From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Andi Irfan hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Zahir Fazya 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at PSIM the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
18 days out for Harlan Suardi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 182% of the PSIM 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Make Aldo Maulidino 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Harlan Suardi breaks a bone — 25 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Harlan Suardi out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSIM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Ramos Mingo, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” PSIM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Nov 2026
One of our own: Firman Saddil joins the PSIM first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Firman Saddil is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefano Firmansyah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Make Aldo Maulidino, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zulkifli Lukmansyah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” PSIM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
182% of the income goes out in wages at PSIM
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“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
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at PSIM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at PSIM
Dony Tri Pamungkas 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at PSIM
Franco Ramos Mingo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at PSIM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zulkifli Lukmansyah 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at PSIM. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Rendra Teddy 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 Rendra Teddy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zulkifli Lukmansyah has, at PSIM, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Syahrian Irawan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
PSIM are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market12 Oct 2026
Zulkifli Lukmansyah is 20, and PSIM have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
Andi Irfan hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 249% of the PSIM 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 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zahir Fazya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Andy Setyo has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrián Dalmau. 1‑0 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmad Agung, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ahmad Agung
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for PSIM
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Ramos Mingo, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ahmad Agung 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
No place for Savio Sheva in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Savio Sheva has his answer from PSIM; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at PSIM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Afreza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fahreza Sudin
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSIM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for PSIM
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Persebaya left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Andi Supriadi joins the PSIM first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andi Supriadi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Dedi Irawan joins the PSIM first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dedi Irawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nermin Haljeta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
In brief
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Squad
PSIM are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
PSIM buy the years ahead of Zidane Afreza
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for PSIM
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around PSIM are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at PSIM until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ezequiel Vidal among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Ezequiel Vidal on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of PSIM and Persib.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and Madura United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Match5 Sep 2026
PSIM come up short against Persib
Persib left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persijap have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
$270.0K — a new record at PSIM
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad31 Aug 2026
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Bali United come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and PSIM did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 2026
Andy Setyo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Persik is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for PSIM
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around PSIM are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for PSIM
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Madura United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Aug 2026
Rendra Teddy hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ahmad Agung pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match22 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for PSIM
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Raia Irvanza is in the works
PSIM have made the call to Persijap. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fahreza Sudin damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put PSIM out
Out, 0‑3 to Maluku Utara United, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for PSIM
Beaten 0‑3 by Persik, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Market17 Aug 2026
PSIM say no — this time
The offer from PSBS Biak for Andi Irfan 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$250.0K on the table at Persija. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the PSIM dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
Kurniawan Hardiyanto: “No excuses”
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Squad
5 new faces, and PSIM are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 22 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimas Firmansyah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andri Hardiyanto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmad Hardiyanto has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Witan Beckham joins the PSIM first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Witan Beckham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezequiel Vidal commits to PSIM for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at PSIM
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Madura United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rio Hardiawan 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yusaku Yamadera, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at PSIM, another week without a signature from Franco Ramos Mingo.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kurniawan Hardiyanto to a room that had heard them before.