Former Chelsea football stars Michael Essien and Carlton Cole, who both played their first match in Indonesia's League One over the weekend, are facing some difficulty with Indonesian immigration. Essien and Cole, who are in the last phase of their careers, signed for Persib Bandung, one of the top football teams in Indonesia. However, based on media reports, Persib Bandung has not concluded the immigration process in time. As a result both players played their first match without having a work permit.

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Former Chelsea star Michael Essien, 34, signed a one-year contract to join Persib FC, one of the top football teams in Indonesia. Persib FC, which is based in Bandung (West Java), won the League One (formerly known as the Indonesian Super League) in 2014. Ghanaian-born Essien, a "box-to-box" midfielder, who was without a club after leaving Greece's Panathinaikos in 2016, was presented at the Gelora Bandung Lautan Api Stadium in Bandung on Tuesday (14/03).

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FC Internazionale Milano (or simply Inter Milan) will go into Chinese hands after Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir and former Inter President Massimo Moratti agree to sell a stake in the Italian football club to China-based electronic retailer Suning Commerce Group. Three years ago media tycoon Thohir, founder of the Mahaka Media Group, purchased a 70 percent stake in Inter Milan, a deal worth around 300 million euro. Suning Commerce Group will now acquire a controlling 68.55 percent stake in Inter. Thohir remains as president with a 31 percent stake.

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Multistrada Arah Sarana, one of Indonesia’s leading automobile and motorcycle tires producers, joined the club of Indonesian companies that signed a partnership agreement with a prominent international football team. Multistrada Arah Sarana signed a three-year global sponsorship deal with French Ligue 1 soccer club Paris Saint-Germain FC (PSG). For the Indonesian tire manufacturer the partnership is a strategy to market its products, raise brand awareness, and boost its sales in Europe.

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English Premier League football club Manchester United established a partnership with Indonesia's isotonic drink brand You C1000. Today (27/01) it was announced that both sides will team up in a multi-year deal to expand brand awareness across the Southeast Asian nation. Indonesia, where football is one of the most popular sports, is estimated to be home to 54.5 million followers of Manchester United.

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Indonesian airline Garuda Indonesia will evaluate its sponsorship deal with English Premier League football club Liverpool within the next two months. Arief Wibowo, General Director of Garuda Indonesia, said brand awareness abroad is important and the sponsorship deal is also a source of pride for the airline. However, considering the deal costs about USD $9 million per year, the airline has to evaluate whether it is worth continuing the sponsorship deal that is set to expire in mid-2016.

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Italian football club AS Roma is frustrated at Indonesian immigration officials after five players were not allowed to enter Indonesia at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Friday (24/07). AS Roma is on a trip to Indonesia (and Australia) as part of the club’s pre-season tour. On Saturday (25/07), the squad takes part in the AS Roma Indonesia Day 2015 in Jakarta, which includes a friendly soccer match. It has not been published why the five AS Roma players were not welcome to enter Indonesian territory.

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The FIFA World Cup 2014, the world’s most prestigious football tournament (currently taking place in Brazil), boosts the textile and textile products industry of Indonesia. Local Indonesian companies have had to deal with a large increase of orders, particularly for apparel products. In the first six months of 2014, Indonesian exports of apparel products are expected to rise 15 percent to USD $3.5 billion. Between 10 and 15 percent of this total value involves exports of football jerseys of those teams that compete in the FIFA World Cup.

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Indonesian media tycoon Erick Thohir bought a 70 percent stake in football club Inter Milan of Italy. Thohir, one of the richest businessmen in Indonesia and who already holds large stakes in Philadelphia 76 (NBA) and DC United (Major League Soccer), paid about 300 million euro to obtain the 70 percent stake in the three-time European Champions League winner. The deal, which took months to finalize, was announced by Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti. Foreign ownership of football clubs has been a recent phenomenon in Europe.

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On Monday 17 June 2019, Bali Bintang Sejahtera (Bali United) became the first football club in Indonesia – reportedly even the first football club in the Southeast Asian region – to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market.

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Indosat, one of Indonesia's largest telecommunication networks and services provider, has partnered with Novosol, a Singapore headquartered mobile media and advertising company. Indosat will offer Novosol's MoFutbol multimedia mobile magazine to its fifty million plus subscribers at no charge. MoFutbol is a 24x7 magazine videos, photo-stories and real time scrollers. MoFutbol is the first multimedia mobile football service in the Indonesian language. The Mandarin and Malay editions will follow soon.

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