Liga 1 (Indonesia)

Liga 1 (English: League 1), officially known as BRI Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the men's top professional football division of the Indonesian football league system. Administered by PT Liga Indonesia Baru (lit. 'New Indonesian League, LLC'), Liga 1 is contested by 18 clubs and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Liga 2.
Top-flight professional league in Indonesia started from the 2008–09 season onwards, initially under the name Indonesia Super League until 2015. Before PSSI formed and organized the Indonesian Super League as the first professional football league in Indonesia, the previous top-level competition title in Indonesia was the Liga Indonesia Premier Division from 1994–95 to 2007–08. Prior to the 2008 reforms, the national competitions used a tournament format. Liga 1, which started in 2017, is the latest rebranding of the league.
Forty-two clubs have competed in the top-tier league of Indonesian football since the inception of the Indonesia Super League in 2008. Eight have won the title: Persipura Jayapura (2009, 2011, 2013, 2016), Bali United (2019, 2022), Persib Bandung (2014, 2024), Arema (2010), Sriwijaya (2012), Bhayangkara (2017), Persija Jakarta (2018), and PSM Makassar (2023). Only four clubs have played in every season to date: Arema, Madura United, Persib Bandung, and Persija Jakarta.
In 1994, PSSI merged teams from Perserikatan, a popular league for amateur clubs representing regional football associations, and Galatama, a less popular league made up of semi-professional teams, to form Liga Indonesia. This effort integrated the fanaticism in Perserikatan and the professionalism of Galatama with the aim of improving the quality of Indonesian football. This step ushered in a tiered system in the Indonesian competitive football scene. The group stage like Perserikatan was combined with a full competition system followed by the semi-final and final rounds like Galatama.
The modern competition era started in 2008 with the Indonesia Super League (ISL). The first season began with 18 clubs. The first Indonesia Super League goal was scored by Ernest Jeremiah of Persipura in a 2–2 draw against Sriwijaya F.C. The 18 inaugural members of the new Indonesia Super League were Persipura, Persiwa, Persib, Persik, Sriwijaya, Persela, Persija, PSM, Pelita Jaya, Arema, Persijap, Persiba, PKT Bontang, Persitara, PSMS, Deltras, Persita, and PSIS. Originally, Persiter and Persmin qualified to register but they failed the verification requirements to be inaugural members of the Indonesia Super League.
As the football scene in Indonesia was heavily politicized with rival factions upending each other, conflict was the norm prior to 2017. The worst conflict occurred in 2011. After the inauguration of the new PSSI board in 2011, a member of PSSI's Executive Committee and chairman of its Competition Committee, Sihar Sitorus, appointed PT Liga Prima Indonesia Sportindo (LPIS) as the new league operator replacing PT Liga Indonesia (LI) because LI failed to provide an accountability report to PSSI. Sitorus, one of many politicians in PSSI, announced the Indonesia Premier League as the new top-level competition in Indonesia. Upon the emergence of Liga Primer Indonesia (LPI), PSSI did not recognize the validity of ISL. ISL regulars PSM, Persema, and Persibo, which had boycotted the ISL operators due to referee and management decisions, gladly defected to join LPI along with splinters of existing ISL teams. However, the 2011 LPI season was stopped mid-season, due to continued schism within PSSI; a new league, Indonesian Premier League (IPL; Liga Prima Indonesia) replaced it in late 2011 for the 2011–12 season.
Before the schism of PSSI, Sitorus triggered more controversy when he said the new competition would be divided into two regions and there would be an addition of six clubs in the top division, which angered many association members. 14 teams that were supposed to be Indonesia Premier League contestants chose to support the Indonesia Super League that continued to roll under the support of the pro-IPL faction, despite being labeled as an illegal competition. The official PSSI, supported by FIFA and AFC, did not recognize the ISL for two seasons. In the meantime, the Indonesian Premier League became the top-tier league from 2011 to 2013 with only 11 teams.
In a PSSI extraordinary congress on 17 March 2013, association members slammed Sitorus and decided that the Indonesia Super League would once again emerge as the top-level competition, following the disbandment of the Indonesian Premier League. Sitorus and five other PSSI board members were suspended from the sport for their roles in the split (locally referred to as dualisme, lit. 'dualism') that disrupted Indonesian football.
The new PSSI board also decided that the best seven teams of the 2013 Indonesian Premier League, following verification, would join the unified league. Semen Padang, Persiba Bantul, Persijap, and PSM passed verification, while Perseman, Persepar, and Pro Duta did not, meaning the 2014 season was contested with 22 teams.
The impact of split haunted Indonesian football years after the reconsolidation. On 18 April 2015, Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs Imam Nahrawi officially banned the activities of PSSI after PSSI refused to recognize the recommendations from the Indonesian Professional Sports Agency (Badan Olahraga Profesional Indonesia; BOPI), an agency under the ministry, that Arema Cronus and Persebaya should not pass ISL verification because there were still other clubs using the same name. Previously, Nachrawi had sent three letters of reprimand. However, PSSI refused to answer his call until a predetermined deadline. As a result, PSSI officially stopped all competitions in 2015 season after PSSI's Executive Committee meeting on 2 May 2015 called the government intervention as a force majeure.
