Newly promoted Persik wins RI soccer league

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Persik Kediri won Indonesia's premier soccer league in its first year in the topflight after routing former champion Persib 4-0 in their penultimate fixture in Kediri, East Java, on Wednesday.

Thousands of soccer fans drove around in a convoy to celebrate winning the championship, even though the club still has to play its final match against Persikota Tangerang.

Persik's 64 points are unassailable, including its closest rival rival Persikota, which suffered an 2-0 away loss to PSIS in Semarang on the same day.

Gogi Manuel scored in the 12th and 69th minute for Persik with Wawan Widiantoro and Solekan finding the net in the 32nd and 72nd minutes respectively to send their fans into delirium, Antara reported.

Euphoria ensued even before kick-off because the Persikmania, as the fans are dubbed, were already confident about a positive result against Persib.

Some of the fans displayed a replica of the league's trophy a few minutes before the match at the Brawijaya Stadium, where some 15,000 home supporters had flocked.

Elation overwhelmed players and officials soon after the referee whistled play over. An emotional team manager Iwan Budianto had to be escorted to the dressing room.

Coach Jaya Hartono, assistant coach Mecky Tata and a number of players were busy being congratulated by fans. They made way into the dressing room bare-chested after the shirts were ripped off by the fans.

In other matches, PSS Sleman beat 2002 champion Petrokimia Gresik; Deltras defeated PSDS Deli Serdang and Persita outplayed Arema 3-0.

Wednesday's results mean that PSIS swapped places with Persib with the former now in sixth from bottom and the latter fifth from bottom. As results stand they will have to win matches against teams from first division to stay in the topflight for the following season.

The bottom four: Petrokimia, PSDS, Arema and Barito Putra will be automatically demoted to the first division.