Arema F.C.

The name Arema refers to a legendary figure in Malang folklore called Kebo Arema who was a knight in King Kertanegara of Singhasari's court when the latter ruled the kingdom in the 13th century. The kingdom's name relates to the contemporary Singosari district of Malang Regency, located a few miles north of Malang city. According to the folklore song of Panji Wijayakrama, Kebo Arema quashed a revolt by Kelana Bhayangkara until all the rebels were crushed like leaves eaten by caterpillars. In the ancient book of Negarakertagama, Kebo Arema also was cited as the one who ended the Cayaraja rebellion. Kebo Arema also led expansionary campaigns for Kertanegara. Together with Mahisa Anengah, Kebo Arema conquered the Pamalayu Kingdom on Sumatra island centered in what is now known as Jambi province in order to have access to the Malacca Strait. The heroism of Kebo Arema is little known because history books focus on the achievements of Kertanegara as the most prominent Singhasari king.

The name Arema reappeared in Malang around the 1980s. While it is unclear that the revival had anything to do with Kebo Arema, the name became popular among the youth in Malang who had developed a sub-culture. Arema is an acronym of Arek Malang, which means Malang youth. The Arema sub-culture has distinct identitities, symbols and even language that differentiates it from the main culture in East Java province. It is often seen as a cultural challenge to the youth culture in the provincial capital of Surabaya. The Arek Malang proponents built their reputation and existence through rock music and local sports. Aside from boxing, soccer is the sport that strongly identifies with Arek Malang, especially the lower-income masses who find it as a platform for their expression.

Arema was established during the peak of the development of this sub-culture on 11 August 1987 and with a goal of developing a professional football club in Malang. At that time, the existing Malang team, Persema Malang, depended on government budget and was a federation of smaller clubs in Malang. A professional Malang club was a brainchild of army general Acub Zaenal, who was active in the PSSI, the football association of Indonesia, and administered the country's first professional football competition Galatama, and Dirk Sutrisno, the founder of the Armada'86 football club in Malang who wanted to upgrade his team. The original name was Aremada, a combination of Armada and Arema, before becoming Arema'86. However, financial difficulties delayed the official incorporation, as the Arema Indonesia football club, until the general rescued the cause and paved the way for Arema's participation in Galatama.

Because of its establishment was during the horoscope period of Leo, Arema chose the symbol of the lion, or singo (in Javanese language), which also constitutes the front part of the Singhasari or Singosari kingdom's name.

At the beginning of Arema's Galatama participation, the guerrilla-style search for professional-quality players took place one month before Arema was officially established. Arema tried to convince players of existing clubs to join, including Maryanto from Persema, Kusnadi Kamaludin from Armada, Mahdi Haris from Arseto, Jamrawi and Yohanes Geohera from Mitra Surabaya and goalkeeper Dony Latuperisa who was then undergoing PSSI suspension. A former Indonesian national team coach, Sinyo Aliandoe, also agreed to join. For their first accommodation, Arema players used military barracks provided by the Indonesian air force, which runs Malang's Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport. The airbase's grass field was also used as a training ground.

Arema faced numerous financial issues until Acub Zaenal became its stable financier and protector. Arema's Galatama achievements were initially erratic, although it never inhabited the bottom of the table. In almost every Galatama season, Arema never could stay long at the top. Nevertheless, Arema won the 1992 Galatama competition. At that time, the players included Indonesia national football team regulars Aji Santoso, Mecky Tata, Singgih Pitono and Jamrawi. Ever since, Arema has been considered part of the elite group of clubs in Indonesia with fanatical supporters, especially those who embody the youth sub-culture in Malang.

During the Liga Indonesia (Ligina) years from 1994 to 2007, Arema entered the advanced round seven times, including six times in the top 8 (1999–2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2007). Despite its stable achievements, Arema was never free from financial problems. Almost every season, this problem haunted the club, leading to frequent organizational changes. In 2003, Arema experienced severe financial difficulties, which affected the team's performance. This led to the management of Arema being handed over to giant cigarette company Bentoel Group, which runs a factory near Malang, in the middle of the 2003 season. However, Arema still could not escape relegation to the Ligina's second-tier. That said, Bentoel financing helped Arema to bounce back and win promotion in 2004. After its return to the top league, Arema won Copa Indonesia, the knockout tournament for clubs, in 2005 and 2006 and Arema's U-18 team won the Soeratin Cup, the country's main youth tournament, in 2007. In 2006 and 2007, Arema and its coach Benny Dollo received awards from Tabloid Bola, Indonesia's leading sports publication, as the best team and best coach, respectively.

After another conflict in Indonesia's football league administration, the first Indonesia Super League competition, the 2008–09 edition, came about with Arema disappointingly finishing at 10th. Two months after the competition was over, on 3 August 2009 at Hotel Santika Malang, Bentoel Group sold Arema to a group of people, including fans, concerned about the club's performance and future.[2] The release was also a by-product of the sale of majority shares owned by Bentoel Group in the Bentoel cigarette operations to multinational British American Tobacco (BAT) that had no intent to finance a local football club in Indonesia. Before that, there was a discourse of merging Arema with Persema Malang, but supporters objected this plan. In the 2009–10 season of ISL, Arema, which was coached by Dutchman Robert Alberts, won the title. Arema has a knack of coming back strong after taking a hit, which endears it to its loyal band of supporters who accompany the team wherever they go.

