PSSI denies treating Henk Wullems unfairly
PSSI denies treating Henk Wullems unfairly
JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) has
expressed surprise over Henk Wullems' statement that it treated
him unfairly by not extending his contract.
Nirwan Dermawan Bakrie, the federation's technical director,
said Wednesday that the termination was because no agreement
could be reached between PSSI and Wullems, the former national
soccer team coach, over handling the team.
"PSSI was never one-sided in terminating the contract. The
federation had a meeting with Wullems to discussing several
matters including the national team and Wullems' salary," Nirwan
was quoted in Kompas yesterday.
Nirwan said he was surprised that Wullems held a personal
media conference when it was agreed they would hold a joint one.
Wullems told the press Tuesday that he was disappointed with
PSSI and called the federation "dishonest".
"I am very disappointed and upset that the federation's
officials are dishonest," said former Dutch national coach
Wullems, who guided the Indonesia to the 19th SEA Games final
last year.
PSSI then replaced Wullems with Rusdy Bahalwan, the coach of
the Surabaya-based Persebaya club.
Rusdy's immediate duties were to prepare the team for the
Tiger Cup scheduled to be held here in September.
The team, mostly comprising players from the SEA Games squad,
will undergo training in Surabaya, from Feb. 22 to March 22.
Nirwan denied the appointment of Rusdy was made before the
termination of Wullems' contract. "Rusdy was appointed after
observing that Wullems' contract could not be extended."
According to Nirwan, PSSI did not extend Wullems' contract
because Wullems did not agree that his salary of US$10,000 should
be based on an exchange rate of Rp 4,000 to the U.S. dollar.
"We certainly cannot afford to pay Wullems $10,000 based on a
Rp 10,000 currency rate. We then asked for further negotiations
but these were not agreed, so we had no choice but to terminate
Wullems' contract," Nirwan said. (lnt)