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Winning the Indonesian Super League at a canter was just the start for Jacksen Tiago and Persipura Jayapura.

Having led the Black Pearls to their first league crown since 2005, Tiago wants his team to prove its mettle against Asia’s best in the AFC Champions League.

That, he said, is why he chose to stay put and sign a one-year contract extension with Persipura. Contract details were not disclosed.

“I feel comfortable living [in Jayapura],” the 41-year-old Brazilian told the Jakarta Globe in an e-mail message. “I chose to extend my contract with Persipura and reject other offers.”

The hardest offer to turn down came from his old club, newly promoted Persebaya Surabaya. Tiago won two league titles with the East Java club, one as a player in 1997 and the other as coach in 2004.

Facing the continent’s best teams proved too difficult to resist, though.

“Persipura made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse, and here I have all the support I need to build a better club. There is also the Asian Champions League,” he said. “I have Asian competition experience that I know will be useful to prepare my players for next season.”

Tiago first experienced continental action in the 1998 Asian Club Championship, the region’s top club competition before the Champions League. Persebaya lost 6-2 on aggregate to Korea’s Ulsan Horang-I in the first round.

Persebaya finished third in Group G of the 2005 Champions League with one win and one draw.

“I know it will be hard to compete against Asia’s best, but we have the potential to achieve better results [than Sriwijaya FC],” Tiago said.

“It will need hard work because we’ll have to have a better team, more skillful players and the right attitude to play in Asian competition. But I believe we can do it, and so I will stay here.”

Sriwijaya finished fourth in Group F last season, earning its only points with a 4-2 home defeat of Shandong Luneng.

For all its league success, Persipura still enters the new season under a cloud. It ended last season on a sour note, storming off the pitch in protest of a referee’s decision and ultimately forfeiting the Copa Indonesia final to Sriwijaya.

Persipura received a one-year ban from the competition for its actions. However, Tiago said the ban may be a blessing in disguise.

We won’t have to play in three competitions next season, so we can focus our concentration and energy more on the ISL and Champions League,” he said. “But I am also sad because we have lost the chance to win another trophy.”

He also said he did not plan to use the two foreigner spots reserved for players from Asian nations when the Super League institutes its 3 plus 2 rule next season, preferring to keep three foreigners and fill his squad with Papuan talent.

“Jayapura is a very different city from other big cities in Asia and Indonesia,” he said. “I think the Asian players would find it hard to adapt quickly here.”