Persija Jakarta is starting to show positive signs ahead of the 2026/2027 Super League. After beating two Thai clubs, Police Tero and Chiangrai United, both by a 2-1 scoreline, the Macan Kemayoran secured another convincing victory, defeating Brisbane Roar 4-0 at the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) on 29 August 2026.
This result marks three consecutive wins for Persija across their last three pre-season friendly matches. New Persija signing Alexander Jeremejeff also caught public attention, scoring two goals on his official debut for the club.
These three wins provide positive preparation momentum, but it is not yet enough to conclude Persija have already become the strongest team in the Super League. Official competitive matches will bring entirely different levels of pressure.
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Most notable is the development of Persija's playing system under Shin Tae-yong.
After completing a training camp in Thailand between 10-23 August, Persija have begun to demonstrate the playing identity Shin is building: match intensity, organised pressing, positional discipline, structured ball distribution, and collective team work.
Shin assessed that Persija's competitive performance level has improved by approximately 70-80 percent. However, he also noted final fitness adjustments and tactical polishing are still required. This means the core foundations are starting to form, but the development process is not yet complete.
The return of six players returning from Indonesia National Team duty — Nadeo Argawinata, Rizky Ridho, Jordi Amat, Shayne Pattynama, Dony Tri Pamungkas, and Rayhan Hannan — has also completed the squad composition. Shin confirmed this group adapted very quickly to the system, making Persija far more solid.
Changes have also been rolled out to the full squad. Persija have officially unveiled 29 players for the upcoming season, including 8 foreign players. Shin confirmed one additional foreign signing is planned, though he would not state if the club will use the full maximum allowed quota of 11 foreign players.
All these changes form part of a much larger long-term club target.
Over the last three seasons Persija have consistently climbed the league standings: 8th place in 2023/2024, 7th place in 2024/2025, then 3rd place in 2025/2026. Club management now aim to continue this upward progression all the way to the league title, ending the club's trophy drought that has run since 2018.
This is the reasoning behind Shin Tae-yong's three-year contract. Persija are not only planning for one single season, they are building a project aligned with two major upcoming milestones: the 500th anniversary of Jakarta City in 2027, and Persija's 100th club anniversary in 2028.
But this large scale project must begin with a strong opening step.
Persija will open their campaign away against Borneo FC on 5 September, before hosting Persib Bandung on 12 September. Borneo and Persib finished 2nd and 1st respectively in the previous league season. Persija only collected 1 single point from 4 meetings against these two clubs during the last campaign.
For this reason, these first two league fixtures will act as a far more relevant and meaningful test than all pre-season results combined.
Will Persija's pressing system remain effective under competition pressure? Will squad stamina sustain this high playing intensity for the full 90 minutes? Can new signings integrate properly? And will Shin's playing identity hold up as competitive match pressure increases?
Shin himself has publicly emphasised the team must give their full maximum effort from the very first match, right through every single fixture across the entire season.
This analysis of Persija's progress was the main featured topic on the weekly ITSMe podcast, with football analysts Ronny Pangemanan and Kesit Budi Handoyo, hosted by Gilang Respaty and Pudila, recorded live at ITSMe Studio, Sentul, Bogor on 31/08/2026.
Persija have built strong momentum. But momentum alone is never a guarantee of championship success.
Three pre-season wins have given the club a solid foundation. Now Borneo and Persib will provide the first real test, to prove whether Persija are truly ready to progress from a promising up-and-coming side, into serious genuine contenders for the 2026/2027 Super League title.
Persija PersijaJakarta ShinTaeYong LigaSuper2026 LigaSuper2027 BorneoFC PersibBandung
