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| Full name | Persatuan Sepakbola Malang | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Bledeg Biru (Blue Lightning) | ||
| Founded | 8 October 1934 as PST Tumapel 20 june 1953 as Persema Malang | ||
| Ground | Gajayana Stadium Malang, East Java, Indonesia | ||
| Capacity | 25,000 | ||
| Manager | Christian Ariando[1] | ||
| Coach | Dwi Karyawanto[2] | ||
| League | Liga 3 | ||
| 2023 | 4th in Group H, (East Java zone) | ||
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Persema, an acronym for Persatuan Sepakbola Malang is an Indonesian football club based in Malang, East Java. They currently compete in the Liga 3.[3]
The club was officially established in 1953, with primary funding from Malang's municipal budget. It was part of the Indonesian Super League until January 2011 when they hosted LPI's inaugural match and stopped relying on public funds. The other local team, Arema FC, is one of the most successful clubs in ISL. The team's nickname is "Bledeg Biru" while its home stadium is Gajayana Stadium.[4]
Persema has never won a trophy during its years in the Indonesian Super League, mostly dwelling in the mid to bottom part of the table. The team was relegated into Indonesia's Division One (third-tier) in 2003. However, after two seasons, Persema bounced back to the second-tier league. Persema eventually gained promotion to the ISL in 2009 and stayed there until its 2011 shift to LPI.
Persema is now popular as the club that first hired European-born naturalized players Irfan Bachdim and Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan whose nominations to the Indonesia national under-23 football team in 2011 were cancelled by the Football Association of Indonesia because they chose to play in the breakaway league. Its coach Timo Scheunemann is a German who was born and bred in Indonesia and has become a father figure in Indonesia for Bachdim and Kurniawan. His ability to speak Indonesian and Javanese makes him popular among local journalists.
