PSV´s trip to Indonesia cancelled

PSV Eindhoven’s planned trip to Indonesia has been cancelled because of the unavailability of several of the host nation’s best players.

According to the original plan, Fred Rutten’s team were to take a part in exhibition matches against an Indonesia select team on January 9 and a Jakarta select side three days later.

But match promoter Saujana Media said the reason for the cancellation was the absence of several top players from the Indonesian Super League (ISL), which is a breakaway championship not recognised by the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA.

“Saujana Media, with a great regret, communicated that, after talking with several related parties, we decided to postpone the Jakarta Challenge for an unspecified time limit,” a statement from the company read on Saturday.

“The internal strife of Indonesia’s FA (PSSI) meant that some players cannot play and showed us that there are no top players, based on our assessment, to perform for this match.”

“It is very regrettable because we promised to them (PSSI) PSV Eindhoven’s best players, as written in the contract, but PSSI failed to do the same thing.”

The company also said financial issues were another factor in the decision.

The group doubted whether the tickets sold for the event would have covered their expenses for bringing PSV to Indonesia.

“Holding the event at this time will be a big risk for us financially and we want to limit our losses for now,” the promoter said.

“We apologise to all of the Indonesian fans, as this annulment will also revoke the young players’ chance to play against world-class players.”