Liga Sepak Bola Utama (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

: ''Premier Football League''), commonly known by its

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

Galatama, was a semi professional football league in Indonesia, established in 1979 by the Indonesian Football Association,

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 ...

. Prior to the establishment of the competition, an amateur football league named

Perserikatan Perserikatan is a term that commonly refers to national amateur football competitions in Indonesia held between 1931 and 1994 before the formation of Liga Indonesia, organized by the PSSI, the Indonesian football federation. The competition involve ...

had existed since 1931. Both Perserikatan and Galatama existed and run in parallel until 1994 when they were both merged to form a new, unified league called

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 ...

History

Until 1979, the

, an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

competition, was the only national-level competition in

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 Gui ...

. Starting in 1979,

Football Association of Indonesia 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 ...

started a semi-professional league, named Liga Sepak Bola Utama, shortened to Galatama. Galatama is one of the pioneers of professional and semi-professional football league in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

alongside the Hong Kong League. Throughout its history, Galatama always operated in a single-division format except for the 1982–83 and 1990 seasons, when it was divided into two divisions. Until the 1982–83 season, Galatama allowed the recruitment of foreign players. One of the most famous foreign players in the competition is

Fandi Ahmad Fandi bin Ahmad (born 29 May 1962) is a Singaporean professional football manager and former player. During his professional career, he mainly played as a striker, but also played as a midfielder. Along with the Singapore FA, he had also pla ...

(

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

) who played for

NIAC Mitra Persatuan Sepakbola Mitra Kutai Kartanegara is an Indonesian association football club based in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. They currently compete in the Liga 3. History This club was founded in 1979 as NIAC Mitra. NIAC s ...

. He successfully led his club to win the Galatama title and he also became an honorary citizen of

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the M ...

as an award for his performances with NIAC Mitra. Fandi Ahmad and other foreign players were forced to ply their trade outside of Indonesia after the league banned foreign players. Galatama suffered a decline in its final years. The cause of the decline is blamed on the banning of foreign players, match-fixing allegations, and referee bribery scandals. The declining popularity of the league amongst the Indonesian football fans forced many of the league's member clubs to gradually withdraw. In 1994, Galatama and

were merged into the fully professional

List of champions

List of top scorers

References

Works cited

* {{Football in Indonesia Defunct football leagues in Indonesia Defunct top level football leagues in Asia