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About Football Association of Indonesia (FAI) and football in general
Do you know the first Asian nation to feature in a World Cup finals? Well you do now for it was Indonesia, then playing as the Dutch East Indies team, that played in the 1938 World Cup tournament. It was a momentous moment for the team and the Asian continent even if the team did not go far in the tournament. The country has attempted to emulate that feat without success. In the Asian Games Indonesia has finished in the top four three times before. They also qualified for the final rounds of the Asian Cup 2000. The game has suffered a decline but the Football Association of Indonesia have introduced numerous programmes to try and raise the level of the game. Indonesia, one of the most populous nations in the world, has a very large pool of players, especially since the game is played extensively throughout the country. League matches in Indonesia also attracts large crowds as well. Principal Stadium: Senayan Main Stadium - Jakarta (capacity 110,.000) Other stadiums: Mattoangin Stadium - Makassar (capacity 40,000) 10th November Stadium - Surabaya (capacity 45,000) Teladan Stadium - Medan (capacity 30.000) It is difficult to accommodate the popularity of football in Indonesia into a competition due to geographical situation, as a world's largest archipelago. Over 200 million people (spread across more than 13000 islands, in 1.948.732 sq km) have to compete in one competition, the Indonesian Premier League (Indonesian League) or Liga Indonesia (LI). The inception of LI was in 1994, with 33 clubs competing and divided into two conferences, Eastern and Western. Back to the early days, it was the Dutch who introduced football to Indonesia. And amazingly, Indonesia surfaced in the final rounds of two big football competition, the football World Cup and Olympic Games. In 1930, six counties from all over the country formed their own competitions in Medan (North Sumatera), Surabaya (East Java), Semarang (Central Java), Bandung (West Java), East (Sulawesi Island, Maluku, Sunda Kecil), and Banjarmasin (Kalimantan). They were all affiliated to NIVU (Netherland's India Football Association). Meanwhile, the All Indonesian Football Federation / Football Association of Indonesia - Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia (PSSI) - was founded in Yogya also that year on Saturday, April 19, 1930. The meeting was held at Societeit Hadiprojo Yogyakarta. Seven counties from all over Java island acted as founding members, which were VIJ (Jakarta) represented by Soekardi, BIVB (Bandung) represented by Mr. Syamsoedin, MIVB (Magelang) represented by E. Mangindaan, MVB (Madiun) represented by M. Dharsono, SIVB (Surabaya) represented by R. Pamoedji, VVB (Surakarta) represented by Saronto, Soedaryo Tjokrosisworo and Soetarman, and PSIM (Yogyakarta) represented by HA Hamid, Daslam, and Amir Noto. The first chairman -- elected by voting -- of PSSI was Ir. Soeratin Sosrosoegondo. Three names were there to choose for the new organization, 1. PSSI (Persatuan Sepakraga Seluruh Indonesia), 2. INVB (Indonesische National Voetbal Bond), 3. PVBI (Persatuan Voetbal Bond Indonesia). Sometime earlier, an organization of Indonesian Football, called IVB (Indonesische Voetbal Bond) was born in Surabaya, but in Yogyakarta delegation from Surabaya decided to disperse IVB and then joined the new organization. All delegates named their new organization as PSSI. . And the first committee of PSSI was: Chairman: Ir. Soeratin Sosrosoegondo Vice Chairman: H.A Hamid Secretary I: R.Md Amir Secretary II: R. Soetjitro Treasurer; Anwar Noto Commissioner of Central Java (in Solo): Sastrosaksono Commissioner of West Java (in Bandung): R Atot Soeriawinata Commissioner of East Java (in Surabaya): Mr. Dr. Ng.Soebroto Competition chief: T. Soetarman Promotion: R. Soedaryo Tjokrosisworo Consul: Sjamsoedin (Jakarta), Soetarman (Surakarta), and R. Pamoedji (Surabaya) And until the Dutch left Indonesia after World War II, and Indonesia gained their Independence in 1945, there were still two governing bodies - PSSI and NIVU -- of Indonesian football. In 1949, the new goverment of Indonesia establish the name of the association as PSSI (Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia) and introduced the first PSSI national championship in 1951. The first champion of Indonesia was Persebaya of Surabaya (East Java). Still in 1951 PSSI made its international debut at Asian Games in New Delhi. But they were losing to India, Afghanistan, Burma, and Iran. Anyway, the first win arrived when on the way home from New Delhi they defeated Singapore Selection 4-1 in Singapore. It was the first win for Indonesian National Team and followed by friendlies win over Hongkong and Phillippines 4-1 and 5-0 in 1953. Later that year PSSI lost 0-2 at Senayan Main Stadium Jakarta to Yugoslavia national team, but the experience kept the players sharper than ever before and ready