Irfan Bachdim

He lived in the resort area of Lawang outside Malang before moving to the Netherlands in the 1980s, where he resettled and married Hester van Dijk, a Dutch national.

Irfan was born in Amsterdam as the couple's second son and lived there until adulthood.

As he has maintained his Indonesian nationality throughout his life, he is not considered naturalised.

Irfan was born to a family of footballers.

Noval formerly played for PS Fajar Lawang (an association member of Persekam Malang) in the 1980s.

Additionally, Irfan's grandfather, Ali, played for Persema Malang in his hometown and PSAD Jakarta, a military team, as he also served in the Indonesian Navy.

Irfan Haarys Bachdim (born 11 August 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Liga 1 club Persik Kediri.

Born in the Netherlands, he represented the Indonesia national team.

Bachdim's father, Noval, is an Indonesian national of Arab descent born in Malang, East Java.

Irfan Bachdim started his football career at SV Argon in 1997 and moved in 1998 to the famed Ajax Youth Academy in Amsterdam, where he trained along with Mitchell Donald, Jeffrey Sarpong, Christian Supusepa and Ryan Babel.

After three years there, he returned to SV Argon, where he became the youth league's top scorer despite his midfield position.

Scouts of FC Utrecht, a club that has never been absent from the top flight of Dutch football, recruited him in 2003.

He started for FC Utrecht's junior team, all the while appearing on occasions for the senior reserve team.

However, his debut in Indonesia's red and white colours had to be delayed because he was injured one week prior to the 2006 Asian Games.

He made his debut for FC Utrecht in the Dutch top-tier league, the Eredivisie, on 17 February 2008, playing 90 minutes against VVV-Venlo.

Bachdim joined the Indonesia national under-23 football team during a training camp that took place in the Netherlands.

After FC Utrecht chose not to extend his contract, Bachdim signed for HFC Haarlem in July 2009 in a free transfer deal.

In March 2010, he underwent trials in Indonesia for Persib Bandung and Persija Jakarta.

However, neither club signed him.

Bachdim's desire to play in Indonesia was finally realised on 9 August 2010, upon his recruitment by the then-coach of Persema Malang, Timo Scheunemann, after the latter observed the former and other young footballers in a charity match for football figure Lucky Acub Zaenal at the Gajayana Stadium in Malang, the birthplace of Bachdim's father.

Bachdim was recruited along with Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan, a footballer of Indonesian-German descent who previously played for FC Heidelsheim in Germany.

Bachdim, who had been a holder of Indonesian passport since his childhood, was recognized and recruited as an Indonesian-born, not a naturalized player.

At Persema, Bachdim played more at the front as second striker or winger.

After Persema's decision to move from the Indonesian Super League (ISL) to the Indonesian Premier League (IPL) during the 2011 schism in Indonesian football management, Bachdim considered leaving Persema due to the threat of not being able to play for the national team.

The football federation, PSSI, considered the new competition as a renegade league.

However, he ended up committing himself to Persema by signing a three-year contract, despite continuous intimidation from PSSI to leave the club and valuable contracts offered by several ISL clubs.

Eventually, Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng guaranteed Bachdim's right to perform for the national team.

He was called by the U-23 team to play at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games and the qualifications for the 2012 Olympics.

As the league dualism in Indonesia continued to undermine the smooth running of competitions, Bachdim participated in trials outside Indonesia.

He tried his luck at leading Thailand club BEC Tero Sasana, where he was able to give an average performance but failed to be selected.

His efforts succeeded in 2013 when he was signed by another Thailand club Chonburi on a two-year contract.

In early December 2013 after failing to get a regular spot, Bachdim went for trials at J-League clubs Vegalta Sendai and Ventforet Kofu.

He said that if he did not get a contract with any of these clubs, he would go back to Chonburi to prove himself to the new manager.

Ventforet Kofu recruited him after a few weeks.

Bachdim announced on Monday, 27 January 2014 that he had officially joined J. League first-division side Ventforet Kofu.

According to Ventforet, the club thought highly of the forward's potential during a tryout held by the J. League Players Association.

His fast playing style as a winger caught the club's eye even though he was not in top physical condition at the time.

Ventforet general manager Satoru Sakuma said Bachdim will be the J. League's first Indonesian player and his contract will run through the end of the 2014 season.

However, he failed to win playing time.

Japanese media on Monday, 22 December 2014 published that J2 league team Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo had signed Bachdim from Ventforet Kofu despite the Indonesian international's lack of playtime.