With all 64 teams for this year’s Liga 3 Indonesia national round being confirmed in December, everyone’s gearing themselves up for a battle like no other, with eight promotion tickets to the 2022 Liga 2 Indonesia season being at stake, not to mention the 2021/22 Liga 3 title. This year’s Liga 3 saw a number of ambitious upstarts, fledgling teams brimming with professionalism and confidence, taking on a number of familiar names that were in the Indonesian top flight in the not-so-distant past.
While initially set for kick-off at the end of January, the Football Federation of Indonesia (PSSI) has decided to postpone the start of this year’s national round to February 6th, whilst appointing eight teams to act as hosts for the upcoming tournament. Each team will host two groups, held in different stadiums that they’ve nominated.
Persikota Tangerang, a name synonymous with the Indonesian top flight in the early 2000s, was chosen to host Groups A and B. Group A will be played at the Benteng Stadium in downtown Tangerang, refurbished just in time for the national round. In the group, Persikota will take on Perseman Manokwari, who were in the Indonesian top flight as recently as 2013, as well as Galacticos Bireuen and Persikasi Kabupaten Bekasi. Runners-up of the 2021 Liga 3 Aceh, Galacticos managed to turn some heads thanks to their wealthy owner H. Ziaurahman, who managed to convince former Persiraja Banda Aceh defender Luis Irsandi to play for his team. The men from Bireuen also recently announced the appointment of former Persiraja caretaker Akhyar Ilyas as their head coach for the national round.
Group B, also to be played at the Benteng, contains ambitious upstarts Belitong FC, Persilobar Lombok Barat, Gorontalo’s Panipi Raya FC, and Persida Sidoarjo. With the support of the people of Belitung Regency well behind them, Belitong will seek to do well in this group to inch themselves closer towards their goal of promotion into the Liga 2 – and being the first team from Belitung to do so.
Persikab Kabupaten Bandung, who were top-flight mainstays in the late 90s and early 2000s, was chosen to host Groups C and D. The Dalem Bandung are in Group C, which will be played at the Si Jalak Harupat Stadium, where they will face-off against 757 Kepri Jaya, who were in the Liga 2 as recently as 2017, North Sumatra representatives Karo United, and Jakarta’s ASIOP FC, who were the football club subsidiary of the renowned ASIOP-Apacinti football academy, producer of notable talents such as Adam Alis (Bhayangkara FC), Muhammad Rafli (Arema FC), Andritany Ardhiyasa (Persija Jakarta), Egi Melgiansyah (Perserang Serang), and Achmad Jufriyanto (Persib Bandung) to name a few.
Also playing at the Si Jalak Harupat are the teams that made up Group D, which consists of Persikutim Kutai Timur, Benteng HB from the regency of Central Bengkulu, West Sumatra’s Gasliko 50 Kota, and Putra Delta Sidoarjo.
Group E will be played at the Galuh Stadium in Ciamis, with hosts PSGC Ciamis welcoming Persipal Palu, Gabsis Sambas, and South Kalimantan representative Batulicin Putra 69.
PSGC are also hosting Group F, where 2021 Liga 3 Yogyakarta champions Mataram Utama will take on West Sulawesi’s PS Sandeq Polman, West Java’s Citeureup Raya, and Persisam United, the reincarnation of top flight club Persisam Putra Samarinda who became Bali United in 2015.
Persipa Pati will be hosting Groups G and H at the Kebondalem Stadium in Kendal, with the Laskar Saridin being part of Group G along with Gasko Kolaka from Southeast Sulawesi, PS Bangka Setara, and UMS 1905 – one of the oldest clubs in Indonesia who was formed to provide an outlet for Chinese-Indonesian youths, later on, Indonesian youths in general, to play football within the West Jakarta region.
Fellow Central Java team Persak Kebumen will be playing in Group H, alongside PS Palembang, PSKB Bukittinggi, and PS Jembrana.
Group I, to be played at the Gelora Joko Samudro Stadium in Gresik, will have an intriguing encounter between hosts Gresik United and Perseden Denpasar, with the two teams having played against each other in the Indonesian top flight in the early 2000s. Gresik United were part of the inaugural Liga 1 season in 2017, finishing rock-bottom that season before freefalling further into the Liga 3 in 2018. With a backroom staff consisting of members of the legendary Petrokimia Putra team that won the Indonesian top-flight back in 2002, Gresik United are seeking redemption by slowly making their way back into the top of the Indonesian football pyramid, but they must first survive the challenge of Perseden, Persemar Martapura, and Alesha FC Makassar.
The Gelora Joko Samudro will also play host to Group J, with PCB Persipasi, the reincarnation of Persipasi Bekasi who were merged with Pelita Bandung Raya in 2015 before being sold off and transformed into Madura United only a year later, taking on the likes of PS Siak, AD Sport Lampung, and Sleman United for a spot in the knockouts. PS Siak themselves are showing some ambition for this season’s Liga 3, with the Riau champions being coached by Chilean head coach Simon Elissetche and having naturalized defender Bruno Casimir amongst their ranks.
A titanic clash like no other will be served at the Gelora Delta Stadium in Sidoarjo, as hosts Deltras Sidoarjo were drawn with Persmin Minahasa in Group K. The duo were part of the Indonesian top-flight in the mid-2000s, before the formation of the Liga Super Indonesia back in the 2008/09 season forced the two to go their separate ways. Also part of Group I were Jambi United and Tornado FC of Pekanbaru.
Group L, also to be played at the Gelora Delta, will see Persidago Gorontalo, Gasma Enrekang, PS Bima Sakti and PSLS Lhokseumawe going up against each other.
Persedikab Kabupaten Kediri will host Groups M and N at Persik Kediri’s Brawijaya Stadium, with Group M consisting of Persedikab themselves, Persihalsel Halmahera Selatan, YOB Belawan, and Bandung United – Persib’s reserve team.
Group N, on the other hand, will have PSBL Langsa headlining the group, with the Aceh representative facing-off against Toli FC, Persebi Boyolali, and Persewangi Banyuwangi.
With the Gajayana Stadium in Malang as the backdrop, Group O is set to be the most interesting group of the national round, with four ambitious teams seeking to fight it out for the two tickets to the knockouts – Banten rivals Serpong City and Farmel FC, Gede Widiade’s newest pet project Batavia FC, and hosts NZR Sumbersari.
The Gajayana will also host the final group, Group P, where the likes of Maluku FC, PSDS Deli Serdang, Persigubin Pegunungan Bintang, and Persinga Ngawi are set to battle each other.
Each team will play each other once, with the winner and runners-up of each group qualifying into the round of 32, where they will be once again drawn into eight groups of four.