T

he Youth and Sports Ministry will announce members of an ad-hoc team that will take over the role of the suspended Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) to run the domestic QNB League next week, says an official.

'€œIt could be between Monday and Saturday,'€ the ministry'€™s assistant for development and partnerships Gatot S. Dewa Broto said on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.

The ministry had planned to announce the team'€™s members last week so that the suspended QNB League could resume soon but, according to Gatot, the ministry needed time to select '€œpeople who were credible and did not have vested interests in soccer'€.

Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said a day earlier that the '€œtransition'€ team would comprise up to 17 people with various backgrounds.

'€œI want members of the team to have integrity, morality and be really committed to reforming Indonesian soccer,'€ Imam said.

He expected PT Liga Indonesia, the organizer of the QNB League, to resume the competition on May 9 at the latest.

The ministry decided to suspend the PSSI on April 17, after the association refused to follow a recommendation from the ministry-sanctioned Indonesian Professional Sports Body (BOPI) to expel Persebaya Surabaya and Arema Indonesia from the competition due to the clubs'€™ ownership conflicts.

The PSSI then ordered PT Liga Indonesia to halt the competition on April 25, because most of the QNB League matches were canceled after the minister asked the police not to issue crowd permits for them.

In a meeting with the minister last week, PT Liga Indonesia and all 18 QNB league teams agreed to resume the league, but rejected a team taking over the PSSI'€™s role, saying that the PSSI was the only organization sanctioned by world soccer body FIFA.

'€œSoccer competitions sanctioned by [any organization] other than the PSSI will not be recognized by FIFA and the [Asian Football Confederation] AFC,'€ said Persija Jakarta president Ferry Paulus.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, hundreds of PSM Makassar supporters and players staged street soccer on the city'€™s main thoroughfare as a protest against the league'€™s suspension.

'€œWe really regret the decision [to suspend the league]. We could not see the performance of PSM for two seasons, because they were playing in Surabaya. This season we had the chance to see them playing in our hometown but then the league was suspended,'€ said Mustafa, coordinator of PSM fan base The Macz Man.

PSM moved its home base to Bung Tomo Stadium in Surabaya, East Java, early last year after two of its proposed stadiums '€” Andi Mattalatta Gelora Mattoanging Stadium in Makassar and Gelora Mandiri Stadium in Parepare, also in South Sulawesi '€” did not get approval from the PSSI.