The 1994–95 Liga Indonesia Premier Division (known as the Liga Dunhill for sponsorship reasons) was the inaugural season of the Liga Indonesia Premier Division, the top division of Indonesian football following the merger of Perserikatan and Galatama. The season began on 27 November 1994 and ended on 30 July 1995. The league was made up of 34 clubs. Persib won the title after beating Petrokimia Putra 1–0 in the final.

Overview

Background The league started in 1994. The lack of ticket sales in Galatama and the lack of commercial aspects in Perserikatan made PSSI 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 groups of 17 clubs each. The top four clubs from each region 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 the 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 striker Dejan Gluščević becoming the first player to score a goal in the new top-flight in the 60th minute.

Several match abandonments occurred throughout the season. A match between BPD Jateng and Arseto was abandoned on 21 December 1994 due to floodlight issues before resuming the following day, ending in a 1–1 draw. Two further abandonments happened near the end of the first stage on 1 June 1995. Persija walked out of their match against Bandung Raya trailing 3–1 at the 68th minute as a protest towards refereeing decisions which escalated into supporter riots. PSIR walked out on a similar manner at the 33rd minute from their match against PSIM with the score level at 0–0. In response to the two matches, the PSSI Disciplinary Committee gave Persija and PSIR sanctions including the addition of two goals against to their respective results, ruling Bandung Raya won 5–1 over Persija and PSIM won 2–0 over PSIR. Furthermore, both clubs had three points deducted in the first stage and were fined Rp5 million each.

By the end of the first stage, PS Bengkulu, Warna Agung, PSIR, and PSIM were the clubs that were relegated from the league. The first wave of foreign players coming to the 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 finished as runners-up in the West Region, won the title thanks to a narrow 1–0 victory over Petrokimia Putra in the final held in Gelora Senayan Main Stadium on 30 July 1995. Sutiono Lamso scored in the 76th minute for Persib and they held on to lead until the end of the game. Persib won the title with 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 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 scored 37 goals in the 2017 Liga 1.

Teams Stadiums and locations <onlyinclude><onlyinclude>

West RegionTeamLocationStadiumArsetoSurakartaSriwedariBandung RayaBandungSiliwangiBPD JatengSemarangJatidiriMataram PutraYogyakartaMandala KridaMedan JayaMedanTeladanPelita JayaJakarta Lebak BulusPersibBandungSiliwangiPersijaJakarta MentengPersijatimJakarta RawamangunPersikuKudusWergu WetanPersirajaBanda AcehHaji DimurthalaPersitaTangerangBentengPS BengkuluBengkuluSemarakPSDSDeli SerdangBaharuddin SiregarPSMSMedanTeladanSemen PadangPadangHaji Agus SalimWarna AgungJakarta Gelora Senayan

East RegionTeamLocationStadiumAremaMalangGajayanaASGSSurabayaGelora 10 NovemberBarito PuteraBanjarmasinMay 17th Gelora DewataDenpasarNgurah RaiMitra SurabayaSurabayaGelora 10 NovemberPersebayaSurabayaGelora 10 November PersegresGresikPetrokimiaPersemaMalangGajayanaPersibaBalikpapanPersibaPersipuraJayapuraMandalaPetrokimia PutraGresikPetrokimiaPupuk KaltimBontangMulawarmanPutra SamarindaSamarindaSegiri SamarindaPSIMYogyakartaMandala KridaPSIRRembangKridaPSISSemarangJatidiriPSMUjung PandangAndi Mattalata

Kits and sponsorship All of the teams kits are provided by Adidas and sponsored by Dunhill as part of the league's sponsorship deal.

Foreign players Club Visa 1 Visa 2 Visa 3 Former playersAremaArsetoAssyabaab Bandung Raya Olinga Atangana Tibidi Alexis Dejan GluščevićBarito PuteraBPD JatengGelora Dewata Vata Matanu Garcia Abel Campos Jeremie Mboh NyetamMataram PutraMedan Jaya Jijie Claudio Cinca Marius Makukula KuyanganaMitra Surabaya Gomes de Oliveira Stoyan Nakev Assano Evelyn Mindev Kapula Wa KapuiaPelita Jaya Maboang Kessack Roger Milla Milorad Bajovic Dejan GluščevićPersebayaPersegresPersemaPersibPersibaPersijaPersijatimPersikuPersipuraPersirajaPersitaPetrokimia Putra Carlos de Mello Jacksen Tiago Darryl Sinerine Fernando Miquel Botonga EfekelePS BengkuluPSDSPSIMPSIRPSISPSMPSMSPupuk Kaltim Justin Imandi Iulian Minea J.P. Mbvoum Mayoh Iulian Pomuhaci Francisco Jose SoaresPutra Samarinda Semen Padang Claudio Luzardi Antônio Cláudio Didier Kessack Warna Agung

First stage

West Region

East Region

Second stage The second stage was played from 19 to 26 July 1995. The matches were held at Gelora Senayan Main Stadium 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.

Rank Player Club Goals 1 Peri Sandria Bandung Raya 34 2 Buyung Ismu Pelita Jaya 30 3 Dejan Gluščević Bandung Raya 224 Vata Matanu Garcia Gelora Dewata 21 Sutiono Lamso Persib 21 5 Widodo C. Putro Petrokimia Putra 18

Best player Widodo C. Putro (Petrokimia Putra)

See also 1994–95 Liga Indonesia First Division 1994–95 Liga Indonesia Second Division

References

External links Indonesia - List of final tables (RSSSF)