Persija Jakarta, a club from Liga 1 Indonesia decided to withdraw from participating in the ASEAN Club Championship (ACC) or ‘Shopee Cup’ 2024/25.
The reason they withdrew from the tournament was that they chose to focus on pursuing good results in Liga 1 Indonesia next season.
Indonesia was given two spots in this tournament which will be filled by PSM Makassar and Persija. PSM holds the status as champion of Liga 1 2022/23, while Persija emerged as runner-up.
Persija President Mohamad Prapanca said that management had taken the decision not to make it easy to welcome the new season. According to him, the Kemayoran Tigers team wants to focus on domestic competitions, both leagues and tournaments.
Management does not want this capital club to get bad results like the 2023/24 season which places them as one of the battles to escape relegation. Persija finally finished the season in eighth position with 12 wins and draws each, as well as ten defeats.
“It is an honour for Persija to receive an invitation to appear at the ACC. However, we assess that the current situation is not ideal due to the uncertainty of the schedule, both next season’s competition and domestic tournaments,” explained Prapanca, president of the club’s, in official website.
“We have to organize the strength of the team to improve performance in Liga 1 2024/2025, and prepare to take part in the domestic tournament which reportedly will also take place simultaneously.”
“We don’t want to divide our focus so that the team’s achievements can be even better than the previous season.”
ASEAN Club Championship (ACC) or ‘Shopee Cup’ 2024/25 will be followed by Southeast Asian clubs. Other countries that get two clubs are Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. Meanwhile, the Philippines and Singapore were only given one quota.
Meanwhile, clubs from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar must undergo play-offs first.
The draw for this tournament is planned to take place on 12 May 2024, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
Credit Photo : Persija
