Persib Bandung

Founding years (1919–1940)

The roots of Persib Bandung can be traced back to Bandoeng Inlandsche Voetbal Bond (BIVB) (Dutch for 'Bandung Domestic Football Federation'), formed on 5 January 1919 in accordance to the findings of a thorough research conducted by historians which were announced in 2023. BIVB was a fusion of local clubs in Bandung such as KBS, BB (Bintang Bandoeng), STER (Steeds trappen en rennen), Diana (Doe is alles niet achteruit), Zwaluw, BIVC, BVC, KVC, VVC, Visser, NVC, Brom and Pasar Ketjil to form BIVB. It was then succeeded by Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Bandung (PSIB) ('Bandung Indonesian Football Association') and teams affiliated to the National Voetball Bond (NVB). These outfits merged on 18 March 1934 to form Persib.

Persib won the 1937 Dutch Indies football tournament and reached the finals in the 1933, 1934 and 1936 editions before Indonesia's 1945 independence.

Perserikatan era (1940–1994)

After Indonesia's independence, Persib was reformed in Bandung in 1948, during the Indonesian National Revolution. In the 1950s, Persib players Aang Witarsa and Anas appeared for the Indonesia national football team.

In the Perserikatan era, when Indonesian football clubs were amateur outfits funded by local governments, Persib won their second national title in 1961 and competed in that year's Aga Khan Gold Cup. The club's next significant achievement was as runner-up in the 1966 season. Persib's success declined in the 1970s culminating with their relegation to the First Division in the 1978–79 season. In response, the club hired Polish coach Marek Janota to lead the youth squad and Risnandar Soendoro to manage the senior team. Under their guidance, Persib earned a promotion to the Premier Division, with players including Robby Darwis, Adeng Hudaya, Adjat Sudrajat and Suryamin. The team finished as runners-up in the 1982–83 and 1984–85 seasons.

The club won the league in 1986 by beating Perseman Manokwari by a goal from Djadjang Nurdjaman at the Senayan Stadium. They became champions again in 1990, beating Persebaya Surabaya 2–0. Among the players of this golden era were Samai Setiadi, Ade Mulyono, Asep Sumantri and Djadjang Nurdjaman who would become the only person to win a national title for Persib as a player and coach.

Persib became champions in the final season of the Perserikatan era before it was merged with the fledgling, semi-professional Galatama league to become the Liga Indonesia Premier Division and so earned the right to keep the President Cup in perpetuity.

Modern era and recent history (1994–2014)

Persib Bandung in 1995 became the first champion of the newly formed Liga Indonesia Premier Division by beating Petrokimia Putra 1–0 in the final, which gave the club the right to compete at the Asian level. In 1995, Persib managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Club Championship after beating teams from Thailand and the Philippines. While Persib failed to advance further, coach Indra Tohir was selected as the Best of Coach in Asia by the Asian Football Confederation.

Persib struggled to emulate the 1995 success in the next two decades. In 2008, Persib hired coach Jaya Hartono, who managed to push unheralded team Persik Kediri all the way to win the 2003 Liga Indonesia, to bring back its glory. Unfortunately, he only got Persib to third place. They had also used many foreign coaches such as Marek Andrzej Sledzianowski, Juan Páez and Arcan Iurie but the national title was elusive.

As a result of 2006-07 national government policies that restricted the use of state budget in professional football clubs after a series of financial scandals involving politicians and clubs in their jurisdictions, 36 stakeholders compelled then-Bandung mayor Dada Rosada to cut ties between the city's government and Persib. Their campaign led to the 20 August 2009 establishment of PT Persib Bandung Bermartabat, the company that currently runs Persib.

In 2012, Persib hired former player Djadjang Nurdjaman as their new head coach in another attempt to bring back its glory. However, his tenure started bumpy when in 2013 Persib could not use its traditional base Siliwangi Stadium for official matches, because PSSI degraded the class level of the old, rundown stadium to be only used as a training field. Persib then used the newly opened Si Jalak Harupat Stadium as a permanent home base although it was located in Soreang, outside the Bandung city borders. On 8 September 2014, Persib got the license as a professional club.

Golden era (2014–present)

2014 season

The appointment of Djadjang turned out to be a correct move. In 2014, after almost two decades without any major trophy, Persib managed to win the national title in the 2014 Indonesia Super League by beating Persipura Jayapura in the final. Striker Ferdinand Sinaga also got the Best Player award for the 2014 season.

2015 season

After the 2014 victory, Persib viewed the 2015 season with ambitious plans. They intended to use the facilities of Inter Milan in Italy but the plan was cancelled. The national title also gave Persib a chance to compete in the 2015 AFC Champions League alongside Persipura.

However, the season had its ups and downs. While Djadjang was retained, he could not sit on the bench as a coach in an AFC catch due to his lack coaching certification and Emral Abus, who had never coached a winning team, was hired for the Asian competition. In its first game, Persib lost to Vietnam outfit Hanoi T&T F.C.

In consolation, in a pre-season local tournament, the 2015 Piala Walikota Padang, Persib won after defeating Persiba Balikpapan 2–0 in the final with coach Djadjang able to fully serve his role. While this gave Persib hope, bad signs began to emerge. Their first ISL match on 20 February 2015 against last year's runners-up Persipura Jayapura was cancelled after the sports ministry on 18 February postponed the 2015 ISL season due to clubs failing to complete their licensing processes. By May 2015, the licensing dispute between the government and clubs peaked with the 2015 Indonesia Super League officially discontinued on 2 May 2015 due to a ban from the sports minister against PSSI that forbade the federation from running any football competition.

