VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sports Zainudin Amali officially runs for the post of vice chairman of the National Football Association (PSSI) for the 2023-2027 term.

Amali becomes the second minister in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet after Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir, who declared his intention for running for the top position at the federation.

Several staff members of the Ministry of Youth and Sports arrived at the PSSI office, on behalf of Amali, to submit the documents required for the election.

“He expressed his willingness to run for vice chairman of PSSI,” Chairman of PSSI Election Amir Burhannudin stated here on Monday.

Amali will compete with other candidates, who will also contest during the 2023 PSSI election, such as former PSSI Secretary General Ratu Tisha and PSSI Secretary General Yunus Nusi.

Apart from them, there are businessman as well as the president of football club Persabaya Surabaya Azrul Ananda and PSSI Vice Chairperson and also football club owner Arema FC, Iwan Budianto.

PSSI is under scrutiny following a deadly stampede on October 1, 2022, at Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, East Java Province, after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya.

The incident, which becomes one of the world’s worst sporting disaster, claimed at least 135 lives.

Hence, the PSSI extraordinary congress and the federation election must be carried out earlier in response to the tragedy even though the PSSI Chairman Mochamad Iriawan’s term will be over at the end of 2023.

The congress will be held on February 16. (Antaranews)