•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

The breakaway Indonesian Super League has received a timely boost after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Persipura Jayapura should be allowed into the Asian Champions League.

In a ruling on Wednesday by a three-judge panel, the CAS provisionally granted Persipura’s appeal against the Indonesian Football Association’s (PSSI) decision not to register it for Asia’s top club competition.

“Justice is done and it proves that we are going in the right direction,” Persipura general secretary Thamrin Sagala said on Thursday. “Now we’ll wait to see whether the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] will let us play in the Champions League playoffs.”

Persipura won the 2010-11 ISL title before the league was disbanded in the offseason by the new PSSI leadership. However, the PSSI refused to register it for the Champions League after the club turned down the chance to join the officially sanctioned Indonesian Premier League.

In response to Persipura’s complaint against the PSSI, AFC and Adelaide United, the CAS panel said in its ruling that “Persipura Jayapura has the right to participate in the 2012 AFC Champions League playoffs.” It gave those three until Monday to respond and provide any necessary evidence, with Persipura asked to reply by Tuesday.

With Persipura absent, Adelaide received direct entry into the Champions League group stage. Playoff ties are scheduled for Feb. 10 and 18.

Thamrin said Persipura also asked for $2 million in damages from the PSSI, but “the most important thing for us is to play in the Champions League.”

Persipura appealed to the CAS on Dec. 29 after being left out of the Champions League draw.

“It was the AFC that banned Persipura from [the Champions League],” PSSI chairman Djohar Arifin Husin told news portal vivanews on Thursday. “The PSSI will be happy if Indonesia is represented in the competition.”

That stance contradicts his statement on Dec. 9, when he admitted that the PSSI recommended to the AFC that it exclude Persipura from the draw after it refused to play in the IPL opener on Nov. 26.

The ruling could complicate the PSSI’s insistence on only recognizing clubs playing in its sanctioned leagues. Even if Persipura loses in the playoff, it would drop into the AFC Cup.

“I’m not going to make a connection between the CAS ruling with the fate of the ISL because there’s no direct link,” said Joko Driyono, chief executive of ISL administrator Liga Indonesia. “However, this could boost the ISL clubs’s morale to keep playing in the league.”