Kim Jeffrey Kurniawan

Early career

After training at a football academy in Karlsruhe, Kurniawan, then aged 6, was recruited by German club Karlsruher SC, then playing in the Bundesliga. He stayed there for 12 years, participating in youth games against international clubs such as Inter Milan, Valencia and top German clubs like Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. However, Kurniawan suffered a knee injury at 18 in his last junior season, ruining his dream to play in the highest levels of German football.

Heidelsheim

Kurniawan's knee injury kept him away from the ball for the better part of a year. Eventually, he joined FC 07 Heidelsheim in the Verbandsliga, tier-six of German football, at the time. He enjoyed a successful first season, playing in every game and scoring two goals. He had agreed to extend his contract, but this changed after he received an invitation to play in Indonesia with a possibility to play for the national team of his father's country.

Persema Malang

Kurniawan went to Indonesia in 2010 with two other Europe-based footballers of Indonesian descent, Irfan Bachdim and Alessandro Trabucco. His career there started with an invitation to charity games in East Java cities of Surabaya and Malang in 2010. After the matches, Timo Scheunemann, a German who was coaching top-flight team Persema Malang contacted Kurniawan and offered him a trial, in which the latter impressed. Scheunemann recruited Kurniawan and Bachdim to play…

Kurniawan came to play in Indonesia in 2010 after injuries dashed any hope of getting called by his birth country Germany. Tempted by the possibility of representing his father's country, he took up the PSSI naturalization offer. In 2011, Kurniawan received the call from the Indonesia national under-23 team to play in the Southeast Asian Games 2011. He trained in several cities, including Hong Kong but did not break into 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.

Kurniawan was born in the town of Mühlacker to a German mother and an Indonesian father of Chinese heritage. His paternal grandfather, Kwee Hong Sing, was also a footballer who played for Persija Jakarta and the Indonesia national team in the 1950s. Born with German nationality, Kurniawan decided to take up Indonesian citizenship after the PSSI, the football association of Indonesia, offered him a naturalization path that could pave way for him to win a position on the national team. In December 2010, he officially received an Indonesian passport and, after Cristian Gonzáles, became the second naturalised football player in that country; Gonzáles had done so in November 2010. Kurniawan's sister, Jennifer Kurniawan, is married to Irfan Bachdim, another naturalised Indonesian though born in the Netherlands. Bachdim and Kurniawan, who are both playing for PSS Sleman, came to Indonesia at the same time in 2010 and became teammates at Persema Malang in 2011.

PSS Sleman

Championship runner up: 2025–26 Menpora Cup third place: 2021 Individual

Menpora Cup Best Eleven: 2021