The 2020 season was the sixth season of competitive association football and fifth season in the Liga 1 played by Bali United Football Club, a professional football club based in Gianyar,

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia. Their 1st-place finish in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

mean it was their fifth successive season in Liga 1. Coming into the season, Bali United were the reigning Liga 1 champions. They also qualified for the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

preliminary round 1 and ASEAN Club Championship group stage. This season was Bali United's second with head coach

Stefano Cugurra Alessandro Stefano Cugurra Rodrigues (born 25 July 1974), also known as Stefano Cugurra and nicknamed as Teco, is a Brazilian association football, football coach. who is the current head coach of Indonesian club Bali United F.C., Bali United. ...

. But Emral Abus served as a head coach in the AFC Champions League because there was a slight problem with Stefano Cugurra's coaching license which makes it administratively unable to be registered as a head coach. The same case also happen in

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

where

Eko Purjianto Eko Purdjianto (born on 1 February 1976) is an Indonesian former professional footballer as a defender. Besides Indonesia, he has played in Italy. Currently, he works as assistant coach PSIS Semarang. International career In 1999 Eko's internat ...

was registered as head coach. They unable to finished all of this season competition (except for AFC Champions league which they finished in preliminary round 2) because all competition this season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

The 2019 season was

's first full season as head coach of Bali United, having taken charge in January 2019. The team went on a 12-match unbeaten run from July until September. This saw Bali United became the champions of

2019 Liga 1 The 2019 Liga 1, also known as Shopee Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of Liga 1 (Indonesia), Liga 1 under its current name and the 10th season of the top-flight Indonesian professional league for association football clubs sin ...

with four matches left. Bali United were beaten 2–2 on away goals aggregate by

Persija Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'; abbreviated as Persija), is an Indonesian professional football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jakarta is one of the most suc ...

in the quarter-finals of

2018–19 Piala Indonesia The 2018–19 Piala Indonesia (known as the Krating Daeng Piala Indonesia for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh edition of Piala Indonesia. It began with the first round on 8 May 2018, and concluded with the finals on 21 July and 6 August 2019. ...

Pre-season and friendlies

Friendlies

Review and events

January–March

Bali United started their new season with preliminary round 1 of the

by playing away to

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a association football, football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that i ...

, Singapore to face

2019 Singapore Cup The 2019 Singapore Cup (also known as the Komoco Motors Singapore Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the 22nd edition of the Singapore Cup, Singapore's annual premier club football knock-out tournament organised by the Football Association of Sing ...

winners, Tampines Rovers. Playing on

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

Melvin Platje Melvin Platje (; born 16 December 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for AFC. Career Early career Before joining FC Volendam, Platje played in the youth departments of FC Omniworld and SV Huizen. He later moved t ...

gave Bali United an early lead with two goals inside 15 minute. Tampines Rovers pull one back with a goal before half time. Tampines Rovers evened the score in the 53rd minute and took the lead in the 68th minute by an own goal from their new signing,

Rahmat Rahmat may refer to: People *Rahmat Akbari (b. 2000), Australian association football player * Rahmat Rivai (b. 1977), Indonesian footballer *Rahmat Shah Sail (b. 1943), Pashto writer * Basuki Rahmat (1921-1969), Indonesian general *Mohamed Rahmat ...

. Rahmat paid for his mistake with an equalizing goal in the 81st minute and the match continues to extra time.

Stefano Lilipaly Stefano Jantje Lilipaly (born 10 January 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger and forward for Liga 1 club Borneo and the Indonesia national team. Club career Lilipaly played for Dutch amateur side RKSV DCG for three yea ...

and the other new signing

Sidik Saimima Mohammad Sidik Saimima (born 4 June 1997), is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga 1 club Bali United. Club career PSS Sleman In 2019, Saimima signed a contract with Indonesian Liga 1 club PSS Sleman. He m ...

ensured a 5–3 win and Bali United through to preliminary round 2. They once again failed to reach the group stage as they were destroyed by four-time

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

champions, Melbourne Victory five goals without reply at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

which resulted them to played in

. Once again Bali United were drawn into Group G. Ceres–Negros (Philippines), Svay Rieng (Cambodia), and Than Quảng Ninh (Vietnam) joined the group. The team opened their AFC Cup campaign with a win against 10-men Than Quảng Ninh after falling behind 0–1 in the first half. Rahmat and Platje started their comeback in just five minutes into the second half.

Ilija Spasojević Ilija Spasojević (born 11 September 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga 1 club Bali United and the Indonesia national team. Spasojević is known for his goalscoring ability. A prolific goalscorer, Spasojević h ...

scored from a penalty before Platje sealed the game 4–1. They failed to continue their momentum as they lose to Svay Rieng. Once again played in artificial turf, they conceded two goals inside the 20th minute before Spasojević scored the only goals for the team. They were held to a stalemate against

Persita Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Tangerang ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Tangerang'), commonly known as Persita is an Indonesian professional football club based in Tangerang. They currently compete in the Liga 1. Their nicknames are ''Pe ...

in the first match of March and Liga 1. A trip to the

Demang Lehman Stadium Demang Lehman Stadium (Stadion Demang Lehman) previously named the stadium Indrasari, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, which is also the headquarters while (Homebase) football club Barito Putera ...

to face

Barito Putera Persatuan Sepak Bola Barito Putera, also known as Barito Putera, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The club currently competes in the Liga 1. History Foundation and Galatama era (1988–1994 ...

five days after ended in a 2–1 win; the goals, scored by Lilipaly in the first half and the returning

Lerby Eliandry Lerby Eliandry Pong Babu (born 21 November 1991) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga 1 club Bali United. Club career Bali United Lerby started his career in 2015 Indonesia Super League with a good record. H ...

in the second half. Losing three key players really affected the game of Bali United which made them lose 4–0 to Ceres–Negros in the continuation of the AFC Cup group stage. They bounce back with a 3–1 win against

Madura United Madura United Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club. The club is based in Pamekasan, Madura, East Java. They currently play in the Liga 1. Established on 10 January 2016, Madura United FC is one of few professional clubs ...

in the league. Platje scored two goals and Paulo Sérgio scored two assists plus a controversially disallowed goal from Spasojević marked their performance after back from injuries.

Background

Pre-season and friendlies

Friendlies

Review and events

January–March

Match results

Liga 1

AFC Champions League

AFC Cup

Player details

Appearances and goals

Disciplinary record

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

Loans out

References