Kim Kurniawan


Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga 1 club Persib Bandung.

Personal life

Kim Kurniawan was born in Mühlacker, Germany, to Uschi, a German, and Petrus Kurniawan, a Chinese Indonesian. His grandfather, Kwee Hong Sing, was a national team footballer who played for Persija Jakarta and the Indonesian national football team in the 1950s.
Born with German nationality, Kurniawan decided to become Indonesian after the Football Association of Indonesia offered him a position on its national team. In December 2010, he officially received an Indonesian passport and, after Cristian Gonzáles, became the second naturalized football player in that country; Gonzáles had done so in November 2010.

Youth career

Karlsruher SC

After training at a soccer school in Karlsruhe, Kurniawan, then age 6, was asked by the coach of the German Bundesliga club "Karlsruher SC" to join them. He stayed on for 12 years, participating in games against international clubs such as Inter Milan, FC Valencia and other German clubs like Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Kurniawan suffered a knee injury at 18 in his last junior season, ending his professional football career in Germany.

Adult career

FC 07 Heidelsheim

His knee injury kept him away from the ball for the better part of a year. Eventually, Kurniawan joined FC 07 Heidelsheim which played Verbandsliga at the time. He enjoyed a successful first season, playing in every game while scoring two goals.
He had agreed to extend his contract but this changed after he received an invitation to play in Indonesia.

Persema Malang

Kurniawan went to Indonesia in early 2010 with two other footballers of Indonesian descent, Irfan Bachdim and Alessandro Trabucco. His career there started with an invitation to a charity game "Garuda Merah vs. Garuda Putih" in Surabaya and Malang in 2010.
Timo Scheunemann also contacted Kurniawan and offered him a trial at Persema Malang, a professional 1st division team in Malang.
Coach Timo then made him a part of his team. However, Kurniawan didn't have an Indonesian passport at the time and couldn't play until he officially became Indonesian. An injury also kept him from playing on the national team for the Suzuki AFF Cup 2010 but he signed a contract with Persema Malang and stayed for almost three years. Kurniawan later tried playing in Thailand.

Pelita Bandung Raya

Back in Indonesia in 2014, Kurniawan played in the Indonesia Super League as part of Pelita Bandung Raya. Dejan Antonic was the coach at that time, and Kurniawan played for two seasons with his final two tournaments being Piala Presiden and Piala J. Sudirman.

Persib Bandung

Kurniawan joined Persib Bandung in 2016. The team lost the final in both the Bali Island Cup and the Piala Bhayangkara to Arema Malang during his first season. In the Torabika Soccer Championship competition his team placed fifth.
Kurniawan's second season saw his team place third in the Piala Presiden and 13th in "Gojek Traveloka Liga 1."
He broke his fibula at the end of the season after being tackled by a Persija Jakarta player.

International career

In 2011, Kurniawan received the call from the u23 national team of Indonesia to play in the Sea Games 2011.
He trained in several cities, including Hong Kong but did not get called to join the final squad.
In 2015, he was invited to the official FIFA Friendly games against Cameroon and Myanmar.
During the match in Sidoarjo on 30 March 2015 against Myanmar, Kurniawan was brought on and made his debut for the senior team in a 2-1 win.

Filmography