Indonesia submits FIFA plan in bid to end crisis

Indonesia's football association has submitted to FIFA its plans to resolve a crisis sparked by the revival of a breakaway league in a bid to avoid sanctions, an official said on Tuesday.

Football's top governing body had asked Indonesia's football association (PSSI) to resolve problems triggered by the unofficial elite league, the Super Liga, which has split the country's best clubs.

It had asked PSSI to resolve the issue by March 20, in order to avoid sanctions, which may include banning Indonesia from international football.

The Indonesian association's legal team submitted the report "on our plans to fix the football situation in Indonesia" on Monday, PSSI's special staff to the secretary-general Rudolf Yesayas told AFP.

"We hope FIFA will be able to look at it in a comprehensive manner, consider our efforts and hopefully we can escape sanctions," Yesayas said.

"It's hard to say if we are confident or not about avoiding sanctions. The situation is unpredictable," he added.

He said FIFA committee members would meet on March 26, adding: "Let's just wait and see if Indonesian football will be discussed."

Yesayas said that the report outlined proposals which include merging the leagues or formally recognising the Super Liga, but on condition it would be under PSSI's control.

"We also told FIFA that PSSI as an organisation is problem-free and there is a rival group which wants to crush the current leadership," he said.

He was referring to a group of officials from the breakaway league which on Sunday held an extraordinary meeting to get PSSI chairman Djohar Arifin Husin replaced.

"This illegal group, which is using the official PSSI's attributes like our logos, must be banished," he added.

The PSSI has been mired in corruption scandals and leadership battles for years.

Last month it suffered another blow when the national team was thrashed 10-0 by Bahrain in an Asian zone 2014 World Cup qualifier.

FIFA launched an investigation into the match, in which Bahrain needed to win by a nine-goal margin to have any hope of making the next round of qualifiers.

"We have let FIFA handle the matter and we don't know yet the progress of FIFA's investigations. But as far as PSSI is concerned, there's no match-fixing," he said.

Indonesia had fielded a weak team as FIFA disallows members from unofficial leagues from competing in international matches, forcing the PSSI to omit Super Liga players.