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erving for 13 years as the CEO of the most-celebrated soccer league in the world, the English Premier League (EPL), Richard Scudamore has shared that a solid soccer structure is the key to developing a world-class league.

Scudamore said that possessing strong fundamentals since the league’s founding in 1888 was one of many reasons why today’s EPL was so powerful.

 “You must have a solid soccer structure. In boxing, it has so many world titles. You have to know who’s the world champ with what belt.

“But within soccer you’ve got to streamline your structure,” Scudamore told the press on the sidelines of his visit to SDN 02 Cideng state elementary school in Central Jakarta, on Thursday morning, as part of his wider trip to the capital with the British Council in Indonesia.

British minister for university and science, David Willetts, joined Scudamore on the trip, announcing a memorandum of understanding in educational affairs between Indonesia and UK that was worth Rp 2.8 billion (US$305,200) in financial support.

The EPL has taken advantage of a lucrative television rights deal, worth a total of £2 billion in 2008–2009. It is the most-watched soccer league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to an audience of 643 million viewers.

“My advice to everyone is this. You have to have decent rules that people abide by. Yes, you have to compromise, you have to work together but we’re blessed in England with the structure and everything else that has been set since 1888,” he added.

Scudamore said everyone participating in the league must stick to the organizational structure. “Otherwise, chaos will take over,” he added

Despite the sparkling side, EPL is facing various issues, from racism to complaints over bad refereeing to vile abuse from fans.

Amid such challenges, Scudamore said that he had been helped to run the league by the 20 clubs that compete in it.

The EPL has been under another kind of spotlight recently with former England captain John Terry and Liverpool’s star forward Luis Suarez both receiving punishment for on-field incidents in recent months. Terry allegedly racially abused QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during a match in October. His case has been turned over to police, as a possible public-order offense. Suarez recently served an eight-game ban, issued by the English Football Association, for “damaging the image of English [soccer] around the world,” in relation to allegedly racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra on Oct. 15.

“We have a situation where the clubs manage the events — 380 matches with 20 clubs playing each other twice. What we do collectively is to set the rules, boundaries, the guidelines and the policies. I have 20 very supportive clubs to help me settle the challenges,” said Scudamore.

Visiting Indonesia, Scudamore said that he saw it as an aspiring soccer country. “Indonesia is a big country, with 250 million people, a very young and aspiring population. Therefore, the soccer is also very young and aspirational.

“It’s very nice to know that the sport is popular, and I hope in my lifetime, Indonesian soccer can be as popular as the EPL,” he added.