The Asian Challenge League: Dewa United's Ambition to Rise and Maintain the Dignity of the Indonesian League

TANGERANG, KOMPAS — Dewa United will face three group stage matches in the 2025-2026 Asia Challenge League with two ambitions. The "Banten Warriors" aim to redeem a very poor start to the season in the BRI Super League. On the other hand, they carry Indonesia's dignity in this continental third-tier competition.

Joining Group E of the Asia Challenge League, Dewa has the honor of hosting the qualifying round held from October 27 to November 1. Unlike the other two Asian club competitions, namely the Elite Champions League and the Dual Champions League, the qualifying round system of the Challenge League is conducted centrally at one of the participants' home grounds, rather than in a home-and-away format.

Dewa will host three competitors, namely Shan United (Myanmar), Phnom Penh Crown (Cambodia), and Tainan City (Taiwan), at the Indomilk Arena Stadium in Tangerang, Banten. Although they are the home team, Dewa is actually the only debutant team in this season's Asian Challenge League competition.

This is different from Shan and Tainan, who participated in the inaugural edition of the Asia Challenge League 2024-2025. Similarly, Phnom Penh Crown has already represented Cambodia in the ASEAN Cup and the AFC Cup.

Being a newcomer should not be an excuse for the players under Jan Olde Riekerink to perform poorly. Moreover, Dewa has been very serious in preparing for this season to compete in the Super League and the Asian Challenge League.

They've brought together top-class foreign and diaspora players for the Indonesian national team. Unsurprisingly, Dewa—according to Transfermarkt—is the team with the highest market value in the 2025-2026 Asian Challenge League. They boast 30 players with an accumulated market value of around Rp 104.9 billion. Only Oman's representative, Al-Seeb, has a market value exceeding Rp 100 billion out of the 19 other Asian Challenge League participants this season.

In fact, for the eight teams in the eastern zone of the 2025-2026 Asia Challenge League, the team with the most luxurious squad under Dewa is Shan, valued at Rp 60.84 billion.

With the disparity in squad values, Dewa is the top favorite to advance to the quarter-finals, and eventually become the representative of the eastern zone in the final match on May 9, 2026. Last season, the representative of the eastern zone in the final was Svay Rieng, who defeated Madura United with an aggregate score of 6-3 in the semi-finals.

Regardless of that top status, Dewa also needs redemption from their poor performance in the domestic competition. They arrive on the Asian stage with two consecutive losses to Madura and PSIM Yogyakarta. Dewa is currently positioned in 11th place, having fallen 11 points behind Borneo, the leader of the temporary standings.

Undoubtedly, Dewa suffered a loss of points in the first game of the Asia Challenge League against Phnom Penh Crown, Sunday (26/10/2025) at 19:00 WIB. After facing the Cambodian team, Dewa will subsequently be challenged by Tainan and Shan.

This (Asia Challenge League) is a different competition. We come into this competition with confidence.

Dewa's coach Jan Olde Reikerink is not concerned about the inconsistent performance of his players in the Super League. According to him, the Dewa players have a strong motivation to perform well and achieve the best results in the Asian Challenge League.

"We may not have secured the points we desired in the last few matches, but we have demonstrated our playing identity. This (Asian Challenge League) is a different competition. We come into this competition with confidence," said Riekerink at the press conference ahead of the match at Indomilk Arena Stadium, Saturday (25/10/2025).

Ricky Kambuaya, the midfielder of Dewa, affirmed the statement of the coach. "In principle, I and all the players are ready to compete in this Asian competition. We hope for the support and prayers from Indonesian supporters so that we can achieve the best results," he stated.

Phnom Penh Crown coach Oleg Starynski does not want to be fixated on Dewa's performance in the league. According to him, Dewa has a quality squad that will present a tough match for his team.

"They (Dewa) are a tough team, even though the results of this season's matches have not been good. They have a very strong squad and a team with excellent tactical play, but they have been unfortunate in the final product," said Starynski on the same occasion.

The impressive performance of Dewa will be crucial for Indonesia's ambition to improve its ranking in the Asian competition coefficient standings. The Super League begins the 2025-2026 season ranked 24th.

However, as October comes to a close, Indonesia's ranking has surged three positions. The collection of seven points by Persib Bandung in three matches of the preliminary round of the Champions League Two is the reason behind this.

"Maung Bandung" has helped Indonesia accumulate 4,283 points. This is the highest quantity for the league that ranks below 20th place.

Last season, Persib was eliminated in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, while Madura reached the semifinals of the AFC Challenge League, with a coefficient point value of 7.204.

As a result, if Dewa can achieve at least the same level as Madura or better, and then Persib also advances to the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League Two, the Indonesian Super League has the opportunity to at least secure the 18th position by the end of the 2025-2026 season.

A top 20 finish in the AFC competition coefficient rankings would be Indonesia's best achievement in a decade. With this in mind, the Super League has the potential to elevate its Asian quota, with one team qualifying directly for the AFC Champions League Two, and another team advancing to the AFC Champions League Two playoffs starting in the 2027-2028 season.

"Competing in the (Asian Challenge League) is our opportunity to win a trophy. Our performance is also important for Indonesia to earn points in order to increase the quota for teams to participate in Asia or to compete in higher-level (Asian) competitions," said Riekerink, who holds a Dutch passport.