Indonesian football entangled in rumors of forming its own federation, AFC immediately reprimands

According to the Secretary General of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Mr. Yunus Nusi, the AFC has just reprimanded this agency because of the recent rumors about wanting to separate from Asian football to join the plan to establish the East Asian Confederation (EAC).

Indonesian football suffers from fans' anger

Mr. Yunus Nusi affirmed: "This is a baseless rumor. But it has caused PSSI to be reprimanded by AFC in a recent event, related to the establishment of the East Asian Federation. We hope this rumor will be extinguished soon, especially when it is considered baseless. Indonesian football fans should not promote this completely untrue issue."

The Indonesian team was 'Dutchified', but still said goodbye to the dream of participating in the 2026 World Cup, fans wanted to form their own federation, causing AFC to reprimand them

Photo: Reuters

Previously, this rumor originated from a TV channel in Iraq, claiming that the Korean and Japanese Football Federations, because they were so dissatisfied with the AFC in the way it had managed the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, as well as the highest level club cup tournaments (AFC Champions League), had intended to leave this organization to form their own federation.

Federations in Korea and Japan also want to invite Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam... to join to form a separate football organization from AFC, and called the East Asian Confederation (EAC).

This event immediately received great support from Indonesian fans, and of course from Iraq. Meanwhile, the Korean and Japanese Football Federations did not speak out about these rumors, perhaps because they were too absurd.

However, it is not difficult to realize that this is a baseless rumor. The reason is that Indonesian and Iraqi football are both disappointed when the two teams of these countries cannot win tickets to the 2026 World Cup. The Iraqi team can only be consoled by playing 2 play-off matches with the UAE in November, if they pass, they will look for opportunities in the intercontinental play-off round in March 2026.

Indonesian and Iraqi fans were disappointed that the AFC had awarded the right to host two groups in the fourth qualifying round to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, instead of having to organize the matches on neutral ground as originally scheduled. This gave Saudi Arabia and Qatar too many advantages and officially won two spots to the 2026 World Cup after the matches that took place last October.

Japan (center) is the first team in Asia to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Photo: Reuters

The press in Iraq and Indonesia said that the AFC was leaning more towards supporting countries in the West Asian region than in the East Asian region. Since then, rumors have emerged that the Korean and Japanese federations want to separate from the AFC to form their own federations. The majority of Indonesian fans support this, they have created a trend on social media and even claim that PSSI is ready to leave the Asian football body.

"Some member associations in the AFC have asked us about the media noise in Indonesia about Japan and Korea planning to leave Asian football. This is not good for PSSI. This story has spread rapidly in the AFC community when social media in Indonesia reported and promoted this untrue story.

Even other countries (supposedly) will join Japan and South Korea. This is not true. So pay attention, because this will not be good for PSSI, the AFC has reprimanded. The reason is that AFC is very active on social media, they know all the issues. To the point that some people even say that Iraq also wants to leave AFC. It is unbelievable," Mr. Yunus Nusi, Secretary General of PSSI, recently warned.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-da-indonesia-vuong-tin-don-thanh-lap-lien-doan-rieng-afc-lap-tuc-khien-trach-185251026101846567.htm