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Indonesian soccer team likely to be absent
The Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) will probably not send its youth squad to the qualifier for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next August, due in part to classic reasons of time and budget constraints, as well as lack of coordination
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he Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) will probably not send its youth squad to the qualifier for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next August, due in part to classic reasons of time and budget constraints, as well as lack of coordination.
“We might not send anyone to the Youth Olympic Games because we were only informed about it two days ago,” PSSI secretary-general Nugraha Besoes told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
T.B. Ade Lukman Djajadi of the Cultural and Olympic Education Commission at the Indonesia Olympic Committee (KOI) said recently that many sports associations did not respond to KOI’s notice concerning the upcoming Youth Olympics on Aug. 14-26, which requires potential participants to go through tough qualifying rounds.
The soccer qualifiers for the boys’ teams will be held in May in Singapore, while the girls’ qualifiers will be held in Iran.
“It will be difficult for us to prepare a team for the qualifier in such a limited time. Besides, we don’t have any funds for the event,” Nugraha said, adding that KOI should have informed the PSSI before the association set out its annual program in January.
“We have billions [of rupiah] allocated to the development of the early-age soccer teams, but none of it is earmarked for the Youth Olympics, as we learnt about the event only recently,” said Nugraha.
However, according to KOI’s Ade, funding issue was not an issue at all.
For example, last year KOI disbursed US$50,000 in Olympic Solidarity funds to cover weightlifting, archery and sailing in their qualifiers to the Games.
“Thus, we are hoping more sports associations proactively present their preparation programs for the Youth Olympics. We will facilitate their proposals to receive funding assistance,” Ade said.
Moreover, FIFA, which is involved in setting the parameters for participating soccer teams in the Youth Olympics, regulates that only U-15 players, who are born between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 1995, are eligible for the event. FIFA is giving an opportunity for countries that have never or rarely participate in the Olympic Games or World Cup to take part in the qualifiers.
“The Youth Olympics should be seen as a good opportunity for our youth soccer team,” KOI program manager Gregory J. Wilson said.
Nonetheless, Nugraha said PSSI does not have a U-15 squad. “We only have U-13, U-14, U-16 and U-19.”
PSSI’s main focus for the early-age players’ development currently lies with the U-16 squad preparing for the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship in October.
The country’s U-16 squad qualified for the AFC Asia Cup final after it finished second, trailing Japan, in the Group E qualifiers.
Australia, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Iran, Oman, Tajikistan, Syria, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, China, Timor Leste, North Korea and Vietnam are the others advancing to the tournament finals.
