Arriving in Makassar This Tuesday, Will Tomas Trucha Become the New Coach of "Juku Eja"?

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The name of the new coach candidate for PSM Makassar has narrowed down to one name, namely Tomas Trucha. Nicknamed the "Czech Juergen Klopp," Trucha has the experience to elevate the performance of a team that has previously struggled.

Trucha, who is 54 years old, is a coach with a passion for adventure. His coaching career spans from Africa to Asia. Trucha's greatest achievement was leading Penang FC, a newly promoted team, to finish in third place in the 2021 Malaysia Super League.

During that season, Trucha led Penang to accumulate 41 points from 22 matches. They were only two points away from the second position, Kedah Darul Aman.

The top three rankings awarded to Trucha still represent Penang's best season in the past three seasons, and a similar achievement is difficult for Penang to replicate in the 2025-2026 season. During his time at Penang, Trucha managed Indonesian player Ryuji Utomo.

He (Trucha) will head to Makassar on Tuesday.

Then, in the 2023-2024 season, Trucha elevated the status of AFC Leopards from 17th place out of 18 teams in the Kenyan Premier League when he arrived in the seventh week. Leopards finished the season in fifth place.

In addition, he led the Leopards to reach the semifinals of the Kenya League Cup. This was the best achievement for the Leopards in the Kenya League Cup since their championship win in the 2017 season.

Furthermore, Trucha is very close to becoming the successor of Bernardo Tavares as the new tactician for PSM Makassar. Tavares left PSM on September 27, 2025, due to the club's failure to fulfill contract commitments on time.

Trucha arrived in Jakarta on Monday afternoon (October 27, 2025). "She (Trucha) will head to Makassar on Tuesday," a Kompas source told Kompas.

Discussions between PSM and representatives of Trucha began in the second week of October. When the issue of salaries that has plagued PSM over the last two seasons was mentioned, Trucha paid close attention to it during the negotiation process.

"We always consider that," the source continued.

Furthermore, Trucha does not plan to make changes to the coaching staff of PSM. Coaches such as Ahmad Amiruddin and Ronald Fagundez will continue to assist Trucha in his duties.

The same applies to the goalkeeping coach, the medical team, and the physiotherapist. Trucha only brought one assistant to carry out his duties in preparing the team. This new assistant has the opportunity to fill the vacant role of physical coach.

"Only one additional assistant. All other coaching staff will remain the same," a Kompas source added.

In a recent conversation with Kompas, Trucha opened up about all opportunities to continue his coaching career after being tied to no club.

"I would be very happy to come to Indonesia. Hopefully, I can present something brilliant like in Malaysia with Penang in 2021," said Trucha.

In addition to mastering the English language, Trucha also studied Malay in Penang. This will certainly be an advantage for the local players of PSM to quickly get to know Trucha personally, as well as to understand the thoughts and tactical approach of the new coach.

As is known, the departure of Bernardo Tavares has left PSM Makassar in a state of disarray. The last two matches of the BRI Liga Super Indonesia without a permanent coach ended without a victory.

After the departure of Tavares, the coach who delivered the Liga 1 Indonesia title for the 2021-2022 season, on September 28, 2025, the team nicknamed "Juku Eja" suffered their first home defeat against Arema FC on October 19, 2025, and then were held to a draw by Persik Kediri, who played with 10 men, on October 25, 2025.

In those two matches, PSM was managed by interim coach Ahmad Amiruddin. Victor Luiz and his teammates are currently ranked 14th with a total of eight points from eight matches.

PSM is only two points away from the relegation zone. Although it is still the beginning of the season, PSM is already 16 points behind the league leader, Borneo FC.