2016 season

At the beginning of 2016 the club announced it had agreed to collaborate with Italian Serie A club Inter Milan including coaching courses for Persib's Djadjang Nurdjaman.

2017 season

Persib Bandung started the 2017 season with "unusual way" in the affairs of signings. Label as an established team was shown the management of PT Persib Bandung Bermartabat to bring the two superstars at the same time, Michael Essien and Carlton Cole. The arrival of the two former Chelsea FC players completed a transfer list of players who had done Persib in late 2016, as Dedi Kusnandar, Supardi Nasir, Achmad Jufriyanto, Wildansyah, Imam Arief Fadillah, and Japanese attacking midfielder Shohei Matsunaga. That list does not include the planned Dutch-Indonesia descent midfielder Raphael Maitimo joined at the time of launching the team Persib on 2 April 2017.

2018 season

The team announced Hector Cuper's former assistant coach at Lanus, Valencia, and Inter Milan, Roberto Carlos Mario Gomez as Persib's new coach on a two-year deal. Earlier in 2017, Roberto Carlos Mario Gomez was appointed as Malaysian national football team's head coach by FAM president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, but he then asked for a higher salary and was therefore rejected as it was expensive. Essien was replaced by Argentine striker Jonathan Bauman due to exceeding foreign players quota.

2019 season

Persib recruited Miljan Radović as Gomez's replacement as the Argentine coach moved to Borneo F.C. However, pre-season results were not satisfactory and Radovic was replaced by Robert Alberts before the league started. The team signed Artur Geworkýan and Rene Mihelič as it released Jonathan Bauman. Before the first half of the season ended, Serbian defender Bojan Mališić was transferred for free to Badak Lampung F.C. The team then brought Nick Kuipers and Kevin van Kippersluis from Holland, and Swedish-born Iranian-Filipino midfielder Omid Nazari to the roster, alongside Dhika Bayangkara. Fabiano Beltrame was also recruited, but he was not registered into the team roster due to exceeding the foreign players quota. His naturalization to Indonesian citizenship process was completed in December.

This season was noted as the final one for Hariono who decided to left the club after 11 years of service. The final match of the season saw Persib win 5–2 against PSM and he was given honorary tribute by the club and fans. Persib ended 2019 Liga 1 in 6th position, with 51 points from 13 wins, 12 draws, and 9 losses. Their 2018–19 Piala Indonesia campaign was stopped by Borneo F.C. in the quarter-finals on away goals.

2020 season

Persib signed Geoffrey Castillion, Zulham Zamrun, Wander Luiz, Victor Igbonefo, Beni Oktovianto and Teja Paku Alam. In return, they released Hariono to Bali United F.C., Muchlis Hadi and Kevin van Kippersluis on free transfer, and Billy Keraf to Semen Padang. Ezechiel N'Douassel was sold to Bhayangkara F.C. for an undisclosed fee, also with Achmad Jufriyanto on a loan deal. They started the league with three victories in the first three matches against Persela (3-0) on 1 March, Arema (1-3) on 8 March, and PSS Sleman (2-1) on 15 March before the league was stopped due to COVID-19 restrictions in Indonesia. It was initially delayed until 2021, but was eventually cancelled in January 2021 which saw all the results be void.

2021–22 season

It was announced that 2021 Liga 1 was to start in June 2021. Before the league started, a pre-season tournament called "Piala Menpora" was held which Persib were participating in. There were significant changes to Persib squad where Omid Nazari, Beni Oktovianto, Fabiano Beltrame, Zulham Zamrun, and Ghozali Siregar were all released. Kim Jeffrey was also released before joining PSS Sleman as he joined his brother-in-law Irfan Bachdim, who was married to his sister Jennifer Kurniawan. Former player Ferdinand Sinaga rejoined the club, alongside Jufriyanto, having finished his loan at Bhayangkara. Bayu Fiqri, an Indonesia U-19 international player, was also signed. Former PSV academy player Farshad Noor joined the club after the first match of Piala Menpora. However, he was released along with Sinaga before the league even started. At the end of first half of the season Geoffrey Castilion and Wander Luiz were given free transfer. Mohammed Rashid, Bruno Cantanhede, Marc Klok, David da Silva and several academy players were recruited. In the last match of the season against Barito, the team drew 1-1 which resulted in Barito escaping relegation over Persipura due to head-to-head rule. David da Silva's performance was heavily criticized by some people as he missed a number of scoring opportunities. Both teams were sued over allegedly match fixing, but the case was later dismissed as there were no proofs.

2022–23 season

Prior to the league's start, Persib was overshadowed by GBLA stadium disaster that claimed 2 lives during the match against Persebaya in President's Cup. A pair of Indonesia internationals Ricky Kambuaya and Rachmat Irianto were signed from Persebaya. In total, 11 players were released, with notable ones including Esteban Vizcarra, Rashid, Cantanhede, Ardi Idrus, and team captain Victor Igbonefo. The team did not begin the season very well with failing to win first 3 matches, which resulted in resigning of Alberts as head coach. His assistant Budiman Yunus was the team's caretaker until Luis Milla Aspas, former Indonesia national football team coach from Spain, was officially appointed Alberts' successor.

2023-24 season

Early into the season saw Luis Milla's resignation over personal issues in July 2023. Fitness coach Yaya Sunarya served as a caretaker coach until Bojan Hodak was appointed on 26 July. The team went on a 14-games unbeaten streak until defeated by Persik Kediri 0-2 at home on 10 December.