Acronyms and Abbreviations in Indonesian Football

For those who follow Indonesian football, you may already are familiar with Indonesian club names. Yup, almost all of Indonesian club names are acronyms and/or abbreviations. I once accompanied a guy from Switzerland to watch Persija vs Arema at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium. He asked, “What does ‘Pers’ in ‘Persija’ mean? I see most of Indonesian clubs have ‘Pers’ in its name..” He seemed to be aware of this kind of regularity in Indonesian football. I answered the question just like what I’m about to explain further on this blogpost.

source: soccer.sindonews.com

So, for those who don’t know the setting of the acronyms and abbreviations in Indonesian club names, here’s the explanation:

The acronym “Per” and the abbreviation “P” are short for “Persatuan” (Eng: Association). Then, followed by the acronym “s” and/or “se”, as well as the abbreviation “S”, which stand for “Sepak Bola” (Eng: Football). Some names included the acronym “i” or abbreviation “I”, which are short for “Indonesia.” Not all clubs do this, though. After all that, the names end with the acronym and/or the abbreviation of each club’s hometown. It can be the name of a city or municipality, or even the regency where the club is based. In some cases, it can also be the name of the city along with its adjacent districts. For instance, the acronym “ja” in “Persija” is short for “Jakarta”, and the abbreviation “M” in “PSM” stands for “Makassar.” While "MS" in "PSMS" stands for "Medan dan Sekitarnya."

source: ligaindonesia.co.id

source: ligaindonesia.co.id

So, there you have it. “Persija” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Indonesia Jakarta” (Eng: Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta), “Persela” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Lamongan” (Eng: Lamongan Football Association), and “PSM” is short for “Persatuan Sepak Bola Makassar” (Eng: Makassar Football Association). By now, I believe you can find out what “PSIS” and “Persib” stand for.

Nowadays, Indonesian football fans see the names as “name” and/or brand. Some of them (commonly the young ones) aren’t even aware that those names are actually acronyms or abbreviations. Although, they are aware of the regularity.

This naming system can be traced back since the dawn of Indonesian football. Before the declaration of independence, clubs with this naming system are established as an opposing gesture towards clubs formed by Dutch colonial authorities. The names stay through the Perserikatan and Indonesian League competition eras, up to the current Indonesia Super League (ISL). Some names had gone through changes, but most of them keep on going.
 

Side note: Club names which are not using this naming system, are usually clubs from the Galatama (Liga Sepak Bola Utama). Unlike the government-funded Perserikatan league clubs, which was focused on National Team building and “entertainment for the public,” the Galatama applied professionalism on running the competition. That’s where such names as Arema, Pelita Bandung Raya (formerly: Pelita Jaya and MasTrans Bandung Raya), and Mitra Kukar (formerly: Mitra Surabaya) came from.