Raphael Maitimo Values ​​PSSI under Erick Thohir is much more organized

Jakarta, Beritasatu.com – 2012-2015 Indonesian national team player Raphael Maitimo believes that PSSI under Erick Thohir's leadership is currently much more organized.

“From what I see, read and hear, PSSI now under Erick Thohir is much more organized and has good management,” said Raphael Maitimo, Tuesday (26/3/2024).

The footballer who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and has Minangkabau and Maluku heritage, believes that PSSI's more organized climate is good news for the development of Indonesian football.

As one of the 12 foreign players who were naturalized by PSSI in 2011-2015, he said that the health of PSSI led by Erick Thohir was also a source of happiness for players of descent who wanted to be naturalized to defend the Red and White.

“This really makes the new naturalized footballers comfortable and they feel happy because the whole process runs neatly, quickly and smoothly. “It's really different compared to my time,” said Raphael Maitimo.

The 40 year old man then told about his naturalization process during Johar Arifin Husin's leadership.

“I was invited by PSSI, at that time Iman Arif (Deputy for Technical Affairs at the PSSI National Team Agency) was in charge. He was also the first to ask whether I was interested in playing for the national team because I have Indonesian lineage,” explained Maitimo.

At that time, according to him, the process of converting to become an Indonesian citizen (WNI) was far from what he expected.

In fact, at the beginning he said that he had canceled the process because PSSI had broken too many promises. “It took a long time. The process started in 2010, but in 2012 I was able to wear the national team uniform. I didn't get anything except the fact that I could finally play for Indonesia,” continued the owner of 21 caps with four goals for the Indonesian national team.