JAKARTA (8 Jan 2011) – Indonesia national coach Alfred Riedl will not pick players from the illegal Indonesia Premier League (IPL) to form the new Under-23 team which will play in the Olympic Games qualifiers or the SEA Games at the end of the year.
Riedl made the statement following the start of the two selection process he will be carrying out in the next week at the Senayan Field in Jakarta.
“It has to be understood that players who play in leagues not recognised by FIFA cannot play for the national team. As such, I will not take players from that competition (Indonesia Premier League),” explained Riedl.
Added Iman Arief from the national team management: “earlier, we had included Irfan Bachdim (pix) as he had not played in the LPI yet. But if it is found out that he had played in the LPI, then we will forward the matter to PSSI (FA of Indonesia) to decide. We will abide by the decision which is taken.”
Irfan’s team Persema Malang, Persibo Bojonegoro and PSM Makassar had officially resigned from playing in the Indonesia Super League and had already signed to play in the alternative Indonesia Premier League.
The first trial session on 7-13 January will be participated by 36 players while the second session on 11-13 January will be for 27 players.
From the 63 players called for the trials, Riedl will announce his squad of 25 players on 17 January.
Among the names listed to attend trials were several foreign-based players of Indonesian descent and they include Stefano Lilipaly (FC Utrecht), Mark van de Mareel (FC Utrecht), Oliver Rifai (AZ Alkmaar), James Zaidan (New York Cosmos), Andrea Bitar and Farri Agri (Al Khor SC).
Also included was the name of Indonesia national U19 player Syamsir Alam.
“Stefano and Mark will only be here at the end of January. The two players are currently with the FC Utrecht team in Portugal,” added Iman.
Indonesia will open their qualifying campaign for the Olympics against Turkmenistan on 23 February 2011 in Jakarta with the return leg on 9 March 2011.
