Wednesday, January 07, 2026
Well Connected Newbies Dominate Championship
South East Asian football is dominated by clubs owned by powerful folks who invest in the game for a variety of reasons. The classic example of course is Johor Darul Ta'zim in Malaysia while Buriram United in Thailand are of a similar provenance.
A Malaysian crown prince took over a local, privately run team called Johor FC which was going nowhere, rebranded it, ploughed untold amounts of money into not just the players but also an infrastructure the envy of many in Europe. They are unbeaten now in god knows how many games.
In Thailand, another petty, provincial potentate bought the licence of a team, in this case PEA, relocated them to his north eastern province, rebranded them Buriram United and, like his regal peer further south, invested shitloads in building a football club that has no real competition.
In both cases, provincial power and privilege have used their position to build a football club and, using that position, have been able to bring the local community along with them. Both the Chidchobs in Thailand and the royal family in Johor are held in high esteem locally and both have been able to transform sporting backwaters into football behemoths in 15 years.
Both clubs have been supremely successful and both have struggled to overcome cynicism from beyond their borders from fans either jealous or resentful of their success.
Such a business model has been less easy to replicate south of the equator in Indonesia where existing, traditional clubs have a far longer pedigree than in Malaysia and Thailand. There have in recent years been a number of 'new' clubs on the football landscape but with the possible exception of Bali United, these have been little more than vanity projects at best.
Clubs like Bhayangkara, Dewa United, RANS Nusantara.
Where a club does have strong links to people in power, they have struggled to make an impact. Persis, for example. Their club president is a son of a former Indonesian president. They're bottom of the Super League. But Persis are a club with over a century of history and a large fan base locally - with the kind of investment JDT and Buriram United have received, Persis have everything in place to be a massive club.
Moving down to the Championship and we see two new clubs topping Group One and both have in their own way powerful backers.
Garudayaksa were only formed in 2025. In other words, they're only a few months old. Initially formed as a football academy, they bought the license of PSKC Ciamhi, spent some money and now look like they're heading for the Super League. Did I mention they're owned by the present Indonesian president?
 |
| PSKC fans in happier days |
They moved from Ciamhi, cutting links with their former lives, and relocated to Bekasi, a city near Jakarta which already boasts a number of clubs including Persipasi and Perskasi. Bekasi is also home to the impressive 30,000 seater Patriot Stadium.
Farmel are another club which started as an academy. They started in Liga 3 then the Public Prosecution Service got involved and ultimately changed their name to Adhyaksa FC Banten and they now play their home games at the Banten International Stadium in Serang.
JDT and Buriram United have clear identities, a clear home and make sense to football fans around the world whatever you may think of their ownership. Garudayaksa and Adhyaksa on the other hand lack any sense of identity. Generic club name, parachuted into a stadium in a city they have no real connection to.
Adhyaksa did attract 7,238 for their first home game of the season against Bekasi FC while Garudayaksa pulled in 1,158. Neither side has bettered those opening day crowds with Adhyaksa averaging 3,539 and Garudayaksa pulling in 465. On field success isn't being matched by bums on seats.
It does seem strange that in a country with such a strong football culture, so many new clubs ignore the blueprints of long-established local sides, or JDT and Buriram, and seem content to plough their own furrow, seemingly unconcerned whether they have any fans or not.
# posted by Me @ 6:08 PM 
