands of the
coaches.
The national team is planning an international friendly match
with either Mexico or Latvia.
"We're still negotiating with their team managers. The Mexican
team manager is now in Paris for the World Cup," he said.
Nugraha said the national team would also play warm-up matches
abroad either in Asia or other continents. (emf)