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Another year has gone by without a major trophy for Indonesia’s national team as off-field incidents stole the spotlight.

Fans hoped the Merah Putih would end a 20-year wait for a major title as the country hosted the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, but the Under-23 team fell short.

Malaysia, again, ruined Indonesian supporters’ dreams of seeing their beloved team lift a major regional trophy.

Last year, Indonesia’s senior team fell to Malaysia in the two-legged AFF Suzuki Cup final, and this time, the U-23 national team lost 4-3 to Malaysia in the Games final after a nerve-wracking penalty shootout at Gelora Bung Karno on Nov. 21.

The shootout brought a dramatic end to the Games in Indonesia’s most beloved sport — a sport that has been blighted by a litany of familiar problems. The death of two fans in a stampede during the final match was a sobering moment.

“I sincerely apologize to the fans for this failure, but this is the best that we can do right now,” said Rahmad Darmawan, who was then the U-23 team coach.

Considering the chaos surrounding the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) during the past year, the fans didn’t blame him or the team for the failure. In fact, most saw a promising future for the squad.

Non-stop bickering and political maneuvering — from the chaotic PSSI leadership elections to threats of another breakaway league — have only hurt the sport, the players and fans.

Preparations for the Games began last year, but changes in the PSSI’s leadership and the swift, unceremonious sacking of then-coach Alfred Riedl left the senior and U-23 teams in limbo.

The new leadership, headed by chairman Djohar Arifin Husin, hired Wim Rijsbergen in July to be the national team’s head coach, assisted by Rahmad.

It was quite a risky move, as Rijsbergen only had a week to prepare his squad for the second round of Asia’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers, a two-legged tie against Turkmenistan.

The Dutch coach had only been in the country since January, when he took over at PSM Makassar, which at the time was part of the breakaway Indonesian Premier League.

Rijsbergen barely knew the Indonesian players, but with Rahmad on his side, Indonesia qualified for the third-round group stage after securing a nervy 5-4 aggregate win over Turkmenistan.

The PSSI promoted Rahmad to coach the U-23 side and he accepted in late July, with training camp starting in August.

Rijsbergen fully controlled the senior team as the trek to the 2014 World Cup continued. Indonesia was drawn into Group E with Iran, Bahrain and Qatar. The journey turned into nightmare for the team and the fans.

The squad opened with a 3-0 loss to host Iran on Sept. 2 and then fell 2-0 to Bahrain at home four days later.

It wasn’t the loss that disappointed the fans and pundits, as it had been expected. It was the fact that the team looked gutless and clueless on the pitch.

The Dutch coach openly criticized the players during the press conference after the match against Bahrain, suggesting that the poor results were partly because he hadn’t been the one to select the squad.

“This group was created with no influence from me, and of course as soon as the competition starts, I have to search for more players and see if there are other players available who really want to work and play for the national team,” Rijsbergen said.

Those statements almost sparked a players’ revolt — as many as seven players reportedly refused to play for him again — but the PSSI managed to turn down the heat and the matter was resolved after a team meeting.

Rijsbergen’s desire to pick players from the competition wouldn’t be realized quickly.

The PSSI decided to disband the Indonesian Super League and introduced the Indonesian Premier League; however, the process to determine how the IPL would be run dragged along.

First, the PSSI decided to have a two-conference IPL with 16 clubs in each, then changed it to one conference with 18 clubs. Just days later, though, it announced that six other clubs had been added to the league.

That made most of the top clubs furious and prompted them to revive the ISL despite the threat of PSSI sanctions.

Any coach would struggle to pick the best players without a league in which to assess their play. Rijsbergen certainly did.

He went on with the same squad of players, and Indonesia suffered two losses against Qatar — 3-2 at Gelora Bung Karno and 4-0 in Doha — before ending the year with a 4-1 home loss to Iran.

The team still has one more qualifier to play, away to Bahrain on Feb. 29, but Indonesia has no chance of qualifying for the fourth round regardless of the result.

The clash between the IPL and ISL claimed another casualty as Rahmad decided to step down on Dec. 12 after the PSSI announced FIFA’s decision to ban players in the ISL from playing for their national teams.

“The PSSI chairman had told me that I had full authority to call up players from any league, but then he said otherwise,” the 44-year-old coach said. “It’s not [the players’] fault if the club they signed a contract with chooses to play in the ISL.”

As 2011 draws to a close, there is still no end in sight for the PSSI’s internal problems.