REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chairman of the Association of Football Associations of Indonesia (PSSI) Erick Thohir confirmed that PSSI will impose strict sanctions on offenders who commit match fixing in football league competitions in Indonesia.
“There is one big point, I have no tolerance regarding match fixing,” Erick said at the opening of the New Rule Workshop of the Liga 1 Season 2024-2025 as in a video clip uploaded by his personal instagram account: @erickthohir which was monitored in Jakarta, Sunday (14/7/2024).
In the event of the socialization of the rules presented by the team representative of the PSSI Leadership Committee Yoshimi Ogawa, Erick reaffirmed PSSI's commitment to carry out the transformation of the football league in the homeland. He said building a quality league cannot be done unilaterally or single-handedly, but must be through the cooperation of all elements to effect change.
“The league has to change, the PSSI has to change, the club has to change,” he said.
In order to achieve the expected change in the quality of the league, PSSI will not tolerate any match-fixing practices carried out by managers, coaches, players, referees, or agents. “If there is a brush with me and if anyone knows about this mess please report it to me,” he said.
Furthermore, Erick added, he will continue to drive the transformation of PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) to make breakthroughs and improvements. The Indonesian league, he said, must be increasingly qualified so that it can become the best league in Southeast Asia's top 15 in Asia.
On the other hand, based on the league quality ranking released by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in May 2024, Indonesia's Liga 1 is still ranked 28th in Asia and sixth in ASEAN.