Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto (born 13 July 1976) is a former professional football from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Normally playing as a striker, Kurniawan has the fourth most

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

and goals for the

Indonesia national football team The Indonesia national football team ( id, Tim nasional sepak bola Indonesia) represents Indonesia in international association football. It was the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup, particularly in the 1938 edition as Dut ...

with 33 goals in 59 appearances. His nickname is "Kurus" (literally meaning "skinny") because he has a slender figure. He is currently the assistant coach of

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side Como FC 1907, owned by Indonesian tobacco giant Djarum.

Playing career

Primavera years

Kurniawan became a household name in Indonesia when he went on a scoring spree for the Indonesian youth team that went to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1993 to train at

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

and play in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, the league for youth teams of

and

clubs. The Indonesian football association

PSSI The Football Association of Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930, fifteen years before ...

sent the team abroad for two years to prepare for the 1994 AFC Youth Championship in Jakarta and the qualifying round for the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Kurniawan was so prolific that Sampdoria's coach at that time, Sven-Göran Eriksson, included the 18-year old in the team that toured Asia in 1994, along with superstars

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sa ...

and Attilio Lombardo who just won the 1993-94 Copa Italia title.

FC Luzern

Kurniawan's performance in the Primavera league and with Sampdoria in exhibition matches caught the attention of other European clubs, including Swiss top-tier club

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league s ...

that signed him on loan for the 1994-95 season. Kurniawan scored three goals in his 12 appearances for the Lucerne-based club, a respectable result for any teenager with no previous professional career. Kurniawan is the first and only Indonesian national who has scored in a top-flight European league. He was also the only Indonesian who competed and scored in the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

, which was abolished in 2008. Despite such achievements, young Kurniawan suffered homesickness, culture shock, and injuries in Switzerland. Sampdoria in 1995 called him back from the loan spell to prepare him for the 1995-96 season of

but Kurniawan chose to return to Indonesia.

Indonesian clubs

Kurniawan played for 12 teams in Indonesia after his 1995 return, winning the national title with

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar'; abbreviated as PSM) is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , making it the oldest ...

in 2000 and

Persebaya Surabaya Persatuan Sepakbola Surabaya ( 'Football Association of Surabaya'), commonly known as Persebaya Surabaya or simply Persebaya, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Surabaya, East Java. It currently plays in the Liga 1, the top fl ...

in 2004. He scored more than 170 goals for those teams combined. That said, his re-entry to Indonesia was not smooth as defenders brutally targeted the popular striker and the media hounded him as a celebrity. The rough transition during his early 20s led him to intentions of quitting football and a drug scandal that made PSSI suspended him from the national team. Criticism was rife against Kurniawan for his inability to match the quality he showed in Europe. He overcame the challenges and became more stable when he joined PSM in 1999 and won his first team trophy in 2000. He came second on the top scorer list that year below his perennial rival Bambang Pamungkas.

Sarawak FA

Despite his popularity coming from his achievements in Europe and Indonesia, he was most prolific when he played in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

for

Sarawak FA Sarawak FA State Football Team ( ms, Pasukan Bola Sepak Negeri Sarawak) was a defunct football team which represented the Malaysian region (formerly state) of Sarawak from 1974 to 2020 in the Malaysian football league. It was one of the 14 Mal ...

in 2005-06 with 29 goals in 31 appearances. When he joined, Sarawak was playing in the

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leag ...

, the second-tier of Malaysian football. His goals helped the club to win promotion and compete in the 2006

Malaysian Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malaysi ...

National team

Outside his dark years in the late 1990s, Kurniawan has always been the top choice for the youth and senior Indonesian national football teams from 1993 to 2005. With 33 goals in 59 appearances for the senior team, he has collected more caps and goals than any other Indonesian, except Bambang Pamungkas who also played in Malaysia when Kurniawan was there. His first three goals were scored against

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

in a 10-0 rout in the 1995 Southeast Asian Games in

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Career statistics

International

International goals

Coaching career

After Kurniawan retired as a player in late 2013, he chose to become a coach at the new Chelsea Soccer School Indonesia, which is supported by

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...

despite approaches from Indonesian clubs. One reason was the position did not require him to stay in Indonesia for long stretches as he wanted to spend more time in Malaysia, where his Malaysian wife opens a restaurant business. The pressure of training an Indonesian professional team throughout most of the year would take him away for too long. After approaches by PSSI and national team coaches, Kurniawan agreed to be a part-time assistant coach for Indonesian youth teams, including the U-23 team that won silver at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Sabah FC

Newly promoted

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

club Sabah FC became the first club that hired Kurniawan as a head coach in December 2019. The decision followed the inability of the previous coach Jelius Ating to lead a top-tier team due to his lack of AFC Pro coaching license, which Kurniawan holds. Kurniawan's first season at Sabah reaped mixed reviews from club decision-makers with some applauding the first-time head coach for keeping the team out of relegation while some criticizing him for only winning two out of 11 matches played in the shortened

2020 Malaysia Super League The 2020 Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia 2020), known as the CIMB Bank Liga Super Malaysia 2020 for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia. Joho ...

season amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The latter group managed to push Kurniawan out in November 2020. However, a change of management leadership at the club led to a January 2021 rehiring of Kurniawan who was about to join

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leag ...

club Kuching City F.C. as an assistant coach. On 28 August 2021, Sabah lost 4–0 against

UiTM FC UiTM Football Club is a Malaysian professional football club based in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The club plays in the Malaysia Super League. Founded in 2008, their home ground is 10,000-seater UiTM Stadium. The club widely known as The Lio ...

. Next days, Sabah announced that they had sacked Kurniawan.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

Kurniawan mostly resides in Kuching,

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

where his second wife opens a restaurant business that has several outlets. Kurniawan met her when he was playing for Sarawak FA in 2005, two years after his divorce from his first wife.

Honours

PSM Makassar * Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 1999–2000 Persebaya Surabaya * Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 2004 Persija Jakarta *

Copa Indonesia Piala Indonesia ( 'Indonesia Cup') is the professional annual cup competition for football clubs in Indonesia. Originally, it started from the semi-professional football era in 1985 as Piala Liga, which ran until 1989 under Galatama competition. ...

runner-up: 2005 Persisam Putra Samarida * Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 2008–09 Persela Lamongan * Piala Gubernur Jatim: 2009 Indonesia national team *

Indonesian Independence Cup The Indonesian Independence Cup ( Indonesian: ''Piala Kemerdekaan'') was an international football tournament organised by the Football Association of Indonesia to commemorate the independence day of the Republic of Indonesia Indonesia, o ...

: Champions (1): 2000 *

AFF Championship The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football ...

: Runners-up (2) :

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004 *

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

: Silver Medal (1):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Individual * Liga Indonesia Premier Division top scorers: 1997–98

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yulianto, Kurniawan Dwi 1976 births Living people Indonesian footballers 2000 AFC Asian Cup players Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia FC Luzern players Sarawak FA players Indonesian expatriate footballers Indonesia international footballers Pelita Jaya FC players PSM Makassar players PSPS Pekanbaru players Persebaya Surabaya players Persija Jakarta players PSS Sleman players Persitara Jakarta Utara players Persisam Putra Samarinda players Persela Lamongan players PSMS Medan players Pro Duta FC players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Sportspeople from Central Java People from Magelang Regency Javanese people Association football forwards