The Competition Runs During an Election Situation, Erick: Football Should Not Be Complicated by Politics

– The issue of politicization that revolves around the discourse on repairing a number of stadiums in Indonesia, including the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS), has infuriated PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir. He emphasized that the running of the political process in the form of a series of elections to the presidential election could run without disturbing the dynamics of national football.

PSSI’s efforts to prove this assumption are to continue to support domestic competition at the highest level, namely Liga1 Indonesia. Although with a number of conditions, to guarantee a security situation, such as limiting the number of viewers.

“PSSI itself has proven that when there is an election, football does not stop the season. However, the audience is 50% (of stadium capacity) due to the election situation. I hope this doesn’t become a polemic,” Erick said when meeting the media crew at the Madya Senayan Stadium, Thursday (6/7/2023).

The issue of politicization also colored the discourse on the JIS renovation which was carried out ahead of the U-17 World Cup where Indonesia was appointed as the host. The former owner of the Internazionale Milan club emphasized that the renovations being carried out were aimed at giving FIFA more options.

With more options, Indonesia also has a great opportunity to regularly organize matches and FIFA tournaments. The main goal of stadium improvements, for example on the pitch, aims to support the holding of tournaments with a number of intense matches.

“In one week there is not only one match, there can be up to six. The quality of the grass has really improved,” said Erick.

According to him, the program to repair football facilities in the form of stadiums in various parts of Indonesia is part of fulfilling a promise to FIFA after the status of host for the U-20 World Cup was revoked some time ago. In total there are 22 stadiums which will undergo gradual renovations.

Facility video assistant referee (VAR) will also be built in all the stadiums that will be renovated. This is also for the sake of aligning the application of VAR in domestic competition. There are 15 or 16 stadiums out of a total of 22 which were built to be the location for Indonesian League 1 matches.

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