4 Erick Thohir's Breakthroughs After Three Days As Chairman Of PSSI

PSSI General Chairman, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. PSSI)

JAKARTA - SOE Minister Erick Thohir was elected as General Chair of PSSI on February 16. He occupied the PSSI 1 seat after winning the election which was held at the Extraordinary Congress (KLB).

He won the vote against his strongest rival, LaNyalla Mattalitti. Erick won 64 votes out of a total of 86 voters present at the Shangri-La Hotel, Central Jakarta. Meanwhile, LaNyalla only pocketed 22 votes.

Not long ago, Erick held his first meeting with the elected Executive Committee. There has been no breakthrough in the meeting.

On Saturday, 18 February, the former President of Inter Milan then held a second meeting with members of the Exco. At this moment, there are three policies taken.

First, form an Adhoc Committee for supporters. This formation was made after one day before there had been a riot of fans outside the Jatidiri Stadium when PSIS Semarang met Persis Solo.

"Why was the decision made to have an adhoc supporter committee? Because the issue of football transformation must also involve supporters. So we have to be serious. And of course, the FIFA letter that was sent to all of us at that time, one of them also spoke of supporters," said Erick after the Exco meeting second.

PSSI dipimpin Ketua Umum Erick Thohir menggelar rapat Komite Eksekutif pada Sabtu (18/2) di kantor GBK Arena, Jakarta. Rapat tersebut berlangsung selama satu jam serta diikuti dua wakil Ketua Umum, yakni Zainudi Amali, Ratu Tisha dan seluruh anggota Komite Eksekutif.#KitaGaruda pic.twitter.com/ds3Jcu0xYU

— PSSI (@PSSI) February 18, 2023

"We have to make sure the fans can go home safely. But we also knock on the hearts of the fans if we want our football transformation to be good, they must also be responsible for improving Indonesian football," he added.

Then the second breakthrough was the formation of the Adhoc Infrastructure Committee. Erick sees this as one of the most important things, especially in building a training center for the Indonesian National Team.

In fact, he said, PSSI would send a team to start looking at the land to be built as a training center for the Garuda Squad.

"This is part of PSSI's commitment to building a joint training center, not only funding from FIFA, but we will also try to find another financing," said Erick.

"If it's serious, next year this training center will have at least four practice fields and maybe also a training center for athletes," he continued.

The third breakthrough is reviving the National Team Agency (BTN), which was previously disbanded in 2015. The 2023 U-20 World Cup is being considered.

"We ensure the formation of the National Team Agency (BTN) because we have a big agenda, namely wanting to play in the World Cup," he said.

He doesn't want Indonesia to lose to other countries regarding the long-term plan for developing football. Erick then gave an example of India which has a football blueprint for 2023-2047.

"If other countries like India already have a blueprint for 2023-2047, we also can't be left behind. Because that's one of them, BTN has a long-term blueprint for how to prepare the national team," he said.

Ketua Umum PSSI Erick Thohir menegaskan langkah tegasnya untuk membabat habis mafia sepak bola. Menurut Erick, praktik mafia sepakbola harus diganjar sanksi tegas secara hukum.#KitaGaruda pic.twitter.com/0hpm0ZipyW

— PSSI (@PSSI) February 19, 2023

Another quick step taken by Erick Thohir in improving Indonesian football is partnering with the Indonesian National Police (Polri) to eradicate the mafia. This seriousness was proven by holding a meeting with National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo on Sunday, February 19.

The PSSI 2023-2027 chairman considers the mafia to have tarnished the realm of Indonesian football. He also admitted to showing seriousness by cooperating with FIFA to eradicate fraud.

"It's time for us, PSSI, to give a red card to the football mafia," said Erick.

The Chief of Police also took quick steps. He reactivated the Anti Ball Mafia Task Force which was disbanded in 2020. Listyo said the Anti Ball Mafia Task Force would be spread throughout the region. Later, the placement will be adjusted to the PSSI program.

"Of course, we will continue to strengthen this task force to the maximum. Currently, there are 15 sub-task forces that we have deployed throughout the region," said Listyo.