Shin Tae-Yong Is Persija’s Way of Showing Strong Commitment

JAKARTA, Jakartaweekly.com— Persija Jakarta officially announced Shin Tae-Yong as their new head coach, replacing Mauricio Souza, who only lasted for a single season.

The former Indonesia national team head coach signed a three-year deal, and according to a report, the club allowed him to spend more than $30 million or more than 500 billion Rupiah in the transfer window to stop arch-rival Persib Bandung’s domination.

President of Persija Jakarta, Mohamad Pranpanca, claimed that STY doesn’t have to bring glory to the capital city immediately. The most important thing for the club is building a sustainable competitive culture that eventually leads them to the title.

“We do hope this is the turning point of our future as a club. We need a leader who understands modern football and can build a culture that is competitive but also sustainable,” Pranpanca said. “I do believe Coach STY would accelerate our goal to win titles,” he added.

Poor Record

It may sound silly to talk about sustainability while having three different coaches: Carlos Pena (2024/25), Mauricio Souza (2025/26), and Shin Tae-Yong (2026-), when none of them ever lasted more than a year with their previous clubs. Not in recent times, at least.

STY has managed Seongnam for four years (2008-2012). Souza lasted six years in Botafogo’s setup, including the youth team. But since 2020, they haven’t found a new steady place to stay.

Even STY, who, after his infamous sacking in 2025, tried his luck with Ulsan HD in his homeland, South Korea, only lasted for a couple of months. Ulsan cites STY’s managerial style as its main reason. “His managerial style is outdated. Abusive and violent, it clashes with the current generation of players,” the club argued.

Seongnam is probably the only club that loves STY through and through. At the time of writing, only four names ever managed the Magpies -Seognam’s nickname- in more than 100 games, and STY is one of them (145). He is also the only manager to win the AFC Champions League with the club (2009/10).

Topping that off with more than 360 appearances as a player, STY is certified as Seongnam’s legend. They even trusted him in a part-time general manager & club advisor role before he left for the Ulsan job.

That being said, Seongnam is the last place where STY lifted a trophy, and it happened one and a half decades ago. Since leaving Seongnam in 2012, STY has spent his time managing a national team.

He left remarkable memories with both South Korea (2017-2018) and Indonesia (2020-2025). Beating and then eliminating Germany in the 2018 World Cup. Also made Indonesia able to toe-to-toe with the likes of Australia and Saudi Arabia.

One could argue that STY won’t be able to give the same impact in a club environment as he did in a national team setup. A valid argument, especially when Indonesian football already had that experience when Persib Bandung appointed Luis Milla in 2022.

Milla’s Overshadowed Legacy

Luis Milla is known in Indonesia for his active, systematic, and easy-on-the-eyes style of football. People love him for that. His approach to football inspires Danurwindo, Ganesha Putra, Barry Sidik, and Jaka Luka Prahara from the PSSI High Performance Unit to develop a philosophy called “Filanesia”.

“Filanesia” focused heavily on player development in the grassroots (U6-U13) & youth (U13-U18) stages across the nation, emphasizing making Indonesia’s future talent comfortable with the ball and proactive without it.

Not necessarily dominating the ball and building every attack from the back, but since it was conceptualized during Milla’s term, many people misinterpret it as such.

Milla applied the same type of football when he took over Persib in 2022. Thanks to his approach, the Bandung-based club went on an unbeaten streak for 15 matches. Although it failed to bring the title to Bandung, it would be very harsh to consider Milla’s time in Persib as a failure.

The only thing that could make Luis Milla look like a flop in Persib is how successful his replacement, Bojan Hodak, was. Play with a faster tempo and more flexibility on the pitch, Hodak ended his three-year tenure as Persib’s head coach with a three-peat.

The approach not only led the club to dominate the league, but also promoted Hodak to the Shareholder Group Technical Advisor role and put his assistant, Igor Tolic, as successor on the sidelines, which is the ultimate proof that they prefer Hodak’s way rather than Milla’s.

Theoretically, Milla failed to leave a sustainable legacy at the club. The question now becomes: Could Shin Tae-Yong do it at Persija?

The Persija Way

The answer is simple: he doesn’t have to. Shin Tae-Yong may have his own ideas and tactical preferences, but the club already has an outlook on building the ideal team. They call it “The Persija Way”.

“The Persija Way” is the club’s own football philosophy, created back in 2021. If “Filanesia” focuses more on the technical aspect of football, “Persija Way” puts the mental aspect front and center. It demands above-average tactical knowledge, strong communication skills, and decisiveness from every player.

Since the inception of the “Persija Way”, it doesn’t matter who coaches the team; all of them must be able to continue developing, implementing the idea, and Shin Tae-Yong is the perfect fit for that, because he is the main reason why Indonesia’s national team is currently filled with young talents.

The likes of Marselino Ferdinand (21), Rizky Ridho (24), Witan Sulaeman (24), and many others already have more than 40 caps for the senior national team.

STY not only gives Indonesia’s young players a stage to shine on, but also helps them grow more mature than your average footballer.

As of June 6th, 2026, Rizky Ridho already has 54 caps with the national team. At the age of 24 years old, the Persebaya Surabaya graduate is already considered one of the locker room leaders for the national team. Ridho made his debut in 2021 under STY and will be reuniting with him in Persija.

Familiar faces like Ridho may also have contributed to his decision to take the Persija job. “STY feels the most familiar with Persija,” said his translator, Jeje.

STY has already proven that his method helps many young players mature in the national team. Now, with the help of some players who previously worked with him, he could help Persija develop the next line of players. And Persija really could use that help.

The U23 rule that guarantees young players to play at least 45 minutes per match will be abolished next season. To keep Persija’s Way going, they need a capable hand to develop the mentality of their young talents without any guarantee of game time. That’s where Shin Tae-Yong shines. That’s what Persija needs.

Just like Prapanca said, Shin Tae-Yong’s appointment could really be the turning point of Persija’s future.