JIS Renovation Plan Is Still A Polemic, PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir: To Break FIFA Standards Before Re-Checking

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir. (Photo via Antara)

The plan to renovate the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) continues to be a polemic. Many accused there was a political element behind the plan.

Chairman of the All-Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Erick Thohir, again denied this. He said the JIS renovation was intended to be able to penetrate the International Football Federation (FIFA) standard.

This must be done immediately before being re-checked by the parent football all over the world.

"Why do we fix (JIS), so that it penetrates FIFA standards," said Erick when reviewing the selection of the U-17 national team in Gianyar Regency, Bali, Sunday, July 16.

The man who is also the Minister of SOEs explained that a team from FIFA will come to Indonesia to inspect a number of stadiums that are proposed to host the U-17 World Cup, including one of which is JIS. Even so, he has not disclosed the timing of the check by the FIFA team.

The former Inter Milan president admitted that he had pocketed a number of notes from FIFA regarding JIS. However, Erick was reluctant to reveal it to avoid polemics.

"Now on social media talking about standards is not a standard for social media and I can prove it, there is already a note from FIFA but why am I opening it, so it's a polemic. The important thing is that it will be renovated later, fix it according to FIFA standards," he said.

Repairs to the stadium located in Sunter, North Jakarta include grass and access. Previously, Erick estimated that the funds needed to repair grass at JIS reached around Rp. 6 billion.

There are also a total of 22 stadiums in the country that were renovated with a total budget of IDR 1.9 trillion.

Indonesia proposed six to eight stadiums for the host of the U-17 World Cup which will be held on November 10-2 December, but Erick has not announced the names of the stadiums.

Even so, previously six stadiums were proposed to be the location for the U-20 World Cup match and had gone through FIFA verification, namely the Captain I Wayan Dipta Stadium (Bali), Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium (Surabaya), Manahan Stadium (Solo), Jakabaring Stadium (Palembang), Si Jalak Harupat Stadium (Bandung Regency), and Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (Jakarta).