for the next big step, Olympic Games. In 1956, Indonesia went through to the final rounds of the Olympic Games in Melbourne, -- and did the unthinkable -- held mighty Russia to a scoreless draw before losing the replay 0-4. Among the player of Russian team was their famous goalkeeper, Lev "the Black Spider" Yashin. These were absolutely two great moments in Indonesian football history. And the man behind the scene of history was a Yugoslav master coach, Tony Pogaknik Though Senayan Main Stadium in Jakarta is the largest stadium in South East Asia and one of the largest in the world, the national team record has never been that big. Indonesian national team has been unsuccessful in qualifying for the World Cup. And since 1956, the national team never reach the final round of Olympic Games. Still staging amateur competition since the early days, PSSI launched the first Premier League called Galatama or the semipro league back in 1981. The first champions of this competition was Warna Agung-Jakarta with their very talented and star player, Indonesian international, Ronny Pattinasarani. In 1985, Indonesia had the best World Cup qualifying series since appeared as Dutch Indies team in World Cup 1938 in France final round. After overcoming India, Thailand, and Bangladesh in Group-3 sub group B, Indonesia went through, only to found the South Koreans were the better team. Indonesia lost both home and away game to the World Cup Cup finalist. Beginning season 1993/1994, the amateur Premier League and Galatama were blent into one competition called Liga Indonesia or Indonesian Premier League. It proved very important to Indonesian football after so many years of competition behind the scene between amateur and semi-pro official. The year 1996 also maked a momentous event for indonesian football. Playing in only their second Asian Cup finals Indonesia are still finding their way in top level continental competition. Their first finals were the previous edition in the United Arab Emirates where they came bottom of their group. Finishing below the over-achieving hosts, Kuwait and Korea Republic was no disgrace, and Indonesia had the satisfaction of out-performing their highly touted regional rivals Thailand in the tournament. Their 2-2 draw with Kuwait was one of the exceptional results of the group phase and the fabulous goals scored in the game by Robby Wabia and Widodo Gahyo Putra illustrated some high quality attacking talent. However the tournament also exposed Indonesia's lack of experience outside South East Asia. Against Korea Republic, their coach Danur Windo elected to change the way they played installing a previously untried sweeper system. The result was total confusion in the Indonesian defence and three early goals for the Koreans as they cruised to a 4-2 victory. Since then Indonesia have made strides in the right direction. 1996's "Golden Ball" development programme was introduced with the long-term goal of getting the national team into the top 50 of the FIFA rankings by the year 2002 and they have enjoyed some success within South East Asia. Yet their targets in Lebanon are modest and realistic ones. "There are other countries better than us," says the general secretary of the Football Association of Indonesian (PSSI) Tri Goestoro. "But if we can do better than we did in UAE that would be enough. A better position than last time would be good." Silver medallists at the 1997 SEA Games, Bronze medallists in the1999 edition and semi-finalists in the 1996 and 1998 Tiger Cups, Indonesia's greatest setback came when they were banned from international competition by the Asian Football Confederation. That followed their involvement in a farcical match in the 98 Tiger Cup when both they and Thailand set out to lose against each other so as to avoid having to play the hosts Vietnam in the next round. The impact that had can be judged by the declaration by their German coach Bernhard Schumm that the Bronze medal in the 1999 SEA Games was less important than regaining the respect of Asian Football. Indonesia are starting to show signs of having the organisation in place to compete at a higher level. After PSSI president Agum Gumelar declared that preparing for the Asian Cup finals was a priority, monthly training camps were organised for the national team from as early as March. That organised approach had already paid dividends in the qualifying campaign. The Indonesian squad were brought together for around six weeks and trained six days a week. The result was that they were clearly fitter than their rivals Hong Kong in their crucial first meeting where a late goal earned them a valuable draw. Torrential rain in Jakarta did nothing to dampen the spirits as they clinched their place in Lebanon in November 1999 with a flurry of goals. Nowadays the sweeper system, that made a premature appearance at Emirates 96, is well established as the preferred Indonesian formation. sources:
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