From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 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 Persib this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrew Jung, and the manager let it.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uilliam Barros signs something — a contract at Persib or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Persib
Teja Paku Alam 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Persib training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
217% 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Adi Yona
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The chances came and went for Sergio Castel
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Persib
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Uilliam Barros
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The one thing Sergio Castel could not do
Shots: 11, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Persib man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Sergio Castel was the best thing in any of them.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The one thing Adi Yona could not do
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Adam Przybek
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Sergio Castel’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persib.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adi Yona gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.45 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uilliam Barros signs something — a contract at Persib or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Adi Yona
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Persib, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Persib
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Persib are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Persib
Bakary Nimaga 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Persib
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Layvin Kurzawa 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Adi Yona
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marc Klok gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Adi Yona has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Persib know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Persib
0‑1 against Dewa United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Business is business: Beckham Putra goes
Persija paid $420.0K 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergio Castel
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Semen Padang left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
The chances came and went for Andrew Jung
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Eliano Reijnders's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Persib through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over PSIM, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $170.0K sale of Saddil Ramdani
He is going to Persebaya, the club has $170.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Achmad Jufriyanto delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Achmad Jufriyanto scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Persija have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Beckham Putra. The answer from Persib has not changed — yet.
Market24 Aug 2026
Persebaya paid $170.0K 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Persib training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Nimaga 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for Persib
Beaten 0‑4 by Persijap, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 26 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Thom Haye
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Persib dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Sergio Castel's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The one thing Sergio Castel could not do
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Frans Putros dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Berguinho
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Layvin Kurzawa is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persib has been clear about where Layvin Kurzawa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Uilliam Barros, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market10 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.84. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Frans Putros dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
Persib say no — this time
The offer from Maccabi Netanya for Ramon Tanque was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Federico Barba and Persib agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Thom Haye in a row with a teammate
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: PSBS Biak have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saddil Ramdani. The answer from Persib has not changed — yet.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Federico Barba has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Persib.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Berguinho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persib.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Sergio Castel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Frans Putros
“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.
In brief
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Market
The clock runs on Eliano Reijnders's contract
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Squad
Words at Persib training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
A defender's afternoon for Thom Haye