JAKARTA: ndonesia appears set to avoid the threat of suspension by FIFA after an agreement was reached to merge the country’s rival domestic leagues.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, at one stage had two national teams and still has two rival domestic leagues through the dispute that dated back to April 2011.

The dispute has long concerned FIFA, which has threatened punishment but has offered multiple extensions to reform deadlines.

The FIFA-sanctioned All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) has been feuding with the breakaway Indonesian Soccer Rescue Committee (KPSI). However, a PSSI special congress meeting has seen the KPSI agree to return to its rival.

Reuters reports that the majority of the 100 votes at the meeting agreed to unite the two leagues – the Indonesian Super League (ISL) and Indonesian Premier League (IPL), by 2014 with 18 clubs from ISL and four clubs from IPL.

Djohar Arifin Husein, chairman of the PSSI, said: “This is remarkable. It’s a major leap for the future of our football. We have one league, one national team, one football federation and we can avoid FIFA’s sanction.”

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