The Beginning Of The Sanctioned 4 National Team Players Appeared, PSSI: Reports From The Hotel

The Indonesian national team in the match against Thailand in the AFF Cup Final/ Twitter.com/@pssi

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team managed to become runner-up in the 2020 AFF Cup, after Thailand won the title through a 2-2 draw in the final.

Apart from the draw that ended in defeat, there were painful moments experienced by the national team before competing. This was due to the performance sanctions imposed on four players, namely Elkan Baggott, Victor Igbonefo, Rizky Dwi Febrianto, and Rizky Ridho.

The absence of these four names more or less affected the team's breaking power on the field. The players are known to have received sanctions from the AFF organizers for violating the rules of the established bubble system.

Regarding this, PSSI responded. Through the PSSI Secretary General, Yunus Nusi, the case of bubble violations by four Indonesian national team players began with a report from the Orchard Hotel to the Singapore government.

"The hotel has reported to the Singapore government that four Indonesian national team players left the hotel and went shopping," said Yunus Nusi in a written statement received by VOI, Sunday, January 2.

Yunus then explained that at the Orchard Hotel where the national team was staying, it turned out that they also received guests in general where visitors were free to move.

While the national team had to follow the bubble rules but when the four players left the hotel to buy daily necessities, the Singapore government swiftly punished the four.

Yunus considered this situation to be discriminatory and made him file an objection to the Singapore government. This was done by Yunus because he felt that the bubble rule did not cover all elements, but only for the national team players.

"Incidentally, the hotel also has access to a mall. We strongly protest because there is only one participant in the AFF Cup, namely the Indonesian national team, but other public guests are free to enter the hotel," he said.

"We protested because we thought this was discriminatory. Why? Why is it that only the Indonesian national team was given a sanction for shopping out, while other guests, even on the same floor as the Indonesian national team, were left alone. That's what we don't accept," he explained.

Previously told by Yunus, the four players mentioned above had time to leave the hotel to go to a nearby mini market. They went with a short duration to buy daily necessities which were exhausted and not provided by the hotel.

However, it actually had a long tail and was detrimental to the national team. Because of this situation, the national team was fined by the AFF Disciplinary Commission (Komdis) of 10 thousand Singapore dollars or equivalent to Rp. 105 million.