The 1994–95 Liga Indonesia Premier Division (known as the Liga Dunhill for sponsorship reasons) was the inaugural season of the
Liga Indonesia
The Indonesian football league system is a series of league system for association football clubs in Indonesia. Since 1994, Liga Indonesia is the league competition featuring association football clubs, as a result of two existing top-flight footba ...
Premier Division, the top division of Indonesian football following the merger of
Perserikatan
Perserikatan is a term that commonly refers to national amateur association football, football competitions in Indonesia held between 1931 and 1994 before the formation of Liga Indonesia, organized by the PSSI, the Indonesian football federation. T ...
and
Galatama Liga Sepak Bola Utama (English: ''Premier Football League''), commonly known by its acronym Galatama, was a semi professional football league in Indonesia, established in 1979 by the Indonesian Football Association, PSSI. Prior to the establishment ...
. The season began on 27 November 1994 and ended on 30 July 1995. The league was made up of 34 clubs.
Persib
Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Bandung'), commonly referred to as Persib Bandung, or simply Persib, is a professional football club based in Bandung, West Java, which competes in Liga 1, the to ...
won the title after beating
Petrokimia Putra
Petrokimia Putra was an Indonesian football club based in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. They last played in the Liga Indonesia First Division. They merged with Persegres Gresik and became Gresik United in 2005.
History
Petrokimia Putra Gresik ...
1–0 in the final.
Overview
Background
The league started in 1994. The lack of ticket sales in
Galatama Liga Sepak Bola Utama (English: ''Premier Football League''), commonly known by its acronym Galatama, was a semi professional football league in Indonesia, established in 1979 by the Indonesian Football Association, PSSI. Prior to the establishment ...
and the lack of commercial aspects in
Perserikatan
Perserikatan is a term that commonly refers to national amateur association football, football competitions in Indonesia held between 1931 and 1994 before the formation of Liga Indonesia, organized by the PSSI, the Indonesian football federation. T ...
made
PSSI
The Football Association of Indonesia ( id, Persatuan Sepakbola Seluruh Indonesia; 'All-Indonesian Football Association'; abbreviated as PSSI) is the governing body of football in Indonesia. It was founded on 19 April 1930, fifteen years before ...
take a bold decision. The Indonesian football association decided to form a new fully professional league called the Liga Indonesia Premier Division as a merger of Galatama and Perserikatan.
Due to the merger, there were 34 inaugural clubs in the league. Two clubs that should have been relegated to the First Division,
Persiba and
PS Bengkulu were allowed to compete while PS Aceh Putra chose to withdraw. To solve this issue, the league is split into two regional divisions with each division consisting 17 clubs. The top four clubs from each division then entered the second stage which is played in a group stage format consisting of two groups of four. Then, the top two clubs from each group proceed to the knockout stage (semifinals and final) where they will play for the title.
The shift of the league to a more commercial form has made PSSI move to find sponsors to sustain the wheels of the league.
Dunhill, a cigarette manufacturer from the UK is the first company to dive in and become the inaugural title sponsor of the league. As a result of this sponsorship, Dunhill poured funds up to Rp4.5 billion per season and provided subsidies of Rp100 million for each Premier Division club. Dunhill also gave a prize of Rp75 million for the champions, Rp50 million for the runners-up, and Rp25 million for the league's best player. The funds provided by Dunhill were pretty high for financial standards in 1994. Thus, the Liga Indonesia Premier Division was then given the name Liga Dunhill.
Before the league started, PSSI also lifted the ban for foreign players to compete in the league that was active since 1982. This resulted in some high-profile signings with clubs signing seasoned veterans of the world stage.
Season summary
The inaugural duel of this brand-new league brought together the champions of the last edition from each competition on 27 November 1994. Pelita Jaya were the last winners of Galatama while Persib were winners of the 1993–94 Perserikatan. The match ended 1–0 for Pelita Jaya with their Montenegrin striker
Dejan Gluščević
Dejan Gluščević (born June 21, 1967) is a Montenegrin former footballer and manager.
Playing career Club
Gluščević made his debut in professional football playing with FK Radnički Beograd in the 1990–91 Yugoslav Second League. He scor ...
becoming the first player to score a goal in the new top-flight in the 60th minute.
By the end of the first stage,
PS Bengkulu,
Warna Agung
PS Warna Agung was an Indonesian football club based in Jakarta. The team plays in The Indonesian Liga Sepakbola Utama - Galatama.
Former players
Former Coach
* Endang Witarsa
Endang Witarsa (born Liem Sun-Yu (); 16 October 1916 ...
,
PSIR, and
PSIM were the clubs that were relegated from the league. The first wave of foreign players coming to league proved to be ineffective in improving results, leading to clubs reshuffling the foreign players they had within their squads right before the second stage began.
Persib would eventually become the inaugural champions of the league. The ''Maung Bandung'', who only finished as runners-up in the West Division, won the title thanks to a narrow 1–0 victory over
Petrokimia Putra
Petrokimia Putra was an Indonesian football club based in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. They last played in the Liga Indonesia First Division. They merged with Persegres Gresik and became Gresik United in 2005.
History
Petrokimia Putra Gresik ...
in the final held in
Gelora Senayan Main Stadium
Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium ( id, Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno; literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Ge ...
on 30 July 1995.
The final was not without controversy however as Petrokimia striker
Jacksen F. Tiago had a goal ruled out for offside at the 30th minute. Nevertheless, Sutiono Lamso scored later in the 76th minute for Persib and they held on to lead until the end of the game. Ironically, the title was won by a team consisting of local players only when most of the title challengers had at least one foreign player.
Meanwhile, Bandung Raya striker
Peri Sandria
Peri Sandria (born 23 September 1969) is an Indonesian former football player and manager. He also played for Indonesia national football team in the 1996 Tiger Cup.
Club careers
Peri Sandria began his career in Galatama with the club KTB B ...
was the league's inaugural top scorer. The 34 goals he scored was a top-flight record which stood for 22 years until
Sylvano Comvalius
Sylvano Dominique Comvalius (born 10 August 1987) is a retired Dutch professional footballer who played as a forward.
Club career
At Birkirkara, Comvalius became the club's top scorer and won the Maltese Premier League.
On 1 October 2010, he ...
scored 37 goals in the
2017 Liga 1.
Teams
Stadiums and locations
Kits and sponsorship
All of the teams kits are provided by
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
and sponsored by
Dunhill as part of the league's sponsorship deal.
First stage
West Division
East Division
Second stage
The second stage was played from 19–26 July 1995.
The matches were held at
Gelora Senayan Main Stadium
Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium ( id, Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno; literally "Bung Karno Sports Arena Main Stadium"), formerly Senayan Main Stadium and Gelora Senayan Main Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located at the center of the Ge ...
in Jakarta.
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage
Semifinals
----
Final
Awards
Top scorers
The following is a list of the top scorers from the 1994–95 season.
Best player
*
Widodo C. Putro (
Petrokimia Putra
Petrokimia Putra was an Indonesian football club based in Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. They last played in the Liga Indonesia First Division. They merged with Persegres Gresik and became Gresik United in 2005.
History
Petrokimia Putra Gresik ...
)
References
External links
Indonesia - List of final tables (RSSSF)
{{DEFAULTSORT:1994-95 Liga Indonesia Premier Division
Indonesian Premier Division seasons
1994–95 in Indonesian football
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
Top level Indonesian football league seasons