Taufik Rustam

Attacking Midfielder (C) - Maluku Utara United
22 Sep 2026
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Taufik Rustam

6 Edition

The Maluku Utara United Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

So close: Nílson Júnior’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. PSM moved on, Nílson Júnior reports back to Maluku Utara United, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Boardroom

Maluku Utara United close the window on a squad of their own making

17 in and 2 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Maluku Utara United

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Maluku Utara United are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Fariz Alfitrah arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Fariz Alfitrah has, at Maluku Utara United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Player ratings

Frets Butuan was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Maluku Utara United

Rasyid Bakri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Maluku Utara United had all but put away. Persita will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Dimas Drajad

A mark of 7.66, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Taufik Rustam

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Taufik Rustam has come out of that comparison in the side, and Maluku Utara United have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Maluku Utara United Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Maluku Utara United through in the cup

A 4‑1 win over PSIM, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Squad

A day Ciro will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Ciro, 37, rolls back the years — 9.77

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.77 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Taufik Rustam, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85

A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Transfer targets

Persib tell Maluku Utara United: Alfeandra Dewangga is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Muhammad Ridwan moves on

PSIM pay $9.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Taufik Rustam

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

David da Silva sends Maluku Utara United past Madura United

It finished 1‑0, and it was David da Silva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Maluku Utara United.

Squad

Goal number 50 for Ciro

50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.

In brief