Persiraja Banda Aceh
Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Kutaraja, commonly known as Persiraja, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Banda Aceh, Aceh. They currently compete in the Championship. They play their home matches either at Harapan Bangsa Stadium or H. Dimurthala Stadium. Their most memorable achievements is when they became champion of Perserikatan in 1980.
History
Persiraja Banda Aceh was founded as a semi-professional team on 28 July 1957, initiated by PSSI. The name change from previous Persib Banda to its current name is unknown to the public. In the early formation of this club, the club's headquarters are located at Blang Padang Field, before being moved to the H. Dimurthala Stadium in Lampineung. At the beginning, since its inception, there's nothing special from this club. The club is still under the shadow of PSMS Medan who previously was one of the strongest teams in Indonesia. In the effort for finding the talented players, the team is making a Bonden or another term for the academy.During the period between 1957 until 1974, there was no great achievement to be proud of. Until finally in 1975, Persiraja successfully overcome the shadows of PSMS Medan. In the 1974–75 season of PSSI National Championship western region, Persiraja successfully become champion by beating strongest club from Sumatra. At that time, Persiraja successfully topped the final standings with 11 points and goal difference 31–10. Thus, Persiraja were advance to the national round of 1975–1978 PSSI National Championship with PSMS, PSL, and PS Bangka. At the beginning of its participation, Persiraja broke through until reached the top 8. Persiraja also began to be known by everyone in the country. In the following season, Persiraja managed to increase their ranking to top 5. Persiraja could have been relegated in 1979, but PSSI did prevented it by adding a team so there were total of six teams. Finally, in 1980, Persiraja successfully become a national champion by beating Persipura Jayapura 3–1 in the final game held in Gelora Senayan Stadium. In the end, Persiraja have to wait for 23 years since 1957 to win the title in the national football arena.
Rivalries
Persiraja used to have a rivalry with fellow Aceh club, PSAP Sigli. This rivalry is usually called as the Classic Aceh Derby. Their matches were always in hot atmosphere. One most tragic incident occurred in 2014, when PSAP Sigli goalkeeper, Agus Rahman, made a harsh tackle on Persiraja striker, Akli Fairuz. Fairuz suffered bladder leakage and, a few days after the match, died from his internal injuries due to that tackle. He received a year suspension given by PSSI. Nowadays, since Persiraja and PSAP Sigli are no longer in the same league level, the rivalry has been coolen down. In addition, Persiraja also have a rivalry with another Aceh club, PSBL Langsa.Apart from that, Persiraja also has a long history of rivalry with PSMS Medan which has been going on since the Perserikatan era. Their matches are always tough and tense, However, there is rarely or never a big riot between the two teams' supporters outside the field or it spills over into other problems. This is one of the most important rivalries that still continues today.
Supporters
Most of spectators in every Persiraja games are not affiliated with any supporter community and go to stadium just to enjoy the game. However, Persiraja have relatively sizeable numbers of fanatic supporter community named SKULL, which was established in 2007. The name is an abbreviation of Suporter Kutaraja Untuk Lantak Laju. They used to have rivalry and conflict with "The LAN", which is the supporter community of other Aceh's football club, PSAP Sigli. However the two supporter communities ended the conflict in 2014.As time went on, there was another group of supporters who supported Persiraja with the concept of "ultras" under the name "Laskar Rencong Mania" and occupied the south stand of H. Dimurthala Stadium. Although they were ultras, the group's colors strangely were orange, just like SKULL's, which generally contrasted with black, the customary color of any football ultras group around the world. But after the season ended and the next season went on, the existence of the supporters group seemed to abruptly vanished not knowing where they had gone. Finally, ahead of the new season, Persiraja got another moral injection with the presence of a new supporters group called "Ultras Persiraja" and also occupied the south stand of the stadium. This time the official color of the outfit they were wearing was black, just like any other ultras group.
Ownership
Like most Perserikatan clubs, Persiraja had been funded by the local municipality. However, according to new ordinance by Indonesian Minister of Internal Affair in 2017, the local municipalities are no longer allowed to give any fund support to Indonesian professional clubs, which means for all clubs in Liga 1 and Liga 2, including Persiraja.Therefore, in March 2017, the management of Persiraja established a private company. Nazaruddin, a local businessman, bought most shares, forming PT Persiraja Lantak Laju, and became the club's president.
On 22 August 2022, Nazzarudin Dek Gam has resigned from his position as president club and his position was given to Zulfikar Syahabuddin who is one of the local businessmen who is active in religious activities such as congregational dawn safaris and as a lecturer.
Ahead of the next season's Liga 2, Nazaruddin Dek Gam took back ownership of the club from the previous management after experiencing unsatisfactory results in the previous season.
Club ranking
World
| Current rank | Country | Club | Points | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2915 |  AFC
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