Indonesia stays in the Southeast Asian Football Federation
PSSI Yunus NUSI confirmed the information on August 9, and said that ASEAN members need to unite in all fields, including sports. He also called on the parties to stop arguing whether Indonesia should leave AFF or not.
"If Indonesia left AFF, what would the public have to see?", He said. "AFC Asian Football Federation tournaments cannot be as dense as Southeast Asia. AFF is also the level of our strength evaluation before playing at AFC."
The scandal began on July 10, when Vietnam drew Thailand 1-1 in the last round of the Southeast Asia U19 group stage, Indonesian hosts were eliminated. Indonesian public opinion was angry with the way these two opponents played in the last 15 minutes to keep the score. Many people think that Indonesia should leave AFF, to go to another federation like Eaff (East Asia) with higher competition. PSSI President Mochammad Iriawan also said that he would seriously consider this issue, but he had to study carefully before deciding.
On the other hand, PSSI also sent a complaint to AFF to investigate whether non -sporty behavior between Vietnam and Thailand. "We received feedback from the AFF and they thought that nothing cheated in the match between these two teams," Nusi said. "We respect the AFF's decision, and now PSSI will focus on football to make the national team more advanced."
Iriawan has said the EAFF would be happy if Indonesia applied to join East Asian football. But this federation does not have youth leagues U16, U19 or U23 like AFF.
Another nation is trying to move the football team is India, when they're too strong for the Southerners in SAFF. India is asking for young tournament in Asia or Southeast Asia, and waiting to be accepted.
Indonesia is one of the six AFF founding countries in 1984, with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Brunei. Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia joined this organization in 1996, then to Timor Leste (2004) and Australia (2013). Indonesia has reached the AFF Cup six times, but has never won.
