Owen Hargreaves is a football legend from England. However, his talent was revealed and he played regularly with the German team, Bayern Munich. A similar thing happened in Indonesia. This footballer, who later became a legend, was born in Papua, but his name is known to playing as a footballer in many big clubs in Indonesia, before he come to the proud nation of Papua as Persipura Jayapura. Erol Iba is a left back known for his speed and determination on the pitch. Although he is from Papua, he has spent most of his career playing for teams outside of Papua. Apart from these similarities, both Owen Hargreaves and Erol Iba have one thing in common – they are football legends and will forever be remembered by football fans.
Erol Iba is a soccer player from Papua who is known as an adventurer. Erol Iba’s career began in Papua when he joined his school team and managed to get into the Papua’s Football Training and Education. When he was young, he moved to Jakarta to participate in Ragunan’s Football Training and Education. After being trained to become a professional, Erol Iba was recruited by a team from Padang, namely Semen Padang, as the first professional football player. The opportunities that arise are used well. Initially, Erol Iba was the third choice at left back. Before the game, Semen Padang’s two left backs missed the game due to license and card accumulation reasons, Erol Iba helped the team win and scored the first goal. He then became the main option on the left wing and received a pay rise before other clubs in the Indonesian league took notice.
Erol Iba’s career as an adventurer is not in doubt. Major Indonesian clubs use his services as a left winger. Starting with Semen Padang, Arema Malang, Persik Kediri, Sriwijaya FC and of course Papuan’s people club, Persipura Jayapura. Erol Iba’s achievements are also highly respected. He won his first title when he defended Arema Malang. He helped the team win the Indonesian Cup two seasons in a row, 2005 and 2006.
As a native of Papua, Erol Iba really wants to play for Persipura Jayapura. That opportunity came and paid off immediately and then Persipura winning the Indonesian championship, which was also Erol Iba’s first league title. This adventurer is indeed grateful and proud. After playing with major Indonesian clubs, Erol Iba managed to win the most prestigious Indonesian Cup with his hometown club.
After his retirement in 2016, Erol Iba studied coaching and became an assistant coach at Persipura Jayapura. Although he is no longer active as a professional footballer, the Indonesian National Team left back still wanted to contribute to the world of football. Now Erol Iba is no longer in adventures and lives in Papua to share his experience of football progress.