Former PSSI chairman invited to discuss RI soccer crisis

Former PSSI chairman invited to discuss RI soccer crisis 

Former Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chairman Djohar Arifin Husin and Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi held a meeting to discuss Indonesia’s soccer crisis at the Youth and Sports Ministry office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

“I was invited by the youth and sports minister to attend a meeting today. Regarding what topics will be discussed in the meeting, I don’t know. I came here just to listen to the minister’s directives,” he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Djohar said he was invited because he had been PSSI chairman since April 17, or before the association’s extraordinary meeting (KLB) in Surabaya, East Java, on April 18.

Djohar said he hoped that Indonesian soccer could return to normal so that both soccer clubs and players could "revive" again.

“This is what we have to think about. They have their own future. I was invited to come here primarily to save people who depend on soccer for their livelihood,” said the former PSSI chairman for the 2011-2015 period.

Earlier, the Youth and Sports Ministry confirmed that it would hold a meeting with PSSI officials at the ministry’s office on Tuesday.

“There will be a meeting with PSSI tomorrow [Tuesday]. We don’t dare to not obey what has been requested by the House of Representatives’ Commission X [which oversees sports affairs],” said the ministry’s deputy minister of the harmonization and partnership division, Gatot S. Dewa Broto, on Monday.

He said two agendas would be discussed in the meeting, namely the fate of Indonesia’s soccer competitions and FIFA sanctions.

“Concerning the sanctions, we will discuss how the sanctions should not take too long,” said Gatot. (ebf