loading…
Indonesian U-19 national team players cry after failing to qualify from the 2022 AFF U-19 Cup group stage. Photo: PSSI
As previously reported, Indonesia, through the Secretary General of PSSI, Yunus Nusi, has established communication with the EAFF. This is a strong signal that Indonesia may switch confederations and leave the AFF.
Read Also: Indonesian National Team Joins EAFF, Akmal: Diversion of Issues Covers Failure in AFF U-19 Cup
This discourse is of course the aftermath of the controversy over one of the matches in the 2022 AFF U-19 Cup tournament. In particular, the match between Vietnam U-19 vs Thailand U-19 in the last match of Group A ended in a 1-1 draw.
Allegedly, in that match there was flirting between the two teams or commonly known as elephant football. Thus, with the 1-1 draw, the Indonesian U-19 national team failed to advance to the semi-finals after finishing in third position, losing head to head with Vietnam U-19 and Thailand U-19.
Thus, PSSI demanded justice from the AFF by sending a letter of protest some time ago. Unfortunately, PSSI’s demands have been ignored by the AFF until now. Therefore, the discourse emerged that Indonesia would move to EAFF.
Meanwhile, EAFF itself has two big names in Asian football, Japan and South Korea. Apart from these two countries, there are also other countries such as Hong Kong, Mongolia, North Korea, Taiwan, Guam, Macau and the Northern Mariana Islands.
That way, Indonesia has the opportunity to lift the suitcase from the AFF and become part of a member of the sub-regional football confederation, in this case the EAFF. Where, EAFF is included in the sub-confederation football confederation, and is the body that oversees the football associations of countries under continental confederations, specifically the Asian continent.
Meanwhile, there are at least three countries that have moved to a sub-regional football confederation. Among them are:
1. Iran
