Liga 3 (English: League Three) is the lowest tier in the Indonesian football league system organized by the PSSI.[1] Formed as Liga Nusantara in 2014, this league occupies the third tier and consists of 2 rounds: provincial qualification—held in every province in Indonesia, and a national round, competed for by provincial qualifiers (the number varies between provinces).[1][2] The PSSI typically delegated the task of organizing the provincial qualifiers to its members, the provincial football associations, while PSSI organized the national round.
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| Organising body | PSSI |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2014 (as Liga Nusantara) 2017 (as Liga 3) |
| Country | Indonesia |
| Confederation | AFC |
| Level on pyramid | 3 4 (West Java) |
| Promotion to | Liga 2 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Piala Indonesia |
| Current champions | Adhyaksa Farmel (1st title) |
| Most championships | Persatu Tuban Blitar United Persik Kediri Persijap Jepara Karo United Adhyaksa Farmel (1 title each) |
| TV partners | Vidio |
| Website | Official website |
| Current: 2024–25 | |
History
The competition was established after Liga Indonesia Second Division and Liga Indonesia Third Division merged in 2014. Starting in 2015, the Liga Indonesia First Division was also merged with Liga Nusantara making it the third-tier level in Indonesian football system.[1] Persatu Tuban won the competition's first season.[3]
In 2017, Liga Nusantara was renamed to Liga 3, along with Indonesian Super League and Indonesian Premier Division which were renamed to Liga 1 and Liga 2, respectively.[4]
Format
The system that will be used in Liga 3 is a full competition with a home-away format. Each participating club is required to compete at least 15 times during the competition season. This is different from previous amateur competitions where the number of matches per club can be uneven. There are those who can compete more than 10, but there are also those who only competed 2 times.
Provincial round
Each province will hold a provincial round, they are followed by amateur clubs without a limit of participants with different competition formats, the difference in the format is due to the different number of participants in each province. Furthermore, the teams that qualify from the provincial round will compete in National round.
National round
A total of 80 teams will enter this round. In this first round, 80 teams are divided into sixteen groups of 5. Each group is played on a home tournament basis. Winner and runner-up of each group advance to the second round.
The second round features 32 teams which are the winners and runners-up from each group of the first round. They divided into eight groups of 4 and each winner and runner-up advances to the third round.
In the third round, 16 teams are divided into two groups. Each group is played on a home tournament basis. Same as previous round, the winner and runner-up of each group advance to the fourth round.
In the third round, 8 teams are divided into two groups. The three best teams of each group are promoted to the Liga 2. The winner of each group also advances to the final.
Championship history
| Season | League name | Champions | Score | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Liga Nusantara | Persatu Tuban | 2–1 | Laga |
| 2015 | Season abandoned due to FIFA suspension of Indonesia | |||
| 2017 | Liga 3 | Blitar United | 2–1 | Persik Kendal |
| Season | League name | Home team | Score | Away team |
| 2018 | Liga 3 | Persik Kediri | 3–1 | PSCS Cilacap |
| PSCS Cilacap | 1–0 | Persik Kediri | ||
| Persik Kediri won 3–2 on aggregate | ||||
| Season | League name | Champions | Score | Runners-up |
| 2019 | Liga 3 | Persijap Jepara | 3–1 | PSKC Cimahi |
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia | |||
| 2021–22 | Karo United | 3–3 (4–2 p) | Putra Delta Sidoarjo | |
| 2022–23 | Season abandoned | |||
| 2023–24 | Adhyaksa Farmel | 3–2 (a.e.t.) | Persibo Bojonegoro | |
Awards
Best players
| Season | Player | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 |  Edi Winarno[5] | Persatu Tuban |
| 2017 | Assanur Rijal | Aceh United |
| 2018 | Galih Akbar | Persik Kediri |
| 2019 | Rizki Hidayat | Persijap Jepara |
| 2021–22 | Rian Ramadan | Karo United |
| 2023–24 | Sehabudin Ahmad | Adhyaksa Farmel |
Top scorers
| Season | Top scorer | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Imam Bagus Kurnia | Laga | 4 |
| 2017 | Arianto | Aceh United | 7 |
| 2018 | Septian Bagaskara | Persik Kediri | 21 |
| 2019 | Rikza Syawali | PSKC Cimahi | 9 |
| 2021–22 | Adam Malik | Putra Delta Sidoarjo | 11 |
| 2023–24 | Andi Sopian | Dejan | 9 |
Fair play awards
| Season | Club |
|---|---|
| 2018 | Persik Kediri |
| 2019 | PSKC Cimahi |
| 2021–22 | Mataram Utama |
| 2023–24 | Dejan |
References
External links
- Official page on PSSI's website