Marked for Muhammad Darmawan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Persib are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Persib training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Berguinho 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
129% of the income goes out in wages at Persib
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.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
When it matters, Marc Klok plays
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Persib. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Persib
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Berguinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 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 Persib this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 129% of the Persib income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
When it matters, Marc Klok plays
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Ramon Tanque knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramon Tanque trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout2 Nov 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
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
7.22, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Persib
Eliano Reijnders and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
PSM paid $270.0K and Persib took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persib can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Beckham Putra and Persib agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Tokyo have kept their man, and Persib go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A last season at home is what Patricio Matricardi is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Match8 Aug 2026
Persis made Persib work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.