PAPUA BARAT DAYA – Before Indonesia is amazed by the greatness of Boaz Solossa, we first get to know another Solossa, he is Ortizan Solossa, the older brother of Boaz Solossa. Ortizan Solossa is one of the most successful Indonesian players, he felt the joy of three Indonesian League titles, one Inter-Island Cup title and one Community Shield title and not all of these titles were felt by this native Papuan man with Persipura.
Unlike his younger brother Boaz Solossa, who grew up in Persipura and enjoyed all the success there, Ortizan Solossa had to migrate to many places first, when he realized he failed to compete with Mutiara Hitam players in the late 1990s, the player born in Sorong, Irian Jaya, Southwest Papua 28 October 1977 migrated to Sulawesi.
PSM Makassar became his stop, the Juku Eja team, which at that time was strengthened by star players such as Carlos de Mello and Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, happened to need a player who operated in a wing position, Ortizan Solossa’s services were really useful, because he could play as a defender and wing midfielder.
At first Ortizan Solossa came as an unknown player, Ortizan Solossa immediately became a public idol thanks to his trademark giggles, PSM supporters immediately gave him the nickname ‘Sajojo’ referring to a typical Papuan dance and in his first season with PSM, Sajojo immediately tasted the joy of winning the Indonesian League.
After five years of playing in Makassar, Sajojo then decided he needed a new challenge and Persija accepted his offer, Ortizan Solossa again felt the atmosphere of the Indonesian League final and uniquely, the 2005 Indonesian League Premier Division Final brought together the Solossa brothers, Ortizan Solossa and Boaz Solossa.
Boaz Solossa, who was 19 years old at the time, inspired Persipura’s dramatic victory over Persija, the older brother had to recognize the superiority of his younger brother’s team in front of 80 thousand spectators who packed the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (GBK).
After a career with Persija Ortizan Solossa spent a season with Arema Malang, before finally receiving a call from Persipura and in 2008 at the age of 29, Ortizan Solossa finally returned home to graze with his younger brother.
Ortizan also became part of the title-hungry Persipura and in his first season Ortizan and Boaz became pillars of the Black Pearl who dominated the Indonesian League. Persipura became league champions who adopted a full competition system for the first time, they then repeated the achievement again in 2011 when Persipura outperformed Arema in the league title competition which at that time was haunted by dualism competition.
Ortizan’s career in the Indonesian National Team was not as long as his younger brother’s, but Ortizan and Boaz often played for the Garuda squad and the most iconic was their shoulder-to-shoulder in the Tiger Cup and now AFF Cup 2004, when Indonesia won the second place after being beaten by Singapore in the final.
When he felt he was no longer young, Ortizan felt he needed to make way for young Persipura players to get a chance to play in the first team and in 2014 Ortizan decided to leave Persipura after six years of service, the club that became his next destination was Persiram Raja Ampat. Persiram itself is arguably his hometown club, considering Ortizan himself was born and raised in Sorong, West Papua. Persiram Raja Ampat had to be based at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, because they did not have an adequate stadium and finally, the performance was not optimal resulting in Persiram having to finish one strip above the relegation zone of the eastern region of the 2014/2015 Indonesian League at the end of the season, Ortizan also said goodbye to leave his last club.
Starting in 2015, Ortizan has a new career as a State Civil Servant and until now, Ortizan has served in the Youth and Sports Office of Papua Province. “At first I didn’t think about hanging up my boots, but I had to think about my life in the future and finally I decided to become a State Civil Servant,” said Ortizan Solossa.
Ortizan and Boaz are quite good at planning their future, both are listed as graduates from Cenderawasih University and each will work as State Civil Servants after retirement and Ortizan himself still cannot be separated from football and is currently the coach of local amateur club Hanasco FC.