Indonesia red carded as World Cup host over Israel snub

FIFA has lost the U-20 World Cup after provinces in the Muslim-majority country refused to allow the Israeli team to play.

Protesters take part in a rally against Israel in Jakarta this month. Picture: AFP

Indonesia has been stripped of its right to host the World Cup youth football tournament over opposition to the Israeli team’s participation, prompting a furious public backlash against political leaders blamed for inflaming the issue.

FIFA announced its shock decision on Thursday following crisis talks with Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) president Erick Thohir, who flew to Doha to try and save the event.

In a statement issued after the meeting between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Mr Thohir, FIFA said a new host country would be announced “as soon as possible”, and that the May 20 to June 11 scheduled dates for the event would likely remain unchanged.

“Potential sanctions against the PSSI may also be decided at a later date,” it said.

The cancellation is a huge blow to football-mad Indonesia which, as this year’s host of the 24-team tournament, had automatically qualified to compete.

Within hours, incensed Indonesians flooded the social media accounts of Bali governor Wayan Koster and Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo who last week banned the Israelis from playing in their provinces.

Soccer fan groups have also threatened to launch a class-action lawsuit against those responsible to recover losses suffered as a result of the tournament’s cancellation.

“They must beg the Indonesian people for forgiveness for costing us the opportunity to make history, for failing to follow through on an enormous task and for violating our own commitments,” Save Our Soccer founder Akmal Marhali said.

“This is a truly painful incident for Indonesia in which the interest of the many were sacrificed for the political interest of the few.”

Indonesian state Under-20 team coach Shin Tae Yong said the decision had “dashed the hopes and dreams” of the team which had trained so hard for the event, while assistant coach Nova Arianto questioned the injection of politics and religion into the game.

“I can understand there may be differences between countries, but I just can’t accept that other countries, Israel and Palestine, can play but we cannot,” he said.

Even seasoned Indonesian diplomats vented their fury. Dino Patti Djalil, a former ambassador to the US and founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, said the issue had been “over-politicised” given not even the Palestinians opposed Israel’s participation.

“Are we more Palestinian than Palestine?” he said.

Israel’s youth team qualified for the tournament last July but only this month were protests staged in Jakarta over its participation, prompting MPs to add their voices to the fray.

Jakarta has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel and has long-supported the struggle for an independent Palestinian nation, but as host of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup had vowed to treat all teams fairly.

Many assumed Hindu-majority Bali would host Israel’s games until Mr Koster announced the Israeli team were not welcome there. Within days, Mr Ganjar — a likely candidate for the 2024 presidential election — issued a similar edict.

FIFA responded by cancelling a scheduled stage draw in Bali, prompting the PSSI to warn Indonesia could lose its hosting rights.

President Joko Widodo finally stepped in on Tuesday night, cautioning against mixing sport and politics and dispatching Mr Thohir to Doha, who promised to “save the dreams” of Indonesia’s under-20 team.

By Thursday, however, the PSSI chairman was urging Indonesians to accept the decision.

“Indonesia is a member of FIFA, so for international football matters, we must follow the rules that have been set,” Mr Thohir said.

“I ask every (Indonesian) soccer fan to keep your head up high in light of this difficult decision.”

Indonesia’s under-20 players were having none of that.

“This is too painful for us to lose the opportunity to perform in the World Cup in our own country, our own home,” team attacker Ginanjar Wahyu Ramadhani wrote on Mr Ganjar’s Instagram, sarcastically thanking the presidential hopeful for ensuring the football dreams of all Indonesian children “remain a dream”.

The Indonesian President on Thursday said he was “sad and disappointed” by the decision, but cautioned people against wasting energy on blame.

“As a great nation we have to look forward. Make this a valuable lesson for all of us, for Indonesian national football,” he said, adding his government would continue to look for opportunities to host international sporting events.

FIFA said in its statement it would continue to assist the PSSI and Indonesian government transform Indonesian football following last October’s Kanjuruhan Stadium crush in which 135 people died and hundreds more were injured after security fired tear gas into the crowd at the end of a soccer game to disperse fans from the field.

It was the second deadliest disaster in the history of association football worldwide, after the 1964 Estadio Nacional disaster in Peru which killed 328 people.