Van Lingen's salary under negotiation

JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesian Football Association is still negotiating with Bert van Lingen the salary he will earn as the association's new technical director, said the association's secretary-general Nugraha Besoes in Bandung on Saturday.

The association agreed to pick van Lingen of the Netherlands after he presented his program ideas in Jakarta last month. He will be assisted by Arno Pijpers.

"We're still negotiating the salary," Nugraha said.

Van Lingen, who is still assisting the Netherlands' national team coach Guus Hiddink, is asking for an annual salary of Rp 450 million (US$196,000).

"I think the amount we're offering is good enough," Nugraha said, declining to say how much the association is willing to pay.

Nirwan Bakrie, the association's technical team head, said on Thursday that van Lingen, the former assistant to Dutch national team coaches Rinus Mitchel and Dick Advocaat, is likely to get 400,000 guilders (US$190,000) a year, double the salary of Pijpers.

Earlier on Thursday, the Dutch duo signed a consulting deal with the association.

Van Lingen beat out Romano Matte of Italy and Burkhard Pape of Germany for the position.

Pijpers was once a coach for PSV Eindhoven junior and Feyenoord junior, two top Dutch clubs.

Meanwhile, Nugraha said that Bima Sakti -- a former player on the national team Primavera who was picked up by Swedish team Helsinborg -- has officially signed a contract to play for the first division club in Sweden.

"When Bima left Primavera and went to Helsinborg, he did not sign a contract and was Primavera's responsibility until last month," he said.

"On April 12, Catherine Mithielli, Bima's manager in Europe, announced that the former Primavera captain received the salary mentioned in his contract," said Nugraha.

Nugraha's statement was issued to clarify the status of Indonesia's booters playing abroad. (05)