The 2022/23 Liga 1 Indonesia season will have two newcomers who are embarking on their maiden seasons in the top-flight – RANS Cilegon and Dewa United. Having been founded in 2021 through acquisitions of other clubs, the two clubs are currently seeking for stadiums to act as their home bases for the upcoming top-flight season, having yet to play in a stadium of their own since their foundation due to the 2021/22 Liga 2 season utilizing centralized venues for their matches.
Co-owned by actor Raffi Ahmad and supercar businessman Rudy Salim, RANS Cilegon are set to leave the city of Cilegon in Banten and establish themselves in Jakarta in the near future. Through their RANS Entertainment and Prestige Corporation companies, both Raffi and Rudy are currently constructing a state-of-the-art sports complex in the gated community of Pantai Indah Kapuk 2 in North Jakarta called the RANS Prestige Sportainment, where all teams underneath the RANS banner will play their home games. This includes RANS Cilegon as well as RANS PIK Basketball, Raffi’s basketball team which currently plies their trade in the Indonesian Basketball League.
By establishing themselves in Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) 2, RANS Cilegon are hoping to tap into the North Jakarta market which is currently being held by Liga 3 Indonesia side Persitara Jakarta Utara. However, whilst Persitara are supported by the working-class communities of Tanjung Priok, Koja, Kamal, and Cilincing, RANS Cilegon are hoping to gather support from the region’s more affluent areas – namely PIK, Kelapa Gading, Pluit, and Ancol. PIK’s close proximity to West Jakarta’s high-income areas meant that RANS Cilegon are also expecting support from the Puri and Kembangan regions.
However, with the RANS Prestige Sportainment still being constructed, RANS Cilegon have been mulling through a number of stadiums as their temporary home for the upcoming Liga 1 season. A ground-share proposal with Persija Jakarta at the brand-new Jakarta International Stadium was explored, as well as a proposal to use another brand new stadium as RANS Cilegon’s temporary home for the next few years, the Banten International Stadium in Serang, just outside of Cilegon.
Despite both RANS Cilegon and the Banten province administration coming to terms for the former to take over the Banten International Stadium, for the time being, the club’s chief executive officer Darius Sinathrya has told Indosport that RANS Cilegon will be using the Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium in South Jakarta as their home base for the 2022/23 Liga 1 season.
“For a new club like RANS Cilegon, we need to find the ideal composition,” said Darius, who, like Raffi, had been working as an actor and presenter prior to his involvement with RANS Cilegon, “There were discussions to use both the Jakarta International Stadium and the Banten International Stadium, but in the end, Raffi, Roofi (Roofi Ardian, president of RANS Cilegon), and I agreed that for the time being it’s more feasible for us to use both the Madya Stadium and the Gelora Bung Karno for next season.”
“We still need to work on the lighting, but we could work on that in adherence with the AFC club licensing system. For big matches, we could play at either the GBK or JIS, but we’re registering the Madya Stadium as our home ground next season,” continued Darius.
Another Banten-based outfit in Dewa United are also seeking to use the Madya Stadium for their home games next season. The Tangsel Warriors, based in South Tangerang, were initially set to ground-share with Persita Tangerang at their Indomilk Arena in Tangerang Regency as there were no Liga 1-standard stadiums within South Tangerang, however, with Persita also playing in the Liga 1, the Pendekar Cisadane would be reluctant to allow Dewa United to use their stadium for next season.
Dewa United are also aiming to use the Banten International Stadium for their Liga 1 games next season.
“We’re still considering about our home ground next season, either we will use the Madya Stadium or the Banten International Stadium,” said Dewa United manager Rendi Julio, as quoted from Indosport.
Both RANS Cilegon and Dewa United have been making waves in Indonesian football as they prepared themselves for the upcoming Liga 1 season. RANS Cilegon have invited Brazilian legend Ronaldinho to play in a series of charity matches for them, while Dewa United are currently exploring a partnership with Eredivisie giants Ajax Amsterdam, with former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar set to come to Indonesia after Eid al-Fitr to put pen into paper on the partnership agreement. The agreement would see two Ajax academy graduates joining Dewa United as the Tangsel Warriors’ foreign players for the 2022/23 Liga 1 season.