JAKARTA – Asosiasi Pesepakbola Profesional Indonesia (APPI) terus menyuarakan penolakan terhadap wacana penerapan regulasi delapan pemain asing di Liga 1 musim 2024-2025. Yang terbaru, bentuk penolakan disuarakan dalam acara diskusi bertajuk Beyond The Game: Ngobrolin Regulasi Baru Liga Indonesia yang digelar di GBK Arena, Jakarta, Selasa (25/6/2024).

Dalam sesi diskusi itu, Presiden APPI Andritany Ardhiyasa dan Wakil Presiden APPI Achmad Jufriyanto hadir sebagai pembicara. Acara diskusi juga dihadiri anggota Komite Eksekutif PSSI Arya Sinulingga, Direktur Operasional PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) Asep Saputra, serta agen pemain sepak bola Indonesia Mulyawan Munial. CEO APPI M Hardika Aji juga turut hadir.

“Jadi, memang ini sebagai salah satu ikhtiar atau cara menyampaikan aspirasi pemain-pemain semua. Memang ada pro-kontra dari sebuah regulasi baru. Ketika kita mau kualitas liga lebih baik, kita harus compare dengan yang terbaik. Dan, ternyata, nggak seperti itu,” ujar Aji.

Alumnus Universitas Indonesia itu menambahkan, penambahan kuota pemain asing di Liga 1 pada faktanya menambah masalah baru. Musim lalu, kasus penunggakan gaji pemain meningkat.

Jika regulasi itu disahkan, Aji menilai kesempatan bermain para pemain lokal menjadi lebih sempit. “Tim nasional kita cukup oke. Tapi, masih banyak harapan anak-anak kecil atau pemain-pemain muda kita yang ingin bermain untuk tim nasional. Kalau memang pemain asingnya menjadi lebih banyak, otomatis jumlah pemain lokal yang berpartisipasi di kompetisi semakin berkurang. Ini jadi tidak singkron dengan apa yang kita inginkan di masa depan,” tegas Aji.

Presiden APPI Andritany Ardhiyasa menambahkan, PSSI selalu menyebut butuh 150 pemain bagus untuk tim nasional di semua level. Baik dari U-16 sampai senior.

“Tapi, di sini, di tempat di mana semua pemain di negeri mendapatkan jam terbang, tapi malah dibatasi. Ini kan agak sedikit rancu menurut saya,” ungkap kiper Persija Jakarta itu.

Andritany berharap APPI bisa duduk bersama dengan PSSI dan PT LIB untuk mencari solusi bersama. “Harus dibicarakan. PSSI maunya apa? LIB maunya apa? Kami dari asosiasi maunya apa? Harus ada audiensi antara PSSI, LIB, dan APPI,” tegasnya.

Wakil Presiden APPI Achmad Jufriyanto turut menyoroti pembinaan di sepak bola Indonesia. Menurut dia, ada yang salah dalam pembinaan sehingga PSSI sebagai induk sepak bola Indonesia mengambil banyak pemain keturunan dari Belanda.

“Pertanyaannya justru bagaimana Belanda bisa menciptakan pemain-pemain sekelas Thom Haye, Ragnar Oratmangoen, Sandy Walsh dengan iklim sepak bolanya mereka. Berarti, kan ada yang salah dengan pembinaan kita,” ujar mantan pemain Persita Tangerang itu.

“Jadi, kenapa kita tidak fokus juga terhadap pembinaan? Kita bisa menciptakan pemain-pemain yang bahkan mungkin bisa lebih bagus daripada mereka,” tegas pesepak bola yang akrab disapa Jupe itu.

Berbagai upaya yang dilakukan APPI itu akhirnya telah mendapatkan keputusan dari LIB setelah melalui proses RUPS yang telah diselenggarakan pada hari Rabu kemarin (26/6) tepat satu (1) hari pascadiskusi tersebut. RUPS itu menghasilkan sejumlah keputusan penting. Regulasi 8 (delapan) pemain asing memang jadi ditetapkan namun hanya 6 (enam) pemain asing yang dapat bermain bersamaan. PT LIB juga membuat aturan mengenai financial control. Klub-klub Liga 1 kini hanya dibatasi Rp 50 miliar untuk melakukan belanja pemain. Untuk mengawasi kegiatan finansial klub, PT LIB membentuk financial control body. (*)

APPI Rejects Implementation Eight Foreign Players Regulations

JAKARTA – The Indonesian Professional Footballers Association (APPI) continues to voice its rejection of the discourse on implementing regulations for eight foreign players in League 1 for the 2024-2025 season. Most recently, a form of rejection was voiced in a discussion event entitled Beyond The Game: Discussing the New Indonesian League Regulations which was held at the GBK Arena, Jakarta, Tuesday (25/6/2024).

In the discussion session, APPI President Andritany Ardhiyasa and APPI Vice President Achmad Jufriyanto were present as speakers. The discussion event was also attended by PSSI Executive Committee member Arya Sinulingga, PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) Operations Director Asep Saputra, and Indonesian football player agent Mulyawan Munial. APPI CEO M Hardika Aji was also present for this event.

“So, this is indeed an effort or way to convey the aspirations of all the players. There are indeed pros and cons to a new regulation. When we want the quality of the league to be better, we have to compare it with the best. And, it turns out, it’s not like that ,” said Aji.

The University of Indonesia alumnus added that increasing the foreign player quota in League 1 in fact will add new problems. Last season, with the current regulations, cases of player salary arrears increased.

If the regulation is passed, Aji believes that local players’ playing opportunities will become narrower. “Our national team is quite good. However, there are still many hopes from our young children or young players who want to play for the national team. If there are more foreign players, automatically the number of local players participating in the competition will decrease. This will happen and definitely not in sync with what we want in the future,” stressed Aji.

APPI President Andritany Ardhiyasa added that the PSSI said it needed 150 good players for the national team at all levels. Both from U-16 to senior.

“But, here, in a place where all the players in the country get playing hours, but it is limited. This is a bit confusing in my opinion,” said the Persija Jakarta goalkeeper.

Andritany hopes that APPI can sit together with PSSI and PT LIB to find a joint solution. “It has to be discussed. What does PSSI want? What does LIB want? What do we from the association want? There must be an audience between PSSI, LIB and APPI,” he stressed.

APPI Vice President Achmad Jufriyanto also highlighted the youth development in Indonesian football. According to him, there was something wrong in the development so that PSSI as the parent of Indonesian football took many players of Dutch descent.

“The question is precisely how the Netherlands can produce players like Thom Haye, Ragnar Oratmangoen, Sandy Walsh with their football climate. That means there is something wrong with our coaching,” said the former Persita Tangerang player.

“So, why don’t we also focus on the development itself? We can create players who might even be better than them,” emphasized the footballer who is familiarly called Jupe.

The various efforts made by APPI finally received a decision from LIB after going through the General Meeting of Stakeholders (GMS) process which was held last Wednesday (26/6) exactly one (1) day after the discussion. The GMS produced a number of important decisions. The regulation of 8 (eight) foreign players has indeed been established, but only 6 (six) foreign players can play at the same time. PT LIB also makes rules regarding financial control. League 1 clubs are now only limited to IDR 50 billion for spending on players. To supervise the club’s financial activities, PT LIB formed a financial control body.