Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP)

Reduced to technical unemployment by the coronavirus which marked the end of the championships, Indonesian footballers must resolve to work as a food seller or security guard to make ends meet.

While competitions have resumed in many countries, often in empty stadiums, Indonesia's Liga 1 is unlikely to restart until early 2021 at the earliest, as the epidemic continues to progress in the archipelago of South East Asia.

Coaches and distraught players - who had to accept wage cuts of up to -75% - are calling for a recovery as in Malaysia or Thailand where professional football has started again with strict health measures.

But the resumption of matches has already been postponed several times in Indonesia.

Bagus Nirwanto, captain of the PSS Sleman club near the city of Jogjakarta, used to play in front of thousands of supporters.

Today he sells rice and sugar wholesale with his wife and recognizes that his physical preparation and morale have suffered.

"I am really disappointed that the competitions have been postponed," said the 27-year-old.

"I was really enthusiastic, I trained seriously for our first match. (...) We should have been allowed to play without an audience".

- Preparation lost -

Djadjang Nurdjaman, the coach of PS Barito Putera on the island of Borneo, underlines the devastating impact of this technical unemployment on the players.

"It's a mess, all the preparation is lost. We have no certainty. We don't know what the League will do."

And "all this weighs on the players".

Indonesian Football Federation President Mochamad Iriawan acknowledges that there has been "a domino effect".

"The competitions have been frozen, it affects the income of the clubs, and consequently the salaries of the players. But we cannot force the clubs to pay the players full salaries," he told AFP.

Some players have therefore started selling homemade cakes, coconut juice, or chicken satay, which are sure values ​​of the food sold on the streets in Indonesia.

While a player from North Sumatra said he took a job as a security guard.

- "We all panicked" -

"We all panicked at the start of the pandemic," Andri Muliadi, a 27-year-old player from Borneo FC, told AFP.

The footballer has decided to return home with his family to Sumatra after the matches have stopped and is working at the family-owned online coffee shop.

"I had no other choice, I had to find a way to feed my family during this difficult time."

He plays football with his neighbors to keep in shape but laments seeing his career prospects evaporate.

"You cannot progress professionally if there are no competitions," he laments.

Dutchman Robert Rene Alberts, coach of Persib Bandung, one of the biggest clubs in the country, points out that the longer the break drags on, the more difficult it will be for players to keep fit and mental.

"The players are very dependent on their emotions, their preparation, they want to be on top all the time."

"But if we prepare for a deadline and it's canceled, we still prepare and it's canceled, it becomes very difficult."

- "My only livelihood -

The Indonesian Championship remains very modest with a men's national team occupying 173rd place in the Fifa rankings.

La Liga 1 had managed to attract players like former Chelsea star Michael Essien and Tottenham star Didier Zokora.

But most of the local professional players were paid a fraction of the salaries of these top players, some $ 2,000 a month for some, and they are now in dire straits.

"I'm racking my brains about how I'm going to feed my four children," said Supardi Nasie, captain of Persib Bandung.

"Playing football is my only livelihood."

© 2020 AFP