IDNAround – Erick Thohir has officially been appointed as the chief of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) for the 2023-2027 period replacing Mochamad Iriawan after clinching a majority vote at the extraordinary congress held today, February 16, 2023, at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta.
In the election, the SOE Minister won 64 votes out of a total of 86 votes counted by the Election Committee, or 42 votes ahead of the other candidate La Nyalla Mahmut Mattalitti.
Meanwhile, two other candidates Arief Putra Wicaksono and Doni Setiabudi did not even get a single vote. One other candidate, Fary Djemie Francis, chose to quit before the voting took place.
The 86 votes came from 34 provincial associations, 18 clubs in League 1, 15 clubs in League 2, 16 clubs in League 3, the Indonesian Futsal Federation, the Indonesian Women’s Football Association, and the Association of Indonesian Football Coaches.
After being officially declared elected, Erick visited the voters. The former president of the Italian club Inter Milan expressed gratitude.
“Thank you, thank you for the trust given. Bismillah,” he said repeatedly to the voters, including Kaesang Pangarep, son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who represented Persis FC.
Andre Rosadie, representing the Liga 2 club, Semen Padang FC, voiced his hope for the progress of Indonesian football. “With the election of Erick Thohir, we will all be ready to improve the football we want together,” he said.
Previously, the Chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, Raja Sapta Oktohari, expected that the new chair would be able to continue the achievements made by the previous chair Mochamad Iriawan.
“Football is the most loved sport by the people of Indonesia. The President even passed a special instruction letter for this sport. Of course, we have huge expectations. We have many agendas, starting from the U-20 World Cup, SEA Games, and Asian Games. Hopefully, this congress will produce leaders who will really care about Indonesian football,” Raja said.
Related News: Do We Need AI to Develop Human Intelligence?
