Draw Against Bali United, JIS Grass Becomes The Spotlight Of The Captain And Persija Coach

JAKARTA - Persija Jakarta must share points after playing the series against Bali United in the fifth week of the 2025/2026 Super League. From that result, Persija Jakarta captain Rizky Ridho highlighted the quality of the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) grass, which became the venue for the match.

In the match which took place, Sunday, September 14, 2025, WIB night, Persija drew 1-1 against Bali United. This result became a less satisfactory cover at JIS before the Kemayoran Tigers underwent an away match and had to pull over to another stadium because JIS would be used for concerts.

After the match, Ridho said he was happy because the closing match at JIS was so lively with The Jakmania's presence. However, he emphasized that after the JIS transfer, the quality of the grass must be addressed.

"I am very happy to be playing in a very, very good stadium. However, maybe I, as a representative of my friends, would like to provide input, if possible, after the grass concert is repaired," Ridho said at a press conference after the match at JIS.

Ridho expressed this criticism because he realized his team played more often by relying on short passes. Because of the poor grass quality, said Ridho, one-two passes became difficult, thus lowering the quality of Persija's game.

"Because when we play away, on another pitch we can dare (play) one or two touches. However, while playing at home with incredible support, sometimes we don't dare to do that. You can see for yourself, sometimes the pitch goes up and down."

"We have to maybe have to learn control in the calf. So, maybe it should be fixed later," said the 23-year-old centre-back.

Not only Ridho, Mauricio Souza, as Persija Jakarta coach also has more attention regarding the quality of grass at JIS.

"I also want to talk a little bit about JIS. JIS is one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world. No doubt."

"However, grass is blocking our game. Our team is a team that relies on bait. Our team has a lot of bait, a lot of ball circulation," said the Brazilian coach.

Despite criticism of grass, the draw in this match made Persija go down to second place in the standings with 11 points, one point adrift of Borneo FC who still has one game more. Meanwhile, Bali United are in ninth position with six points.