Indonesian football experienced its worst spell of management after Arema's 2010 victory with a schism within the country's football management. PSSI in 2011 endorsed a newly founded company Liga Primer Indonesia (LPI) to rebrand LSI and launch Liga Prima Indonesia (IPL) as its direct replacement. However, LSI administrators rebelled against this move and continued the LSI series. Arema was also divided into two separate entity, Arema Indonesia in IPL and Arema FC in LSI.[3]

Arema Indonesia founders claimed they had been given permission from Lucky Acub Zaenal, the son of Acub Zaenal, the co-founder of Arema Indonesia football club. Meanwhile, Aremania fans rejected this, leading to the formation of Arema Cronus, which eventually became Arema FC.[4]

The dualism ended in 2014 with the PSSI taking over the rebellious group that held onto the LSI series. FIFA also intervened and punished Indonesia for its poor management, leading to a competition vacuum in 2015. During the break, the Arema factions merged and agreed to use the name Arema Cronus for the resumption of LSI in 2016. For the 2017 season, the club changed its name again from Arema Cronus to Arema Football Club amid Aremania fan protest.[5]

In the first Liga 1 season in 2017, Arema appointed Aji Santoso as coach and introduced Pandawa 5 which contains club legends in the coaching staff. However, this concept did not last long, because in the middle of the season, the head coach resigned because Arema stumbled in the middle of the standings. Joko Susilo who became the successor coach brought Arema to finish in 9th place with 49 points. Arema management also maintains the coach who is familiarly called as Gethuk to become the head coach in Liga 1 season in 2018. Rows of Assistant Coaches were again given the trust to accompany him.[6]

In the Liga 1 season in 2018, Arema performed poorly at the start of the season, with only one win from the first 6 matches in the season Liga 1 in 2018, leading to the sacking of head coach Joko Susilo. As a replacement for Arema's management, Milan Petrović was appointed as Arema's coach who previously served as assistant coach. After the change of head coach, Arema's performance began to improve by finishing in 6th position after being in the relegation zone at the start of the season.[6]

In the Liga 1 season in 2019, with the old face new coach, Milomir Šešlija who had coached this team at 2016 Indonesia Soccer Championship A. Unfortunately, the performance of Singo Edan's squad in the season was good at the beginning, but continued to decline at the end of the competition. At the end of the Liga 1 season in 2019, Arema occupied the 9th position in the final standings.[6]

The change in the composition of the players was quite extreme, Arema welcomed the Liga 1 season in 2020 with the entry of the former coach of Borneo, Mario Gómez. However, this competition was finally stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic since the Matchday 3, and Arema is in 12th position in the standings with three points, with one win and two defeats.[6][7]

Arema supporters are known as Aremania and Aremanita. After the Liga Indonesia began in 1997, Aremania emerged as a support group with an aggressive reputation nationwide.[13]

Aremania have a very strong rivalry with supporters of Persebaya Surabaya, who are known as Bonek and the games between the two sides, known as the Super East Java Derby, often escalate into violence.[14][15]

As of 25 April 2022[16]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 4 DF  POR Sérgio Silva 5 DF  IDN Bagas Adi Nugroho 6 MF  IDN Evan Dimas 8 MF  JPN Renshi Yamaguchi 10 FW  IDN Muhammad Rafli 11 MF  IDN Gian Zola 12 DF  IDN Rizky Dwi Febrianto 13 MF  IDN Hamzah Titofani 14 MF  IDN Jayus Hariono 15 DF  IDN Hasyim Kipuw 18 MF  IDN Adam Alis 22 FW  IDN Hanis Sagara 23 GK  IDN Teguh Amiruddin 24 DF  IDN Andik Rendika Rama

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 DF  IDN Achmad Figo 27 FW  IDN Dedik Setiawan 28 MF  IDN Seiya Da Costa 30 MF  IDN Ilham Armaiyn 37 DF  IDN Ikhfanul Alam 41 MF  IDN Dendi Santoso (vice-captain) 44 DF  IDN Syaeful Anwar 78 FW  IDN Bramntio Ramadhan 87 DF  IDN Johan Alfarizi (captain) 88 MF  IDN Irsyad Maulana 90 GK  BRA Adilson Maringá 99 FW  IDN Kushedya Hari Yudo — MF  IDN Muhammad Faiz

Key

• Tms. = Number of teams
• Pos. = Position in league

• Asian Club Championship/AFC Champions League
  • 1993–94 – First round
  • 2007 – Group stage
  • 2011 – Group stage
• AFC Cup
  • 2012 – Quarter-finals
  • 2014 – Round of 16

• Galatama
  • Winners (1): 1992–93
• Indonesia Super League
  • Winners (1): 2009–10
  • Runners-up (2): 2010–11, 2013
• Liga Indonesia First Division
  • Winners (1): 2004

• Piala Indonesia
  • Winners (2): 2005, 2006
  • Runners-up (1): 2010
• East Java Governor Cup
  • Winners (1): 2013
  • Runners-up (2): 2008, 2012
• Menpora Cup
  • Winners (1): 2013
• Inter Island Cup
  • Winners (1): 2014/15
• Indonesia President's Cup
  • Winners (2): 2017, 2019

• Trofeo Persija
  • Winners (2): 2013, 2015
• SCM Cup
  • Winners (1): 2015
• Bali Island Cup
  • Winners (2): 2015, 2016
• Bhayangkara Cup
  • Winners (2): 2016, 2017