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utting last year'€™s dreadful performance behind itself, the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) is looking to rebuild national soccer by focusing more on youth development programs.

'€œSince we don'€™t have a basic soccer development program, we need to start from scratch. We have millions of potential soccer players who need scouting,'€ PSSI chairman Djohar Arifin Husein told The Jakarta Post in a phone interview.

Earlier in the day, he led a PSSI team in a meeting with members of House of Representatives Commission X, during which the association presented its next work program in a bid to improve national soccer.

Part of the program includes hiring coaching and referee instructors recommended by the world'€™s soccer governing body, FIFA.

'€œThose coaching and referee instructors have started working this year and will be working for us for two years,'€ he said.

Late last year the PSSI recruited Pieter Huistra of the Netherlands as its technical director and Narayan Sivaji Nair of Singapore as coaching education director.

Huistra is a former national player for the Netherlands. He also led the Glasgow Rangers to win the Scotland championships in 1990-1995.

From 2001-2005 he was the director of youth development in Groningen before moving to the Ajax Academy in 2009.

He was an assistant for Marco Van Basten before being appointed as Jong Ajax coach.

Nair is an Asian Football Confederation (AFC)-licensed elite coaching instructor.

Last year the PSSI came under the public spotlight after the Indonesian soccer team failed to achieve on the international stage.

The Garuda team suffered a 4-0 thumping by the Philippines to lose for the first time to the soccer minnows in the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup'€™s group qualifying round.

The U-23 team was eliminated in the Round of 16 at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, where the Indonesian sporting delegation brought home a collection of only four gold, five silver and 11 bronze medals to finish in 17th position among the 45 participating nations

The U-19 team failed to qualify for the Asian Cup U-19 championships after being defeated by Uzbekistan, Australia and the United Arab Emirates during the group qualifying round, which also meant it did not qualify for the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.

In addition to the failures, Indonesian soccer fans witnessed a theatrical match between PSS Sleman and PSIS Semarang in the Indonesian Premier League, one tier below the Indonesian Super League.

Players from both sides raced to score in their own nets as they sought a loss in order to avoid facing an unwanted opponent in the next stage. The scandal carried a lifetime ban for players and officials involved.

Commission head Teuku Riefky Harsya said that the commission had given support to the PSSI in its development program.

'€œWe appreciate what they have done but we told them that Indonesian people need to see proof [of their work] in international competitions,'€ he said.