Papua once again has a club representative competing in the top caste of Indonesian football, namely League 1. After several seasons represented by Persipura Jayapura and Persiwa Wamena and Persidafon Dafonsoro, now Papua is represented by PSBS Biak. This teams journey to be able to compete in League 1 in the 2024/2025 season was obtained after successfully becoming champions in League 2 in the 2023/2024 season. The championship title gave an automatic promotion ticket to the team nicknamed Pacific Storm. The last season there was a representative club from Papua in League 1 was the 2021/2022 season by Persipura Jayapura who had to get relegation at the end of the season. The presence of PSBS Biak in the highest caste of Indonesian football has made football lovers even more enthusiastic about waiting for the talents from Papua in the club.
The seriousness of the PSBS Biak team management has been seen since the recruitment of a talented coach from Argentina, Juan Esnaider. Serving as head coach, Esnaider has coaching experience in Spain and Japan before finally landing in Indonesia to coach PSBS Biak. The players registered at PSBS Biak also come from various regions and even countries. In addition to Esnaider as head coach, there are several other Argentines such as Gabriel Esparza, Julian Velazquez, and also Abel Arganaraz. Another player from Latin America is the player who won the title of best player and top scorer in League 2 in the 2023/2024 competition season, a player from Brazil named Alexsandro Ferreira.
In addition to utilizing foreign players, head coach Esnaider also provides opportunities for Indonesian citizens, especially those from Papua, such as former Indonesian national team players in the age group, namely Todd Rivaldo Ferre and also current Indonesian national team players, namely Jeam Kelly Sroyer. The combination of foreign players with local players, especially players from Papua, certainly gives a new color to the top caste of football in Indonesia.
The main target of PSBS Biak in League 1 for the 2024/2025 season is to survive. Head coach Esnaider hopes that PSBS Biak will not just pass through and be relegated at the end of the season after successfully being promoted to the next caste in the previous season. Seeing the composition of players owned by PSBS Biak, the coaching staff also feels quite confident that they can achieve the target to survive in League 1 and can fight in the next season with a new target of course.
The hope of football lovers in Indonesia is to be able to see the beautiful game of PSBS Biak as was once highlighted by football clubs from Papua that once competed in League 1. In addition, the existence of PSBS Biak can be a first journey for football players from Papua to be able to taste the highest level of competition in Indonesia and of course provide the greatest opportunity for football talents from Papua to become professional football players by playing at PSBS Biak.
