Marked for Kadek Arel
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bali United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
The game went through Mirza Mustafić — 6.95
Marked 6.95 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Rafael Struick and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirza Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Mar 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Wahyu Nugroho was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bali United dressing room was either.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Daniel Dappa, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Bali United would like this to lead.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bali United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Bali United close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market1 Feb 2027
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Reza Arya Pratama is a Bali United player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Bali United asked and Aguilas Doradas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bali United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mirza Mustafić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Feb 2027
This league is too small for Felipe Longo
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Bali United will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Deportes Tolima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Independiente have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rahmat Arjuna
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bali United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Bali United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mirza Mustafić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kadek Arel
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I want to play”: Kadek Arel speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bali United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bali United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hanif Maulana has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bagus Kurniawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jens Raven falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Mirza Mustafić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
João Ferrari has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and João Ferrari has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rahmat Arjuna
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bali United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Mirza Mustafić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
$486.0K on the table at Bali United
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahmat Arjuna, and the manager let it.
Market7 Dec 2026
The Diego Campos talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bali United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Irfan Jaya has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Irfan Jaya has written the date down.
Market7 Dec 2026
The clock does Ricky Fajrin’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bali United could ask drops and the wages Ricky Fajrin can ask rise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Kadek Arel asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bali United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirza Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Irfan Jaya
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I want to play”: Kadek Arel speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
João Ferrari has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and João Ferrari has written the date down.
In brief
-
The dugout
Kadek Arel asks for a word with the manager
-
The dugout
The manager comes out for Jens Raven
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
Dikri Yusron has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bali United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
45 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirza Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jens Raven and Bali United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bali United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
204% of the income goes out in wages at Bali United
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Bali United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirza Mustafić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Tim Receveur
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tim Receveur has come out of that comparison in the side, and Bali United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.