The Government Reviews Consideration Regarding The League 2 To Be Attended By Spectators

Illustration of League 2 (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto who is also the Chairman of the Committee for Handling COVID-19 and National Economic Recovery (KPC-PEN) said the government is considering that the League 2 soccer competition can be held with spectators on condition that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"I conveyed this to the Minister of Youth and Sports and the General Chairperson of Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) to study maybe in a small number of prototypes, but the ones that are currently being held are still full without spectators," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga in a press conference on the results of the meeting of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Menpora with PSSI online, Tuesday.

The government, he continued, will also evaluate the implementation of the National Sports Week (PON) in Papua and Superbike in Mandalika which allows the attendance of 20-25 percent of spectators as consideration for allowing spectators to attend in Liga 2.

"We'll see what the future effects will be because League 2 will run until December," said Airlangga.

He further said that the condition for sports competitions to be attended by spectators was that 70 percent of the people around the activity locations had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, spectators who are present on the competition field are required to have received a full dose of vaccination.

"Those who watch are required to have been injected twice. We just have to keep the ring safe from the match, because maintaining the ring is a challenge in terms of security and also health," he explained.

Responding to the directive from the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga, Minister of Youth and Sports Zainuddin Amali, who was also present at the press conference, said that the Ministry of Youth and Sports would look at future developments and discuss the presence of spectators again.

"This is a challenge for us and PSSI how to see future developments, starting to think there will be matches with spectators. Now, we will discuss the direction of the Coordinating Minister, of course, we will report the results of the discussion again," said Menpora Zainuddin.

The 2021 Liga 2 competition was officially opened without spectators, which was marked by a duel between Persis Solo and PSG Pati at the Manahan Stadium, Solo, Sunday, September 26. The opening of the League 2 was attended by Menpora Zainuddin, Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir, and PSSI Chairman Mochamad Irawan.