Ryuji Utomo Prabowo (born 1 July 1995) 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 for Liga 1 club

Persita Tangerang Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Kabupaten Tangerang ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Tangerang'), commonly known as Persita is an Indonesian professional football club based in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia. The club currently competes in the ...

. He plays mainly at

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

but can also operate as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Al Najma

After training at youth clubs in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, Ryuji made his professional debut in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

with

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

club Al-Najma in a 20 August 2015 friendly match against Malkiya Club. In this match, Ryuji was a starter who played 60 minutes before he was replaced. During this match, he received a yellow card in the fifth minute after a foul in the penalty area. Ryuji on 19 December 2015 scored his first goal for Al Najma in an away match against Al Tadamun Buri.

Arema FC

After six months in Bahrain, Ryuji returned to Indonesia to join Arema ahead of the unauthorized 2016 Indonesia Soccer Championship (ISC). As an apprentice to Arema's more senior players, Ryuji began to build his reputation as a physically robust defender who caught the attention of richer clubs at the end of the ISC. During a pre-season tournament ahead of the launching of the new

Liga 1 (Indonesia) Liga 1 (), officially known as BRI Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. Administered by PT Liga Indonesia Baru (), Liga 1 is contested by 18 clubs and operate ...

top-flight competition, Ryuji left Arema after failing to win a starting position.

Persija Jakarta

Rich club

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'), abbreviated as Persija (), is an Indonesian professional Association football, football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jaka ...

saw Ryuji's Arema departure as a chance to develop the young defender's potential. On 3 February 2017, Ryuji accepted an offer to join his hometown club. Another reason was Ryuji wanted to play close to his Jakarta-based ailing father. Ryuji played in nine matches for Persija in the 2017 Liga 1 season, impressing coach

Stefano Cugurra Alessandro Stefano Cugurra Rodrigues (born 25 July 1974), also known as Stefano Cugurra and nicknamed as Teco, is a Brazilian-born Indonesian association football, football coach who currently serves as the head coach of Liga 2 (Indonesia), Lig ...

who used him when senior players were on international duty. Despite its intention to keep Ryuji for the 2018 season, Persija let Ryuji play in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

on loan for a year. This spell increased Ryuji's value, leading to a renewed contract in 2019 to guarantee his services. However, Ryuji went overseas again on loan from December 2020 as a byproduct of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

that stopped the

2020 Liga 1 The 2020 Liga 1, also known as Shopee Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the 4th season of Liga 1 under its current name and the 11th season of the top-flight Indonesian professional league for association football clubs since its establishment ...

season. Without certainty on when professional football in Indonesia could resume, Ryuji chose to take an offer to play for the newly promoted Malaysia Super League club

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

for one full season.

PTT Rayong (loan)

On 4 December 2017, Ryuji joined

Thai League 2 Thai League 2 (), commonly known as the T2, formally called Thai Division 1 League, is the second-tier professional league in the Thai football league system. Seasons typically run from August to May, with each team playing 34 games : two agai ...

club PTT Rayong on a one-year contract. His agent said one of the reasons that made Ryuji take the offer was the pay could help him finance his ailing father's medical treatment, indicating that Persija did not pay him as satisfactory. At Rayong, Ryuji developed into a more versatile player as coach Teerasak Po-on often played the

center back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

as a

. Ryuji played in 18 matches for Rayong and helped the club win the 2018 Thai League 2 season, earning it a promotion into Thai League 1.

Penang FC (loan)

Ryuji in December 2020 signed for

to play in the 2021 Malaysia Super League season, on loan from

. On 6 March 2021, Ryuji made his debut for Penang on a league game against Kuala Lumpur City, playing full 90-minutes as his team won 1-0.

Bali United

On 13 January 2023, Ryuji signed a contract with Liga 1 club Bali United from Persija Jakarta. Ryuji made his league debut for the club in a 2–2 draw against

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar') commonly referred to as PSM Makassar, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , ma ...

, coming on as a substituted Ilija Spasojević.

International career

Ryuji has always played for Indonesia on the international level despite eligibility to play for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where his mother comes from. Ryuji was part of the Indonesia national under-23 football team that won bronze in the

2017 Southeast Asian Games The 2017 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 29th Southeast Asian Games, or the 29th SEA Games, and commonly known as Kuala Lumpur 2017, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event that took place from 19 to 30 August 2017 in Kuala ...

. After playing 13 times for the Indonesian national youth teams, Ryuji made his international debut for the senior team on 21 March 2017, against

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Personal life

Ryuji was born to an Indonesian father and a Japanese mother. His father, who died on 1 September 2020, motivated him to pursue his football dreams. Several of Ryuji's career decisions were shaped by his father's health conditions. Ryuji is married to sports television presenter Shabrina Ayu, making them be seen as a celebrity couple in Indonesia. Their 16 March 2019 wedding pictures splashed the front pages of Indonesian entertainment tabloids. Ryuji became a father on 13 February 2020.

Honours

PTT Rayong *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Indonesia U-23 *

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

bronze medal:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Indonesia *

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:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utomo, Ryuji 1995 births Living people Indonesian men's footballers Indonesian people of Japanese descent Footballers from Jakarta Men's association football central defenders Javanese people Indonesia men's youth international footballers Indonesia men's international footballers PS Mitra Kukar players Al-Najma SC (Bahrain) players Arema F.C. players Persija Jakarta players Ryuji Utomo Penang F.C. players Bali United F.C. players Persita Tangerang players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Ryuji Utomo Malaysia Super League players Indonesian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Bahrain Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Indonesian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia SEA Games bronze medalists for Indonesia SEA Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games Sportspeople of Japanese descent 21st-century Indonesian sportsmen