Persib Proves League 1 Champion Does Not Belong to the Most Dominant Team

In the latest two editions of the BRI Liga 1 Indonesia, Persib Bandung has confirmed the blueprint of champion teams in Indonesia. To lift the championship trophy in the final match of the season, a team must not only display statistical superiority. The key to being a champion is maintaining consistent performance.

Persib Bandung has secured the championship title of Liga 1 2024-2025 in the 31st week. The collection of 64 points held by the "Pangeran Biru" can no longer be caught by Dewa United and Persebaya Surabaya, who are trailing by 10 points with three games remaining.

Since the 18th week, the team coached by Bojan Hodak has remained undisturbed at the top of the standings. They relinquished the title of mid-season champion to Persebaya, but the true champion's trophy still resides in the City of Flowers, the romantic nickname for Bandung.

In addition to accumulating the most points, Persib does not present superior statistical records compared to the other 17 contestants in Indonesia's top competition. Persib is recorded as the team with the lowest number of goals conceded, having only allowed 28 goals.

However, they fell short in the quantity of matches without conceding compared to Dewa, who are in second place. The goalkeepers of Persib were only able to keep their nets unshaken by opposing players in 11 matches. Meanwhile, Dewa has recorded 13 matches without conceding.

Persib is also not the team with the best goal productivity. Their ability to score 54 times is still lower than the 57 goals of Dewa. Once again, Dewa has better statistics than the Blue Prince.

In the record of ball possession, which serves as a barometer to measure a team's playing perspective, Persib also did not present attacking football. They only accumulated an average of 48.9 percent ball possession per game. This ball possession record has only slightly increased compared to last season, which was 45.8 percent per match.

The ball possession of Persib is significantly lower than that of Borneo FC (58.5 percent), Dewa United (58.8 percent), and Persik Kediri (56 percent). In fact, two teams struggling at the bottom of the standings this season, namely Persis Solo and Madura United, have played more offensively than Persib. This is underscored by their ball possession rates of 52 percent and 51.2 percent per match, respectively.

Nevertheless, Persib proved to be the most effective team in attacking. Tyronne Del Pino and his teammates only needed an average of six shots to produce a goal.

"The most important thing in football is shooting, creating chances and scoring goals," said Hodak about Persib's playing style.

The mindset of winning is more important than anything else has been proven by Persib this season. Eight of their 10 wins were only by a margin of one goal over their opponents. In Italy, Persib's style of achieving positive results is called corto muso or a narrow victory which refers to the advantage of the nose in horse racing.

In addition, Hodak also took advantage of the weaknesses of Indonesian players who ran out of energy after playing for an hour. A total of 24 goals by Pangeran Biru were scored after the 60th minute of the match. This number of goals accounts for 44 percent of Persib's total goals up to week 31.

When scoring goals during that period, Persib achieved 10 victories. One other match ended in defeat when they fell 1-4 to Persebaya.

When collective play is not overly dominant, the factor that allows Persib to achieve consecutive championship titles in Indonesia is also influenced by the presence of standout players. The Blue Prince has indeed lost David Da Silva, who won the golden boot trophy for the 2023-2024 season with a total of 30 goals, but Da Silva's role, hindered by recurring injuries, has been replaced by Tyronne Del Pino.

After being sidelined from the squad last season, the Spanish player has emerged as the top scorer for the Blue Prince with a tally of 16 goals.

In total, Tyronne contributed to 21 goals for Persib. This number is only surpassed by the main striker of Dewa, Alex Martins, who was involved in 26 goals for his team.

Regardless of his statistics this season, Tyronne is indeed the most important player in Persib this season. He has held many positions, such as attacking midfielder, central midfielder, winger, and false nine. Tyronne's performance in various positions was carried out very well so that he deserved to win the title of Best Player of League 1 this season.

"It does not matter what position I play; what is important for me is to contribute to the team with 100 percent performance. I always strive to help the team win," said Tyronne.

On the other hand, Ciro Alves also demonstrated his new role as a team player. The forward, who is confirmed to leave Persib at the end of this season, is the leader in assists in Liga 1 2024-2025. He has produced 12 assists. This quantity of assists is a record for Ciro in a single season in Liga 1.

Da Silva also continues to contribute to nine goals for Persib. A similar contribution figure was recorded by the new "Pangeran Bandung," namely Beckham Putra. The 23-year-old player has proven capable of taking on a key role at Persib thanks to his important goals against Persija Jakarta and Bali United.

Do not forget the role of the center-back who has emerged this season, Gustavo Franca. When paired with Nick Kuipers, Persib has only lost twice to Persebaya and Malut United. Franca has also scored five goals and provided two assists. Undoubtedly, he deserves to be called Persib's best acquisition in the 2024-2025 competition and is also worthy of being named the best new foreign player in Liga 1 this season.

Once again, Persib and Hodak have proven that champions are not determined by superior statistical records. The champion is the team that can find the best way to win.

Now, Persib has equaled the achievement of Persipura Jayapura, which has collected four championship stars in the era of the Indonesian League. The championship trophy will be awarded to Persib after the final home match of this season against Persis Solo, scheduled for May 25.

Wilujeng, Maung Bandung!