Football Association of Indonesia

Indonesia - Football Association of Indonesia


The Football Association of Indonesia or PSSI (Indonesian language: Persatuan Sepak bola Seluruh Indonesia; sometimes translated as All Indonesia's Football Association) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on April 19, 1930, 15 years before the Indonesian independence day. PSSI joined the Asian Football Confederation in 1954 and FIFA in 1952 and on the current international football list, Indonesian football is listed at 139th place.


History
PSSI was established by a civil engineer named Soeratin Sosrosoegondo, who graduated in Germany and came back to Indonesia in 1928. In Indonesia, he worked at a Dutch company in Yogyakarta and became the first Indonesian to work at that company. However, later he resigned from the company and became more active in the revolutionary movement. As a man who loved football (soccer), he realised that football could be one of Indonesia's "weapons" to gather Indonesian men and forced the Dutch colonies to leave Indonesia.

To accomplish his mission, Soeratin held many meetings with Indonesian football professional players at that time, mostly through personal contact since they wanted to avoid the Dutch police. Later, at a meeting that was held in Jakarta with Soeri, the head of Vetbalbond Indonesische Jakarta (VIJ), and other players, they decided to establish a national football organization. On April 19, 1930, almost all non-national organizations, such as Persija Jakarta (Jakarta), Bandoengsche Indonesische Voetbal Bond (Bandung), Persatuan Sepakbola Mataram (Yogyakarta (city)), Madioensche Voetbal Bond (Madiun), Indonesische Voetbal Bond Magelang (Magelang), Soerabajashe Indonesische Voetbal Bond (Surabaya), and Vortenlandsche Voetbal Bond (Surakarta) gathered at the final meeting and established Persatoean Sepakbola Seloeroeh Indonesia (Football Association of Indonesia or PSSI) with Soeratin as the first leader.

In PSSI's earlier years, they mainly used football as a method to resist the Dutch control of the colonies by gathering all the footballers which mostly were men. Later, because PSSI became stronger. In 1936, NIVB was changed to NIVU (Nederlandsh Indische Voetbal Unie) and cooperation with the Dutch began. In 1938, with "Dutch East Indies" as a name, NIVU sent their team to the 1938 FIFA World Cup. However, most the players came from NIVU, instead of PSSI, although there were 9 Tionghoa/"pribumi" players. As a result, Soeratin expressed his protest since he wanted a match between NIVU and PSSI before the world cup. In addition, he was also disgraced because the flag that was used at the world cup was the NIVU's (Netherlands)'s flag. Soeratin then cancelled the agreement with NIVU and Muhammad Rizki at the PSSI congress in 1939 in Solo.

When the Japanese armies came to Indonesia, PSSI became inactive because Japan classified PSSI as a Tai Iku Kais organization, or a Japanese sport association.


Teams
National Teams
Currently, Indonesia has three football teams, which are Team-A, U-23 Team, and Junior Team.

Leagues
PSSI has five active main leagues. The premier league of PSSI is the Liga Indonesia,with 18 teams in each table. The second-class league is the "First Division Indonesian League", divided into four groups with nine teams each. On the other hand, the third-class league, which is called "Second Division Indonesian League" has four groups but only four teams in each group. However, each group only plays in one particular area or city; the first group is in Tambilahan, second is in Rembang, Pontianak for the third and the last group is in Palu. The other two groups are "Youth League" (KU-15) and "Women's League".
In 2008, the premier league will be changed into Super league which consists 18 teams from the top 9 teams in "Liga Djarum Indonesia 2007". Super league teams play 34 times in a double round-robin system with home and away matches. Premier league will be the second division league which consists 34 teams which are divided into 2 regional leagues. The regional leagues are "Wilayah Timur" (East Region) and "Wilayah Barat" (West Region) with 17 teams in each table.


Principals of PSSI
Chairmen
- Soeratin (1930-1940)
- Artono Martosoewignyo (1941-1949)
- Maladi (1950-1959)
- Abdul Wahab Djojohadikusumo (1960-1964)
- Maulwi Saelan (1964-1967)
- Kosasih Poerwanegara (1967-1974)
- Bardosono (1975-1977)
- Moehono (1977)
- Ali Sadikin (1978-1981)
- Syarnoebi Said (1982 - 1983)
- Kardono (1983-1991)
- Azwar Anas (1991-2000)
- Agum Gumelar (2000-2004)
- Nurdin Halid (2004-present)

Source:http://www.gfdb.com/Association.13.Indonesia.aspx