The Organizing Committee for the 2026 President's Cup has stated that the rest period between the semi-final round and the final match is implemented in full accordance with AFC regulations.

Controversy over the mere 48-hour rest period between the semi-finals and final of the 2026 President's Cup has received an official response from the tournament organizers. Risha Adi Widjaya, Deputy Chairman of the Tournament Administration Division for the 2026 President's Cup Organizing Committee (OC), confirmed that the full tournament schedule has obtained formal approval from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Public debate over this scheduling erupted across social media after it became clear the four qualified semi-final teams would be required to compete again only two days after their previous matches.

According to Risha, the tournament match calendar framework had completed full administrative processes and cross-party coordination in full compliance with AFC official provisions.

He explained the organizing committee holds formal written approval from AFC under reference number AFC/IDN/T2/7612-2026. This document explicitly confirms the AFC has no objections to either the tournament schedule nor the selected match host locations.

"For this 2026 President's Cup, we have already secured full approval from the AFC. To receive this approval, we formally submitted the full match schedule, tournament regulations, and all required administrative documentation," Risha stated during a press conference held ahead of the final in Jakarta.

He further confirmed all participating clubs were notified of the full tournament schedule well in advance. The organizing committee also ran repeated briefing sessions to eliminate any misunderstanding regarding tournament rules and match timelines.

"We conducted three separate socialization sessions with all participating clubs. This included an initial online team briefing for clubs still based in their home regions, plus dedicated Match Coordination Meetings (MCM) held separately for Group A and Group B teams," Risha added.

Alongside ensuring full regulatory compliance, the organizers also implemented measures to protect player physical condition throughout the tournament. Most notably, clubs were granted permission to make a higher number of player substitutions than permitted under standard match regulations.

This policy was introduced as part of the organizer's commitments, given the President's Cup operates as a pre-season event designed to support clubs preparing for upcoming official competitive fixtures.

"We are fully aware of the physical load on players. For this reason, it was formally agreed during the briefing sessions that participating teams are permitted to make up to more than 12 player substitutions across the group stage up to the semi-final round," he stated.

The 2026 President's Cup final will be contested between Persib Bandung and Persebaya Surabaya, following their respective semi-final victories. Persib defeated Persija Jakarta by a 2-1 scoreline, while Persebaya secured a 1-0 win against Arema FC.