Explain The Importance Of VAR Usage, Doni Setiabudi: If There Is A Chairman Of PSSI, There Will Be A Mafia Eradication

Prospective Chairman of PSSI 2023-2027, Doni Setiabudi (third from left). (Photo: Cosmas Kopong Beda/VOI)

JAKARTA The candidate for PSSI General Chair, Doni Setiabudi, assesses that it is time for soccer competition in Indonesia to use video assistant referee (VAR) technology.

He conveyed this at the National Football Caucus event to celebrate the construction of PSSI which took place at Spark Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, February 13, 2023.

"I will apply the VAR if elected. I am the first person in Indonesia to use VAR. I have proven that with that technology the match will run much more fairly," he said.

At the end of 2018, Doni, who at that time served as CEO of the Bandung Premier League amateur football league, had made an uproar for implementing VAR in the event he was carrying.

The use of VAR at that time was still far from perfect when compared to other advanced competitions in Europe. However, the existence of this technology can actually reduce problems on the ground.

Doni said this technology could help the referee in making important decisions in the match. If applied in national competitions, it will automatically reduce the space for mafia match-fixing.

"We can also reduce the scope of the mafia. If there is a General Chairperson of PSSI, we will eradicate the mafia. That can't be done, but we can reduce their scope by implementing VAR," he said.

Doni Setiabudi is one of the five candidates to advance at the PSSI extraordinary congress (KLB) which will be held on February 16 in Jakarta. The KLB will have an agenda for the election of the general chairman, deputy chairman, and members of the PSSI executive committee for the period 2023-2027.

Apart from Doni, the other four names that will advance are SOE Minister Erick Thohir, LaNyalla House of Representatives Chairman Mahmud Mattalitti, Fary Djemy Franscis, and Arief Putra Wicaksono.

Meanwhile, for the position of deputy chairman, there are a total of 16 candidates, while there are 55 members of the executive committee who fight.