Indonesian President Joko Widodo will send FIFA President to hold talks with FIFA officials about hosting the U-20 World Cup, after the draw that was scheduled for Friday was canceled due to the Bali governor's call to exclude Israel from the tournament.
There is no official diplomatic relationship between the two countries, and support for the Palestinian cause in the largest Muslim-majority country has raised tensions over hosting Israel.
In a video clip posted on the Internet, Widodo said on Tuesday that he would send FIFA President and Minister of State Eric Tohir to hold talks with FIFA, in light of doubts about the host country.
No date was set for Tuhir, the former president of the Italian club Inter, to meet with FIFA officials.
The meeting will be held in the Qatari capital, Doha, according to what was revealed by the official of the Indonesian Federation, Eko Rahmanto, to Agence France-Presse.
The draw for the tournament, which will be held between May 20 and June 11, 2023 in six cities with the participation of 24 teams, was scheduled for Friday in Bali, but the International Federation (FIFA) canceled the event without giving reasons or setting a new date, according to what the Indonesian Federation announced on Sunday.
Officials said a possible factor in the cancellation of the lottery was Bali Governor Ian Koster's call to exclude Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians, in a letter to the Ministry of Youth and Sports last month.
The International Federation did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel is scheduled to participate after qualifying for the first time to the finals, while Jakarta pledged to protect its participation.
The organizers hoped that hosting Israel's matches on the Hindu-majority island of Bali would lead to solutions, but Koster's opposition cast more doubts.
About 100 conservative Muslim demonstrators marched in the capital, Jakarta, this month to protest Israel's participation.
While FIFA did not comment on the cancellation of the lottery draw, the country's president called for politics not to conflict with sports.
Widodo's intervention comes after football officials in Jakarta feared losing the right to host the first major tournament, and isolating the country spherically through exposure to sanctions from the International Federation if they failed to resolve the issue.
The country is hosting the tournament after one of the worst stadium disasters in football history, which led to the death of 135 people in a stampede in the city of Malang, east Java last October, including more than forty children.
Officials are trying to polish the game's reputation after being suspended by the International Federation in 2015 for a year, due to government interference in the game.