TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Erick Thohir confirmed that he would run as a candidate for the chairperson of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) for the 2023-2027 period.
Erick Thohir visited the PSSI Headquarter, Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, in Jakarta on Sunday to submit his registration documents.
“As a child of this nation, I am motivated to change things … to improve what is lacking. What PSSI needs to move forward nowadays is the courage to advance through the limitations and create an ecosystem which supports the growth of the national football industry,” he remarked.
Thohir emphasized that Indonesia needs courage to be able to compete with other countries as well as to fight and win in various international tournaments.
He said that a lot of potentials had not been optimized well to improve the national football team’s achievement and the sport industry in the country.
Hence, he has noted that courage is needed to build a fair and proud football industry in the country.
“Now, PSSI only needs one thing to advance … it is courage,” he stressed.
Furthermore, Thohir has pointed out a number of problems in improving football industry in Indonesia, including inadequate youth coaching, poor management of domestic competitions, low integrity and fair play quality in the tournaments, as well as unprofessional football industry management.
“Selecting 11 people out of 270 million Indonesians to create a competitive (football) national team is not difficult if we fix all of these problems properly. A country’s national team is only as strong as its league competition. Now, it is time for our football to level up,” he stated.
The attempts to improve the achievement of national football team does not only concern the technical aspect, such as tactics and formations, but also the matters of managerial, business, law enforcement, as well as political will and support, he continued.
The SOEs minister is known to have a number of some professional experiences in football industry. He was the owner and president of Inter Milan, one of the prominent European clubs.
He improved the management of the club, which was in a slump at that time, and secured the investment from Suning Holdings Group from China.
He was also a majority shareholder of DC United, an American Major League Soccer (MLS) club.
The election of the new PSSI chairperson will be held at the Extraordinary Congress of PSSI on February 16, 2023.
ANTARA
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