Boaz Theofilus Erwin Solossa (born 16 March 1986) is an Indonesian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a forward for Liga 2 club

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesia, Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2 (Indonesia), Liga 2 ...

. He is considered one of the best Indonesian strikers of all time.

Club career

Early career

Boaz began his junior career by playing at the amateur club PS Putra Yohan in 1999 to 2000. Then he moved to Perseru Serui from 2000 to 2001. Boaz was summoned in the Papua PON Team to be competed in the 16th National Sports Week in Indonesia. At that time, he was only 17 years old. His talent finally came to

Peter Withe Peter Withe (; born 30 August 1951) is an English former football Manager (association football), manager and Forward (association football)#Striker, striker who played between 1971 and 1990. At Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest he won ...

, the coach of the Indonesian National Team at the time, and took him to the 2004 Tiger Cup when he was 18 years old.

Persipura Jayapura

Boaz signed his first professional contract with Persipura Jayapura in 2005. Since then, he has emerged as the most influential player at the club and even served as captain of the team after the departure of Eduard Ivakdalam. Until 10 August, Boaz scored 207 goals from 311 official matches with Persipura and made him the club's all-time top scorer along with various individual awards. In addition, he also brought Persipura to win the top division of Indonesia's professional football league four times in the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

seasons. He has never strengthened other clubs in Indonesia other than Persipura despite being offered a higher salary from rival clubs. According to him, Persipura was like a second home for him and had become his extended family. But when Indonesia's professional football competition was halted due to FIFA sanctions from 2015 to 2016, he accepted an offer from Borneo FC to play in a non-official tournament because Persipura decided to temporarily disband. At the beginning of the 2018 season, he returned to play for Borneo FC only for the 2018 Presidential Cup pre-season tournament. In July 2021, Boaz and teammate Yustinus Pae were released by Persipura, due to disciplinary issues. Boaz has made 359 appearances and scored 225 goals in all competitions for Persipura.

Carsae

In 2016, Boaz was loaned by Persipura for the first time in his career to play for Carsae in East Timor after the conditions of Indonesian football at that time were being vacuumed due to FIFA sanctions, joining fellow Indonesians Imanuel Wanggai and Oktovianus Maniani. However, in April 2016 having only made four appearances Boaz along with Wanggai left the club by mutual consent to rejoin Persipura.

Borneo

After spending 16 years with Persipura, On 17 July 2021 Boaz joined

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

on a 2-season deal. On 10 September 2021, Boaz made his debut for Borneo on a league game against Persik Kediri coming on as a substitute in the 70th-minute, as his team lose 1–0. On 8 January 2022, Boaz scored his first goal for Borneo against Persik Kediri at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium,

Gianyar Gianyar Regency (; , ''Kabupatén Gyañaŕ'') is a Regency (Indonesia), regency (''kabupaten'') of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 368.0 km2 and had a population 523.973 at mid of 2022 census. It is bordered by Badung Regen ...

International career

The first time he appeared was dubbed the "prodigy", when he was brought by

and performed a stunning performance in

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, when he performed with the Indonesian National Team in the 2004 Tiger Cup. Boaz's international debut was against

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

on 30 March 2004 for the 2006 World Cup qualification where Indonesia won 3–1 and Boaz made two assists for his teammate

Ilham Jaya Kesuma Ilham Jaya Kesuma (born 19 September 1978) is a former Indonesian professional footballer who last played as a striker for Sriwijaya in Indonesia Super League. Ilham was born in Palembang and played youth football with PS Palembang. Ilham st ...

. Boaz was considered to be a bright prospect in Indonesian football after performing brilliantly in the 2004 Tiger Cup, where Indonesia was defeated by Singapore in a home and away match, which resulted in an aggregate score of 5–2 to Singapore. In the group phase, Boaz managed to score 4 goals and along with Ilham Jayakesuma, who scored 7 goals, both led the top scorers chart. He was injured after a tough tackle in a friendly match against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, forcing him to miss the Asian Cup 2007 and disappear from football for 10 months. After another failure for the Indonesian national team to become a champion in the

2016 AFF Championship The 2016 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016, was the 11th edition of the AFF Championship, the Association football, football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation ...

, Boaz announce his retirement from the national squad to give chance to other young players as well admitting he was "tired to see Indonesia without any trophy in the tournament". He congratulate Thailand for their fifth trophy and acknowledged that "Thai players and their performances are much better and still far from us to reach". However, Boaz still disclosed his intention to retire, saying he wanted to discuss the matter with his family first while celebrating

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

in his hometown of

Sorong Sorong is the largest city and the capital of the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua. The city is located on the western tip of the island of New Guinea with its only land borders being with Sorong Regency. It is the gateway to Indonesia ...

Personal life

Boaz was born into a well-known family in Western New Guinea. His uncle, Jaap Solossa, was the governor of the greater

Papua province Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of the Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri, and is divided in ...

before he died in 2005. Football also runs in the blood of the Solossa clan as well, with Boaz being the youngest of five children who all went on to become professionals, like his brothers Ortizan and Nehemia. Boaz obtained a

Bachelor of Economics A Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon)Bureau of Labor StatisticsHow to Become an Economist/ref> is an academic degree, awarded to students who have completed specialised undergraduate studies in economics. Variants include the "Bachelor of Econo ...

Cenderawasih University Cenderawasih University () is a university in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia. The university is the leading educational institution in the province. The university has faculties in economics, law, teacher training and education, medical, ...

in 2013. He also works as

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Indonesia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Solossa goal.''

Honours

Persipura Jayapura * (

Liga Indonesia Premier Division Liga Indonesia Premier Division (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Divisi Utama Liga Indonesia'') was the second-tier of the Indonesian football league system, football competition system in Indonesia, organized by PSSI. The competition starte ...

/ Indonesia Super League/ Indonesia Soccer Championship A) Domestic League Top Tier Division (5):

, 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Indonesian Community Shield:

* Indonesian Inter Island Cup: 2011 Indonesia * Indonesian Independence Cup:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

AFF Championship The ASEAN Championship (formerly known as the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the biennial football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) for men's natio ...

runner-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual * ( Indonesia Super League) Domestic League Top Tier Division Top Scorer (3): 2008–09,

* ( Indonesia Super League/ Indonesia Soccer Championship A) Domestic League Top Tier Division Best Player (4): 2008–09, 2010–11, 2013, 2016 * ( Indonesia Soccer Championship A) Domestic League Top Tier Division Best XI:

Best XI :

ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football, futsal, and beach soccer in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Fo ...

Best XI: 2017 * Favourite Athlete : Anugerah Olahraga Indonesia (AORI) XXIX: 2017 *

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

Best XI: (2021) Record * First Indonesian in list of

FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is an association football magazine published by British company Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4–4–2. Future acquired the ...

50 Best Asian Football Player (2017)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Solossa, Boaz 1986 births Living people Papuan people Indonesian Christians Indonesian men's footballers People from Sorong Indonesia men's international footballers Indonesia men's youth international footballers Indonesian Premier Division players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Liga 2 (Indonesia) players Persipura Jayapura players Borneo F.C. Samarinda players 21st-century Indonesian sportsmen PSS Sleman players Persewar Waropen players Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Timor-Leste Expatriate men's footballers in Timor-Leste Indonesian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Cenderawasih University alumni Footballers from Papua People from West Papua (province)