Indonesian football was shocked by news emerging from Liga 2 side AHHA PS Pati, with owners Atta Halilintar and Putra Siregar announcing that they will be relocating the team to the city of Bekasi in West Java. Consequently, AHHA PS Pati will be rebranded into Bekasi Football Club, otherwise known as Bekasi FC.
YouTuber Atta and his business partner Putra have met up with Bekasi Caretaker Mayor Tri Adhianto last Friday. The three discussed AHHA PS Pati’s possible move to Bekasi, which was warmly welcomed by Tri and the Bekasi City Government as a whole.
Both Atta and Putra then visited the Patriot Candrabhaga Stadium in downtown Bekasi, which will be AHHA PS Pati’s future home in the 2022 season, before the duo, alongside Bekasi city officials, visited a patch of land within the city, which will become the club’s new training ground.
“We wanted to try our hand again in Indonesian football from the city of Bekasi,” Atta wrote on his official Instagram account about the move, alluding to the spectacular failure experienced by a star-studded AHHA PS Pati squad in last season’s Liga 2, “We’ve decided that the name of a city is more important than anything else. Every city has their own set of fanatical football fans who wants the best for their city. Our target is to take things one step at a time, together. And we’re going to do all that from Bekasi.”
In his post, Atta also congratulated Persipa Pati on their promotion to the Liga 2. The Laskar Saridin were the original football team of Pati Regency, where AHHA PS Pati were once based, and Persipa were still widely supported by the people of the regency despite AHHA PS Pati’s presence.
Understandably, as one of Indonesian football’s public enemies, Atta and Putra’s decision to move AHHA PS Pati from Pati to Bekasi and renaming them into Bekasi FC was met with much derision. Some saw this as a sign that AHHA PS Pati were unwilling to compete with the more established Persipa for the support of the people of Pati, while others are seeing the move as yet another catastrophic business decision cum publicity stunt from both Atta and Putra.
Bekasi itself already has not only one but two established football teams within the region – PCB Persipasi representing the city, and Persikasi Kabupaten Bekasi representing the regency. Both teams were playing at the Liga 3 this season, being eliminated in the nationals.