Persijap

Persijap Jepara meet PSIS Semarang in the Derby Jateng, and the return to the top flight in 2025 gave that meeting a stage it had not had in over a decade. A second rivalry, closer to home, runs against Persipa Pati.

Jepara's own history has an uneasy chapter running through it: Kamal Junaidi, a player who died during a match in 1973, gave his name to the club's old stadium before Persijap moved to the Gelora Bumi Kartini. The ground has been cut down from its old capacity of up to 20,000 to just over 8,500 seats after renovation.

That rebuilding took years. Relegated from the Indonesia Super League in 2014, Persijap worked back up through the lower divisions, taking the Liga 3 title in 2019 by beating PSKC Cimahi 3–1 in the final, before finally forcing promotion through the Liga 2 play-off in the 2024–25 season. Eleven years after dropping out of the top flight, the Laskar Kalinyamat were back in it.

Earlier honours came in domestic youth and regional competition — the Soeratin Cup three times, in 1982, 1998 and 2002, and the Megawati Cup in 2004.

That chance is what the derby with PSIS now means something different: Jepara come into it as a top-flight side again, not as the team looking up at Semarang from the divisions below.