Failure In The 2025 U-20 Asian Cup Is The Reason PSSI Removed Indra Sjafri

JAKARTA - The General Chairperson (Ketum) of PSSI, Erick Thohir, expressed his gratitude for the hard work and services carried out by Indra Sjafri during his menukangi for the U-20 Indonesian national team.

The message was made after PSSI officially ended its collaboration with the 62 coach as the captain of the U-20 Indonesian national team.

On Sunday, February 23, 2025, PSSI officially cut off cooperation with Indra Sjafri after conducting an evaluation after the U-20 Indonesian national team failed to qualify from the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup group phase.

"After conducting an evaluation, we at PSSI decided to release coach Indra Sjafri as head coach of the U-20 Indonesian national team," said Erick Thohir via personal Instagram quoted Monday, February 24, 2025.

"PSSI is grateful for the services and hard work that coach Indra has worked for while handling Garuda Muda by winning the 2023 SEA Games gold medal, winning the 2024 AFF U-19 Cup, and qualifying for the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup," he wrote again.

Previously, PSSI had indeed set the U-20 Indonesian national team to qualify for the last eight of the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup.

However, it turned out that the Garuda Nusantara squad was eliminated after undergoing three matches in the group stage without a win.

Garuda Nusantara, nicknamed Indonesia U-20, lost 0-3 to Iran U-20, lost 1-3 to Uzbekistan U-20, and drew 0-0 against Yemen U-20 in the final match.

This result ensures that Indonesia is eliminated from the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup in China as well as failing to achieve the 2025 U-20 World Cup qualifying target.

"The decision was taken by PSSI following the statement of a 62-year-old coach who is ready to take responsibility and is willing to accept the consequences after failing to achieve the target of qualifying for the 2025 U-20 World Cup because he was eliminated in the group phase while competing in the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup which took place in Shenzen, China," reads PSSI's official statement.

Indra Sjafri actually had flashy achievements when he handled the age group team. He twice brought the Indonesian U-19 national team to win the AFF Cup and successfully led the U-23 national team to win the 2023 SEA Games.