Evan Dimas was born in the city of Surabaya in East Java province to a low-income family that once depended on his father Condro Darmono's job as a security guard. As one of the highest paid Indonesian footballers, Evan is now the breadwinner of his extensive family.[2][3] He is a devout Muslim who celebrates every goal by performing the Sujud.[4] He is currently also enrolled as a student at the Dr. Soetomo University, majoring in public administration.[5]
His favorite player and inspiration is former Barcelona midfielder, Andrés Iniesta who showed diminutive players can also excel on the world level.[6] He idolized Persebaya Surabaya during childhood and cut teeth in the club's youth team. He signed his first professional contract in 2014, when Indonesian football was complicated by the dualism of several clubs, with a faction of Persebaya that later became Bhayangkara.[7]
Club career
Youth
Evan Dimas trained at Surabaya soccer schools for boys until he entered Persebaya's youth team in 2010 at the age of 15.[8] While at Persebaya, Evan became a regular member of the Indonesian national youth squads of various age levels. He also trained in Spain after being chosen with other Indonesian young players to visit Barcelona's training facilities. In 2012, he also attended the now-defunct Nike Academy, a program run by Nike Inc. that gathered promising teenage footballers from around the world.[5]
Persebaya ISL (Bhayangkara)
After years of training in the Persebaya system, it was natural for Evan Dimas to enter the senior team of the club. However, when the youth star decided to become a professional player, Persebaya was embroiled in an internal schism derived from the 2011-2014 dualism of Indonesian football. Several top-flight clubs at that time split into two factions with one following the Indonesian Super League (ISL) while the other joining the short-lived Indonesian Premier League (LPI). Evan along with six other teenage players chose in November 2014 to join the ISL faction of Persebaya. After unification attempts in 2014-16 and a series of legal naming disputes, this team in 2016 turned into Bhayangkara with financial support from the Indonesian National Police.[9]
As soon as Evan joined in November 2014, A-League club Brisbane Roar showed interest in hiring the midfielder on loan from Persebaya. However, a deal did not pan out.[10] After months of tumult in Indonesian football that forced ISL to start its 2015 season in April, Evan made his debut for Persebaya on 5 April 2015 as a late substitute in a 1–0 victory against Mitra Kukar at Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in Surabaya. However, Evan's much-anticipated entry into professional football was ruined by a government intervention to stop the ISL in May 2015. That intervention itself prompted FIFA to ban Indonesia from all authorized footballing activities for one year.[11]
During the FIFA suspension, Persebaya initiated to send its young star to Spain where Evan can train and trial with several clubs, including Segunda Division club UE Llagostera and the B team of La Liga club RCD Espanyol. However, he failed to impress clubs there enough to hire him.[12][13][14][15]
Bhayangkara FC
When Evan Dimas returned to Indonesia in mid-2016, the Persebaya club that he represented had lost in legal disputes and eventually renamed itself into Bhayangkara with the support of the Indonesian National Police. Evan joined the Bhayangkara team that participated in the 2016 Indonesia Soccer Championship A.[16] The next year, with Evan at the heart of its midfield, Bhayangkara won the 2017 Liga 1 title, which was the first trophy in his professional career. This achievement led to offers from clubs abroad.[17]
While he had a good season in his first year overseas with 20 appearances and two goals, Evan decided to return home at the end of the contract year.[21]
Although Evan played regularly and scored two goals in the 2019 Liga 1 season, he did not show the performance that grabbed attention and the national title in 2017. Barito languished at the 13th position when the season concluded and failed to keep Evan for another year.[26]
Persija Jakarta
After weeks of speculation around which team would interest him, Evan signed for one of the richest clubs in Indonesia, Persija Jakarta, to play in the 2020 Liga 1.[27]
Evan made his Persija debut in a 3–2 win against Borneo on 1 March 2020 as a substitute for Sandi Sute in the 19th minute, and he also scored his first goal for the team in the 86th minute.[28] And then, that season ended after only three matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Evan only played in two games but managed to score two goals, which was the same amount in his 20 appearances in Selangor and Barito respectively. There was high expectation that Evan finally found a team that could showcase his talent.[29]
Return to Bhayangkara FC
That expectation failed to pan out due to the canceled 2020 season and Persija's failure to keep Evan for another year. In early 2021, Evan decided to re-join former club Bhayangkara, signing a one-year contract.[30] Evan made his Bhayangkara debut in a 2–1 win against Persiraja Banda Aceh on 29 August 2021 as a substitute for Wahyu Suboseto in the 76th minute.[31] He played the full 90 minutes in a 1–2 win against Bali United on 23 October.[32]
He played the full 90 minutes in the won to Persikabo 1973 on 20 February 2022, where he registered one assist.[33] Until the end of the season, he contributed with 22 appearances, dan without goals during with Bhayangkara for one season.
Arema
On 5 April 2022, Evan signed contract for Arema.[34] He made his league debut in a 0–3 loss against Borneo Samarinda on 24 July at Segiri Stadium.[35] On 7 December, Evan scored his first goal for Arema in a 2–0 win over Dewa United, where he scored with a header in the 70th minute.[36] Evan give assists a goal by Dedik Setiawan in Arema's 2–0 win over Persita Tangerang on 17 December.[37]
On 14 November 2023, Evan was loaned to PSIS Semarang for the remainder of the season.[39]
On 3 March 2024, Evan scored his debut goal for the club against Persik Kediri in a 2–1 win.
International career
Since 2010, Evan Dimas has been hailed as a standout talent in Indonesia. A playmaking midfielder of the country's national youth teams from the age of 15, he captained the Indonesia U-17 and Indonesia U-19 that won the 2012 HKFA International Youth Invitation, 2013 HKFA International Youth Invitation and 2013 AFF U-19 Youth Championship.[40][41][42][43] He scored five goals in the 2013 AFF U-19 Youth Championship and became the top scorer for Indonesia U-19 in this tournament.[44][45] He scored two goals in the 2013 HKFA International Youth Invitation.[46][47]
In October 2013, he led the Indonesia U-19 team to qualify for the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship, a qualification competition for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, after topping Group G in the qualification with three wins in three matches, including a 3–2 win over defending champion South Korea U-19. He scored four goals in the qualifications, including a hattrick against South Korea U-19.[48] As preparation for the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship, he played for twelve unofficial matches, including 2014 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy, and one FIFA official match with the U-19 national team, in which he played in all those matches.[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Unfortunately, he failed to help Indonesia U-19 to secure a place in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup, after losing all three matches in the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship.[57][58][59] Nonetheless, his stellar performance in the youth Garuda teams led to the hype ahead of his decision on how to enter professional football.
Evan was called into Indonesia's friendly match squad against Mauritius on 11 September 2018 by Danurwindo, In that match, Evan scored the decisive goal for the national team's victory against Mauritius.[71] A year later, On 15 June 2019, he scored a brace in a 6–0 win over Vanuatu in a friendly match.[72] Six months later, he also was part of the Indonesia team that won silver in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines. In the 2019 final, he had to leave the game with a serious injury after Đoàn Văn Hậu aggressively tackled him.[73]
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