PSSI Chairman: Liga 1 Continues Despite The U-17 World Cup

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the All-Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) Erick Thohir emphasized that Liga 1 2023/2024 will continue as planned even though Indonesia was appointed by FIFA to host the 2023 U-17 World Cup.

The U-17 World Cup will be held on November 10-2 December and at the same time Liga 1 will be held week 19 until the 21st week of that period.

"I called the Indonesian League to prepare how so that League 1 can run. It's just a matter of how we compromise so that this event runs optimally and League 1 is also running optimally. This is an opportunity, we can synergize it," said Erick through a press conference in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Saturday 24 June.

The number one person at PSSI confirmed that he had established communication with PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) so that League 1 and the U-17 World Cup could run optimally.

Liga 1 2023/2024 will begin on Saturday 1 July with the opening match enlivened by the competition for Bali United vs PSS Sleman.

The highest football competition in Indonesia will implement several breakthroughs such as Video Assistant Referee (VAR), LED E-Board, to improving referee quality.

Unfortunately, Erick said that the VAR, which was announced to be used in February 2024, could not be ascertained more quickly for the U-17 World Cup.

"What I know is that in U-20 there is VAR, and FIFA brings the system. If U-17 we haven't received any news, if there is VAR, thank God," said Erick.

"But according to the planning in the League, we don't only have to prepare tools (for VAR), but also HR preparations," he added.

Liga 1 2023/2024 will implement a new competition format, namely regular series and championship series.

Pada regular series, 18 klub akan menjalani format kompetisi penuh dari 1 Juli 2023 hingga 28 April 2024.

After that, the top four team for the regular series format will advance to the championship series on May 4-26, 2024 with the away home knock-out system to fight for the champions and teams competing in the AFC Club Competition 2024/2025.