Indonesian El Clásico


Indonesian El Clásico also known as the Indonesian Derby, 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 was formed and one of its founders was Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta. This Indonesian football confederation formed a national amateur competition held in 1931 under the name Inlandsche Stedenwedstrijden. In 1933 between Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta they met in the final match and was won by Persija Jakarta as champion, Persib Bandung as runner-up. In 1934 the following year they met again in the final match, Persib Bandung lost again in the final match. But after that the achievements of both clubs declined, until the competition stopped between 1944–49 due to World War II.

1950–1994

In 1951 after Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945, the national amateur football competition in Indonesia was held again under the name Kejurnas PSSI until 1979 and was renamed Divisi Utama PSSI until 1994. During that period, the two clubs did not have much competition between Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta. The match that can be called a rivalry in the competition occurred when Persib Bandung met PSMS Medan, this match can be called a classic match in Indonesia and reached its peak in the final match of the Divisi Utama PSSI in 1985, recorded in the Asian Football Confederation book as the most attended amateur match in the history of Asian football with the number of spectators reaching 150,000 people at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, most of them were ''Bobotoh''

1994–present (Indonesian League)

In 1994, PSSI merged the Divisi Utama PSSI and Galatama competitions to form the Indonesian League. This competition began in 1994 as the top division in the Indonesian professional football league system. In 1993–94 Persib Bandung won the last Divisi Utama PSSI competition and won the first Indonesian League in 1994–95, each final match was held at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Jakarta. Persija Jakarta, which did not have support because Jakarta was an urban society, finally built a supporter group founded directly by the club manager at the end of 1997, they opened registration and now it has reached thousands. The club brought in several mainstay players 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 Bandung and Persija Jakarta 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

Head-to-head results overall

As of 16 February 2025
Persija wins51
Draws54
Persib wins63
Unknown12
Persija goals211
Persib goals231
Total matches180

Records

Most appearances

  • Players in bold are still active
PositionPlayerTeamCaps
1

Top goalscorers

  • Players in bold are still active
PositionPlayerTeamGoals
1

Clean sheets

  • Players in bold are still active
PlayersPersija clean sheetsPersib clean sheetsTotal

Players and personnel in both teams

Note:
  • Since Liga Indonesia era
  • Players in bold are still active

Players who played for both clubs

Persib then Persija

PlayerPersibPersija

Persija then Persib

PlayerPersijaPersib

Head coaches who coached for both clubs

source:

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.

Persib

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 was killed with a chair by home fans after he celebrated a Persib goal. Rangga did not stop bleeding even when he was buried.

Persija

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 Persib supporters. In response to the incident, the Football Association of Indonesia suspended Liga 1 for two weeks and forced Persib to pay a IDR 100 million 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.