The government intervention also led FIFA to punish Indonesia with a one-year suspension of all association football activities as the world body considered overbearing state involvement in footballing matters as a violation against its member PSSI. During the suspension, some tournaments were made to fill the vacuum, starting with the 2015 Indonesia President's Cup, in which Persib came out as champions, until the Bhayangkara Cup closed the series of unrecognized tournaments.
On 13 May 2016, FIFA officially ended the suspension, following the revocation of the Indonesian ministerial decision on 10 May 2016. A long-term tournament with full competition format, Indonesia Soccer Championship (ISC), emerged shortly thereafter. The 2016 season saw Persipura take the title.
In 2017, the top-flight football competition was rebranded under a new official name, Liga 1. The name changes also applied to Premier Division (became Liga 2) and Liga Nusantara (became Liga 3). The operator of the competition was also changed from PT Liga Indonesia (LI) to PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB). Bhayangkara was the first champion of the competition under the new name in the 2017 season. True to the controversial nature of Indonesian football, the crowning triggered flak from fans. Bhayangkara, a team managed by the Indonesian Police that had no fanbase, won due to head-to-head advantage against Bali United, a team with rapidly growing support due to its modern professional management, after both teams had the same points at the end of the season. Bali United finally won the title in 2019, following Persija in 2018.
The 2020 season was canceled as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to hit Indonesia. The 2021–22 season used the bubble-to-bubble system so that it would not become a new cluster for the spread of COVID-19. The 2022–23 season was marred by the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster and finished without relegation. The 2023–24 season introduced the championship play-offs after the regular season. The 2024–25 season sees at least one team represent each island for the first time.
There are 18 clubs in Liga 1. During the course of a season (from August to May) the teams play each other twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then head-to-head records, then goal difference, and then goals scored. If still equal, the fair play points and then drawing of lots decide rank.
A system of promotion and relegation exists between Liga 1 and Liga 2. The three lowest placed teams in Liga 1 are relegated to Liga 2, and the group winners of the championship round from Liga 2 promoted to Liga 1, with an additional team promoted after a play-off involving the group runners-up of the championship round. The Indonesian Super League had 22 teams in 2014 due to the merging of the two professional leagues in Indonesia.
Video assistant referee (VAR) was introduced to Liga 1 at the championship series in the 2023–24 season. The 2024–25 season sees the full usage of the VAR for the first time.
Forty-two clubs have played in the top-flight Indonesian football competitions from the start of the modern era in 2008 as Indonesia Super League, up to and including the 2024–25 season.
The following 18 clubs will compete in the Liga 1 during the 2024–25 season.
Remark : Top division means the highest football competition in Indonesia which includes the Liga Indonesia Premier Division from 1994 until 2007 and the Indonesian Premier League during the dualism era.
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Former names:
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Unofficial league:
The following clubs competed in the Liga 1 or the top flight Premier Division before 2008, but are not competing in the 2024–25 season.
Remark : Top division means the highest football competition in Indonesia which includes the Liga Indonesia Premier Division from 1994 until 2007 and the Indonesian Premier League during the dualism era.
Notes:
Latest status:
Former names:
Breakaway league:
Unofficial league:
The All-time Liga 1 table is an overall record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in Liga 1 since its inception in 2008. The table is accurate as of the end of the 2023–24 season. The 2014 season used a two-region format and the 2023–24 season added a championship play-off after the regular season, therefore as per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. This all-time table also includes two abandoned seasons (2015 and 2020).
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League or status at 2024–25:
Liga 1's policy on foreign players has changed multiple times since its inception.
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† Lost the Promotion/relegation playoff and relegated
The 2024–25 Liga 1 champions will qualify for the 2025–26 AFC Champions League Two qualifying play-offs, while the runner-up will qualify for the 2025–26 AFC Challenge League qualifying play-offs.
The number of places allocated to Indonesian clubs in AFC competitions is dependent upon the position the country holds in the AFC coefficient rankings, which are calculated based on the performance of teams in AFC competitions over the previous eight years.
As of 26 May 2024, the competition ranking are as follows (only ranking 25–30 are shown).
Indonesian football clubs have participated in various Asian competitions organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), including the AFC Champions League and the AFC Cup. PSMS Medan was the first Indonesian club to compete in Asia, securing fourth place in the 1970 Asian Champion Club Tournament. Other notable performances include Persipura Jayapura reaching the AFC Cup semifinals in 2014 and PSM Makassar advancing to the ASEAN final in 2022. As of 2024, the AFC has restructured its club competitions, renaming them as the AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions League Two, and AFC Challenge League. Despite these efforts, Indonesian clubs have yet to secure a major continental title.
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