Liga 1 Has Involved Foreign Referee To Lead The Game, How Is Liga 2?

The League 2 Club Owners' meeting welcomed the last 12 and the relegation playoffs (doc. PT LIB).

JAKARTA - The involvement of foreign referees to lead the match in Liga 1 2023/2024 has recently become a sight that is familiar and has begun to reap a positive response.

So will the competition below, namely Liga 2, follow the same path by involving foreign referees?

Opportunities to involve foreign referees in League 2 are actually quite open, especially now that the second level competition has entered an important phase. The top 12 and the relegation playoffs will start rolling in early January 2024.

The agenda will make the match even more exciting with increasing match intensity. However, it turns out that the President Director (Director) of PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB), Ferry Paulus, said that presenting a foreign referee in Liga 2 was not easy.

"I'm not sure whether Liga 2 will use foreign referees because the referee's needs come from PSSI, not from PT LIB," he explained when giving a statement after the Premier League 2 Club Owner's event in the Central Jakarta area, Tuesday, December 19, 2023.

Furthermore, Ferry Paulus said that all issues regarding referees were in PSSI's hands. PT LIB as the operator is only obliged to provide the needs of these field justices.

"Everything called referees, either coaching, assignment, or evaluation, is in PSSI. Work is related to referees in the league, we only get a mandate from PSSI to prepare tickets, accommodation, and honorariums," said Ferry Paulus added.

On the other hand, Ferry Paulus also admitted that the number of referees in Indonesia was indeed not much. That number could be reduced if there are referees who get an evaluation and have to undergo coaching.

Apart from the League 2 chance, which is still a question mark about involving foreign referees, Ferry Paulus did not turn a blind eye to the situation that occurred in Liga 1.

According to him, the presence of foreign referees is a positive thing even though he realizes that their leadership is still not perfect.

"Honestly, we did see the name of the foreign referee yesterday from the way he led in Liga 1 even though it was not perfect, but much better," he said.