Indonesian El Clásico

Indonesian El Clásico ( Indonesian: Laga Klasik Indonesia) also known as the Indonesian Derby ( Indonesian: Derbi Indonesia), is the name given to matches between the two biggest and most popular Indonesian football clubs Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta. This derby is considered one of the biggest in Asia.

Persib Bandung is a football club as a symbol of pride for the people of Bandung or West Java and Persija Jakarta is a football club from Jakarta as the capital city of Indonesia. Their matches are highly anticipated by other football fans in Indonesia and the club has fans all over the country.

History

1930–1949

In 1930, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) was formed and one of the founders was Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta. PSSI formed a national amateur football competition which was held in 1931 under the name Perserikatan. The match between Persib and Persija gave birth to rivalry in the Perserikatan competition. It was recorded that in 1933, Persija succeeded as champion and Persib as runner-up, in the following year 1934, Persija returned as champion and Persib as runner-up. However, after that the achievements of both clubs declined, until the competition did not exist between 1944–49 because of World War II.

1950–1994

After Indonesia became independent in 1945, the national football competition in Indonesia was held again in 1951, but changed its name to Kejurnas PSSI (PSSI National Championship) until 1979 and changed its name again to Divisi Utama PSSI (PSSI Premier Divison) until 1994, at that time Persib and Persija had never met in the final match in Kejurnas PSSI/Divisi Utama PSSI. The match that can be said to be a classic match occurred when Persib competed in the final match of the PSSI Premier Division with PSMS Medan in 1983 and 1985, which at that time lost twice to become champions. The match was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest amateur match in the history of national football with the number of spectators attending reaching 150,000 people and the majority were Bobotoh (the name for Persib supporters) who began to develop since the 1960s.

1994–present (Indonesian League)

In 1994, PSSI merged the Divisi Utama PSSI (amateur) and Galatama (semi-professional) competitions to form the Indonesian League (professional). This competition began in 1994 as the top division in the Indonesian professional football league system. In 1993–94 Persib won the last Divisi Utama PSSI competition and won the first Indonesian League in 1994–95, every final match was held at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (Jakarta) the entire stands were filled with Persib supporters, which made the Persija leader ( manager) build a supporter group because previously there was no support for Persija and ''The Jakmania'' was established in 1997 which is now getting bigger and becoming a rival with ''Bobotoh'', as well as the Persija team, several mainstay players were brought in from former Bandung Raya players, and managed to become champions of the Indonesian League in 2001.

In the 2000s, hooliganism in Indonesian football began to develop and did not only happen to Persib and Persija supporters, creating competition not only among supporters but between the two clubs in Indonesia. The match between the two is an interesting spectacle in the world of Indonesian football with statistics and prestige between clubs.

Results

Official match results

Source:

Data Incomplete

Perserikatan era

Liga Indonesia era

Head-to-head results overall

As of 16 February 2025

Records

Most appearances

* Players in bold are still active

Top goalscorers

* Players in bold are still active

Clean sheets

* Players in bold are still active

Players and personnel in both teams

Note:
* Since Liga Indonesia era (1994–present)
* Players in bold are still active

Players who played for both clubs

Persib then Persija

Persija then Persib

Head coaches who coached for both clubs

source:

Trophies

Supporters

Their supporters have never met after the start of hostilities between supporters of Persija and Persib in the 2000s, to date. Many conflicts occur including the death of one of the supporters and clashes which resulted in injury.

Persib

Persib fans often refer to themselves as ''Bobotoh''. This name comes from the Sundanese language and literally means "a group of people who provide support, spirit and encouragement to those on the pitch". The most famous group of Persib supporters is Viking Persib Club, the first supporter group in Indonesia.

Persija

Persija's supporters are called the ''Jakmania'', founded in 1997 by Gugun Gondrong and Ferry Indra Sjarif. The Jakmania is one of the biggest football fan groups in Indonesia and use orange as their main colour, even though the club have since switched to red.

Deaths of fans

There were two incidents that were highlighted by the national media and became a concern in Indonesian football, even though clashes often occurred during and outside of matches.

The rivalry has led to the deaths of many fans of both sides. On 5 March 2012, when Persija were hosting Persib at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Rangga Cipta Nugraha (Persib fans) was killed with a chair by home fans after he celebrated a Persib goal. Rangga did not stop bleeding even when he was buried.

Another tragedy happened on September 23, 2018, when before a Liga 1 match between Persija and Persib began at the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium, Haringga Sirla, a Jakmania member, was killed by some unscrupulous Vikings. Condolences for Haringga flowed from netizens throughout social media. In response to the incident, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) suspended Liga 1 for two weeks and forced Persib to pay a IDR 100 million (US$6,634) fine and play the remainder of their home matches of the 2018 season behind closed doors.

Reconciliation

Until now, many parties want these two supporters to unite, but there are still many who provoke either from The Jakmania or Bobotoh, whether on social media or in real life. The dark past makes these two supporters difficult to unite, even to the point that there is a slogan, ''“Biarkan Permusuhan Ini Abadi”'', which means, “Let This Enmity Be Eternal” from one of the main figure Bobotoh frontman.

Following the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster, Persija and Persib supporters participated in prayer ceremonies in Jakarta and Bandung while proudly wearing the club's attribute. Several subgroups of both sides declared to reduce aggressive fanaticism and promote a safe atmosphere at that moment.

See also

* Sports rivalry
* List of association football club rivalries in Indonesia
* Nationalism and sport
* Liga 1 (Indonesia)
* Super East Java derby
* Pasundan derby
* Football in Indonesia

Notes

References

{{Persib Bandung

Football rivalries in Indonesia
Persija Jakarta
Persib Bandung
Indonesia Super League
Sport in Jakarta