New Indonesia FA boss begins by firing coach
Reuters - Thursday 14 July 2011, 06:29
JAKARTA - Indonesia have fired head coach
Alfred Riedl just 10 days before a key 2014 World Cup qualifier
in the first major decision taken by the country's
newly-appointed football federation (PSSI) chief.
"Riedl has been replaced by Wim Rijsbergen, who has been
coaching (Indonesian Premier League club) PSM Makassar," a PSSI
official told Reuters by telephone on Thursday, without
disclosing details.
Local media claimed three other support staff have also been
sacked by Djohar Arifin Husin, who was elected as the PSSI head
on Saturday after a bitter leadership row which required world
governing body FIFA to help resolve.
Rijsbergen has been put in temporary charge of the national
team, who travel to Turkmenistan for the first leg of the second
round of Asia World Cup qualifiers on July 23.
Local media reported that Riedl's three-year contract,
signed in March last year, had been approved by former PSSI vice
president Nirwan Bakrie but a PSSI executive committee member
dismissed it as a "personal contract".
"This has nothing to do with his [Riedl's] competency as a
coach," Bob Hippy told the Jakarta globe newspaper. "It's
because he had signed a personal contract, so it'll be hard for
us to continue working with him."
Austrian Riedl, who steered Indonesia to a runners-up finish
at the South East Asian Championships in December, had been
credited with bringing discipline to the side who are
languishing at 132 in FIFA's world rankings.