It has been a while since we see a club from Aceh competes in the highest Indonesian league. The famous one is Persiraja in Banda Aceh, and other teams like PSAP Sigli, PSSB Bireun, and PSBL Langsa, but now, Aceh has to hope for competing in Liga 1 in the shape of Aceh United.
Aceh United is a promotion team in Liga 2 after they won against PSAD Balikpapan in the third-place match in Liga 3. Even though they did not win the first place, they show pretty good qualities. Both of their best players got awards last season, with Assanur Rijal became Best Player and Arianto became Top Scorer.
Aceh United should be underestimated even though they are promotion team. They got plenty good players to fight in Liga 2. They bought players like Yongki Aribowo from Barito Putra, Rully Desrian from Bhayangkara FC, and Aulia Hidayat Borneo FC. Those new players will be playing together with players who went back to Aceh United like Syakir Sulaiman, Hendra Sandi Gunawan, and Zikri Akbar.
They also got a new manager, Simon Ellisetche. He is not a new face in Indonesia football. The Chilean once a manager for PSSB Bireun in 2012. Simon is also a manager of Timor Leste national team. Besides Simon, Aceh United also got Markus Haris Maulana as one of their staff.
Aceh United, which has Harapan Bangsa Stadium as their headquarter, will compete with teams like Persita Tangerang, Cilegon United, Semen Padang, Persis Solo, PSPS Riau, and another team from Aceh, Persiraja Banda Aceh in Liga 2 West Zone.
