Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto (born 13 July 1976) is an Indonesian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Kurniawan is the fourth most capped players and goalscorer for the Indonesia national team with 33 goals in 59 appearances. Kurniawan got himself a nickname of "Skinny" (Indonesian: Kurus) due to his slender figure.
Club career Primavera years Kurniawan became a household name in Indonesia when he went on a scoring spree for the Indonesian youth team that went to Italy in 1993 to train at Serie A club Sampdoria and play in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera, the league for youth teams of Serie A and Serie B clubs. The Indonesian football association PSSI sent the team abroad for two years to prepare for the 1994 AFC Youth Championship in Jakarta and the qualifying round for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Kurniawan was so prolific that Sampdoria's coach at that time, Sven-Göran Eriksson, included the 18-year old in the team that toured Asia in 1994, along with superstars Roberto Mancini and Attilio Lombardo who just won the 1993–94 Coppa Italia title.
FC Luzern Kurniawan's performance in the Primavera league and with Sampdoria in exhibition matches caught the attention of other European clubs, including Swiss top-tier club FC Luzern that signed him on loan for the 1994–95 season. Kurniawan scored three goals in his 12 appearances for the Lucerne-based club, a respectable result for any teenager with no previous professional career. Kurniawan is the first and only Indonesian national who has scored in a top-flight European league. He was also the only Indonesian who competed at the UEFA Intertoto Cup, which was abolished in 2008. Despite such achievements, young Kurniawan suffered homesickness, culture shock, and injuries in Switzerland.
Sampdoria in 1995 called him back from the loan spell to prepare him for the 1995–96 Serie A but Kurniawan chose to return to Indonesia.
Indonesian clubs Kurniawan played for 12 teams in Indonesia after his 1995 return, winning the national title with PSM Makassar in 2000 and Persebaya Surabaya in 2004. He scored more than 170 goals for those teams combined. That said, his re-entry to Indonesia was not smooth as defenders brutally targeted the popular striker and the media hounded him as a celebrity. The rough transition during his early 20s led him to intentions of quitting football and a drug scandal that made PSSI suspended him from the national team. Criticism was rife against Kurniawan for his inability to match the quality he showed in Europe. He overcame the challenges and became more stable when he joined PSM in 1999 and won his first team trophy in 2000. He came second on the top scorer list that year below his perennial rival Bambang Pamungkas.
Sarawak Despite his popularity coming from his achievements in Europe and Indonesia, he was most prolific when he played in Malaysia for Sarawak FA in 2005–06 with 29 goals in 31 appearances. When he joined, Sarawak was playing in the Malaysian Premier League, the second-tier of Malaysian football. His goals helped the club to win promotion and compete in the 2006 Malaysian Super League.
International career Outside his dark years in the late 1990s, Kurniawan has always been the top choice for the youth and senior Indonesian national football teams from 1993 to 2005. With 33 goals in 59 appearances for the senior team, he has collected more caps and goals than any other Indonesian, except Bambang Pamungkas who also played in Malaysia when Kurniawan was there. His first three goals were scored against Cambodia in a 10–0 rout in the 1995 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
Managerial career After Kurniawan retired as a player in late 2013, he chose to become a coach at the new Chelsea Soccer School Indonesia, which is supported by English Premier League club Chelsea F.C. despite approaches from Indonesian clubs. One reason was the position did not require him to stay in Indonesia for long stretches as he wanted to spend more time in Malaysia, where his Malaysian wife opens a restaurant business. The pressure of training an Indonesian professional team throughout most of the year would take him away for too long.
After approaches by PSSI and national team coaches, Kurniawan agreed to be a part-time assistant coach for Indonesian youth teams, including the U-23 team that won silver at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines.
Newly promoted Malaysia Super League club Sabah FC became the first club that hired Kurniawan as a head coach in December 2019. The decision followed the inability of the previous coach Jelius Ating to lead a top-tier team due to his lack of AFC Pro coaching license, which Kurniawan holds.
Kurniawan's first season at Sabah reaped mixed reviews from club decision-makers with some applauding the first-time head coach for keeping the team out of relegation while some criticizing him for only winning two out of 11 matches played in the shortened 2020 Malaysia Super League season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter group managed to push Kurniawan out in November 2020. However, a change of management leadership at the club led to a January 2021 rehiring of Kurniawan who was about to join Malaysia Premier League club Kuching City F.C. as an assistant coach. On 28 August 2021, Sabah lost 4–0 against UiTM FC. Next days, Sabah announced that they had sacked Kurniawan.
Personal life Kurniawan mostly resides in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia where his second wife opened a restaurant business that has several outlets. Kurniawan met her when he was playing for Sarawak FA in 2005, two years after his divorce from his first wife.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsIndonesia19954319966419971191998321999202000135200164200341200464200541Total5933
Scores and results list Indonesia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kurniawan goal. +List of international goals scored by Kurniawan Dwi YuliantoNo.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition111 December 1995700th Anniversary Stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand25–010–01995 SEA Games26–037–042 September 1996National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore53–05–11996 AFF Championship57 September 1996National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore61–03–01996 AFF Championship611 September 1996National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore81–11–11996 AFF Championship715 September 1996National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore101–22–31996 AFF Championship814 September 1997Siliwangi Stadium, Bandung, Indonesia142–13–1Friendly93–11028 September 1997Gelora 10 November Stadium, Surabaya, Indonesia153–05–0Friendly114–0125 October 1997Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia163–05–21997 SEA Games137 October 1997Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia172–12–21997 SEA Games149 October 1997Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia184–04–01997 SEA Games1512 October 1997Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia192–02–01997 SEA Games1618 October 1997Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia211–11–11997 SEA Games175 September 1998Thống Nhất Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam231–03–31998 AFF Championship1815 August 2000Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia242–04–12000 Independence Cup1928 August 2000Gelora Senayan Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia272–04–12000 Independence Cup203–0216 November 2000700th Anniversary Stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand352–03–02000 AFF Championship2212 November 2000700th Anniversary Stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand374–05–02000 AFF Championship235–0248 April 2001Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia402–05–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification2522 April 2001Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia416–06–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification266 May 2001Rasmee Dhandu Stadium, Malé, Maldives431–02–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification2713 May 2001Kunming Tuodong Sports Center, Kunming, China441–01–52002 FIFA World Cup qualification286 October 2003Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia471–02–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification297 December 2004Thống Nhất Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam526–06–02004 AFF Championship3013 December 2004Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam546–08–02004 AFF Championship317–03228 December 2004Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia551–01–22004 AFF Championship333 January 2005National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore561–14–12004 AFF Championship
Managerial statistics
+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecordSabah FC19 December 201929 August 2021 Career total
Honours PSM Makassar Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 1999–2000; runner up: 2001
Persebaya Surabaya Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 2004
Persija Jakarta Copa Indonesia runner-up: 2005
Persisam Putra Samarida Liga Indonesia Premier Division: 2008–09
Persela Lamongan Piala Gubernur Jatim: 2009
Indonesia Indonesian Independence Cup: 2000 AFF Championship runner-up: 2000, 2004; third place: 1998 SEA Games silver medal: 1997
Individual Liga Indonesia Premier Division Top Goalscorer: 1997–98
References
External links