Off the wire
• Beijing university opens Sino-Russian WWII photo exhibition  • Chinese guards of honor awarded ahead of Russian parade  • Doctors go all out to save Nepalese lives  • U.S. Secretary of State begins his Djibouti visit  • Australian FM shows concern over Islamic State emergence  • British media backs Conservative by five-to-one margin, says media monitor  • Chinese, U.S. political party leaders meet  • Economic climate in euro area improves significantly: Ifo  • Ukraine's auto sales up 26 pct in April  • Fastest cargo train linking China, Europe to add station  
You are here: 　 Home

Indonesian president supports freezing of PSSI

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday gave his support on the freezing of the country's national soccer association or PSSI and encouraged the establishment of transition team to take over the association tasks, a minister said here.

Indonesian Youth and Sport Minister Imam Nachrowi met with President Jokowi at the State Palace on Wednesday, saying that the president asked for the settlement of the disputed sponsorship at the soccer competition and keeping on the plan to establish the annual football competition.

"The president insists on the change on the management of football in the country. Hence, the president asked me to conduct reform on the management," he said at Youth and Sport Ministry.

On April 17, he froze the operation of PSSI as his office sniffed irregularities linked to the new sponsorship and how the competition was organized by a firm controlled by the PSSI, PT Liga Indonesia.

Under the new sponsor, the name of Indonesian football completion was changed to QNB (Qatar National Bank) League, from the previous Indonesian Super League (ISL).

In addition to lack of transparency, the minister's office learned that two of the 18 football clubs participating in the QNB league were not legally-complied with the existing regulations.

The freezing of the operation of the PSSI leads to the stoppage all matches under QNB League contending Indonesian premier clubs scheduled throughout this year. Endit