Road To Glory

While reflecting on this season. I wanted to put my emotions, feelings and thoughts into words.

5 june, 2023. We started pre-season. Luis milla was still our coach.

New players joined.

And we were all excited for this upcoming season. Great group of players. Great coach. Good individual skils. What could go wrong? But something didn’t feel right. But, I couldn’t tap into it. What was it?

Season started, and we could’t win a single game of our first 5 matches. We didn’t play bad football. But it was just not clicking.

Suddenly, I got a phone call. Marc, Luis milla quits and will leave the team.

I was shocked, as we had a good connection. The players loved him, we were building something and suddenly we were training and playing without a coach.

What was next? 16th on the ranking of Liga 1, no coach, and a group of players who were frustrated. Our target: Champions, seemed suddenly so far away and not reachable.

After some time, our new coach arrived. Bojan Hodak. Most players never heard of him. And I remember his first words in front of the team: did someone died? The atmosphere here looks terrible. Football is supposed to be fun. So let’s go out there and have some joy.

I quickly started to realize what was missing before in our team.

The joy and the togetherness.

Bojan came with a fresh wind of leadership. Man management skills, and the group started to become 1. A unity instead of a group of skilled individuals.

Results were picking up. And if football has 1 magic cure, it is definitely WINNING GAMES.

The group became closer. The atmosphere became nicer. And the joy in the game came back.

We slowly started to believe again in the fact that we finally could become champions. Especially of the system this year with the top 4 rule.

For me personally, the winning game against PSIS Semarang was the turnover for that believe. In myself, in the team and in the whole process.

Fast forward, we saw that top 4 was reachable and we became a really solid team. 15 matches unbeaten.

26 May, almost 1 year later: we are here, in the final of Liga 1. The decisive moment. The moment of truth. And the moment we all worked extremely hard for.

From players, to management, to coaches and staff. From the physio, to the kitman to the massage guys. And last but not least, to the fans who kept supporting the team despite difficult times.

One last word, to all of you.

It ain’t over till it’s over.

Rest in the end, not in the middle.

Let’s make our dream a reality. And let’s stand behind eachother like a loving and supporting family. Let’s go to war for eachother. Because together, we can.

But most important: let’s enjoy the beautiful game together and have fun.