The 2022 PSSI Ordinary Congress was held on Monday in Bandung, with the Football Federation of Indonesia (PSSI) confirming name change requests from up to 22 clubs from all three tiers of Indonesian football. Of the 21 clubs, four of them came from the Liga 1 – Borneo FC, Persikabo 1973, and promoted duo Dewa United and RANS Cilegon.
Borneo FC added the name of their home city into their full name, thus becoming Borneo FC Samarinda, while Persikabo 1973 finally had their request to change their name approved by the PSSI, having played underneath the PS TIRA-Persikabo name for a couple of years in official documentations.
Dewa United, on the other hand, underwent the 2021/22 Liga 2 Indonesia season as Martapura Dewa United, having taken over Martapura FC’s license prior to the start of the league season. The Tangsel Warriors decided to ditch the “Martapura” moniker from their name, thus becoming Dewa United.
Meanwhile, RANS Cilegon rebranded themselves as RANS Nusantara FC, as part of the effort done by club chairman Raffi Ahmad to ensure that his new club would be able to garner as much support as they could from all over Indonesia, not just Cilegon alone.
From the Liga 2, Atta Halilintar’s AHHA PS Pati finally had their request to relocate to Bekasi confirmed by the PSSI, thus becoming FC Bekasi City. The team were initially known as Bekasi FC, however, Atta and the club’s other higher-ups found themselves in hot water as the name had already been registered by another individual, leading said individual to file a lawsuit against the club that ended with the Ambitious Horse changing their name for hopefully the final time.
Other Liga 2 clubs who had their request to change their names approved are Muba Babel United, who became just Babel United, newly-promoted Putra Jombang who are now officially Putra Delta Sidoarjo, and more shockingly, fellow newly-promoted side Mataram Utama FC, who relinquished control over their senior team to a group of investors. These investors changed the club’s name to Nusantara United FC, whilst Mataram Utama remained in existence as a separate entity, fully focused on just developing football at the youth and grassroots levels instead of sending a senior team to play competitive matches.
Down in the Liga 3, the PSSI approved the request of 14 clubs, which includes clubs who have already changed their names in the previous campaign such as NZR Sumbersari (Sumbersari FC), Kabomania Cimahi Putra (Kabomania FC), Toli FC (Persitoli Tolikara), AFA Syailendra (Persema 1953), and Depok City FC (Persebam Babakan Madang Bogor) as well as several other new name changes, such as Internazionale Banten (Bintang Junior FC), Safin Pati FC (Putra Surya Magetan Connection), and Putra Way Kanan FC (Persiwaka Way Kanan) to name a few.
The 2022 PSSI Ordinary Congress also discussed the league formats for the upcoming season, with the Liga 1 set to return to a home-and-away format while the Liga 2 is also set to revert back to their East Zone and West Zone format. Plans are also being put in place to allow spectators to watch matches after a two-year absence brought on by the pandemic.