Persija Sudirman Coach Condition Declines, Team Doctor: There's A Combination Of COVID-19 And Comorbid Factors He Has

JAKARTA - Persija Jakarta conveyed bad news regarding the condition of their head coach, Sudirman. The team doctor, Donny Kurniawan, said Sudirman had decreased consciousness while undergoing intensive care for COVID-19 at a hospital in Bali.

"Vital signs and oxygen saturation are still stable but he (Sudirman) has decreased consciousness. This may be due to the combination of COVID-19 and the comorbid factors he has", said Donny Kurniawan as quoted from the Persija page.

Sudirman has been undergoing treatment since last Tuesday, February 8th. When his condition was reported to have deteriorated, the Persija team handed over the handling of the coach to an internal medicine specialist and a neurologist for further treatment.

“We are waiting for the results of the examination carried out by our friends who are specialist doctors there. We hope he gets better soon and recovers from his illness", Donny continued.

Sudirman was a member of the Persija team who was found to be positive for COVID-19 based on the results of the PCR test. Within the coaching staff, Sudirman was not the only one who was exposed because there was a goalkeeping coach, Ahmad Fauzi, and a physical trainer, Ilham Ralibi who also had to be isolated due to COVID-19.

In addition to the coaching staff, several players such as Makan Konate, Samuel Christianson and Ryuji Utomo are also still recovering from COVID-19 treatment.

Due to the exposure to COVID-19 that hit Persija, it even made one match, namely the match against Madura United in the 24th week of Liga 1 2021/2022, be postponed.

The main trigger was that the Kemayoran Tiger squad did not have enough players to compete in the match that was supposed to take place on Wednesday. From the results of the last test, it is known that only 11 players are fit to compete.