Bryan Panjaitan
Quick Facts
Biography
Bryan Joseph "Bryan Joe" Panjaitan (born 1 March 1988 in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian footballer who plays as a forward for Garuda Football Club Philippines or more known as Garuda F.C. PH.
Early years
Panjaitan was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and the son of Bonar Panjaitan and Linda Hutabarat. He spent his early life in Central Jakarta before he moved to Philippines to continue his study in Adventist University of the Philippineswhere he started playing for professional football team.
Knowing football since his childhood in Indonesia, Bryan Joe always played football only as a hobby and never even consider it to be in his future profession path.
Football career
When Panjaitan was in elementary school, he was enlisted to one of Jakarta's Basketball youth Club, Pelita Jaya Esia. But knowing that there is a beach football arena next to the basketball court, he often skip the training and play with the other football players. He idolizes Alessandro Del Piero as his inspiration of playing football since his early years until the present day and Zinedine Zidane, whose signature number 21 he has been wearing throughout his career (Zidane's jersey number when he was playing for Juventus F.C., Italy). Panjaitan's original position was a second striker, but since he was recruited by Garuda F.C. PH he often play as a single striker for they already have a lot of second striker in the team.
PPMIP FC
In 2003, he joined a semi-pro Indonesian Student Association Football Team (PPMIP FC) during the last year of high school before taking up pre-medical school in Silang, Cavite playing as second striker and winning several local tournaments with this team. Being the youngest player in the team, Bryan Joe always started a match as a substitute until he scored a crucial goal at ISA Cupfinal after which he got his name in the starting line up squad.
Indo FC
In summer 2006, Indo Football Club assembled a team of Indonesian citizens and some Africans. They recruited Panjaitan for the upcoming MPL FA Leaguewhich involved all professional football teams from the Philippines' second division where he made his debut appearance and goal in professional football in his first match at San Beda College pitch which ended with a score of 10 - 1. The club then finished at the second place at the end of the season and also lost the Cup tournament after they were beaten by Loyola Agila F.C. at the final match. Bryan Joe scored 2 goals in 4 games that he played in the tournament for that season.
PWU Futsal Patriots
In 2007, there was an alteration in his path of football to Futsal. Bryan Joe moved to Manila to continue his study in Business School. Enrolled in PWU, he got a scholarship from the University for playing in the University Futsal Varsity Team, PWU Patriots. In Futsal, Bryan Joe played as a Midfielder for 3 years and won the NCAA Cup tournament for all colleges in North Philippines in 2009 and some other local Futsal tournaments before he received his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration.
Garuda FC PH
In early September 2011, Bryan Joe enlisted in Garuda F.C. PH's first team to play in Laurel Cup tournamentand scored a goal in his debut game for the club in that tournament.
He then signed a 1-year contract with Garuda F.C. PH to put more strength on the only Indonesian team in the Philippines just before the UFL Cup and League tournamentsstarts on October 2011. He later on leaves the team after lost the UFL Cup to continue his study in Business at Ateneo Graduate School of Business at Rockwell Center to get his master's degree.