Starting To Pay Attention To The Women's League, PSSI Chairman Encourages PT LIB To Hold Pre-season Competition

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Erick Thohir, encourages the operator of the Indonesian League competition, namely PT Liga Indonesia Baru (PT LIB), which has now changed its name to ILeague, to hold a special pre-season competition for the Women's League.

Erick Thohir expressed his commitment to building the foundation of national women's football, one of which is through the pre-season women's League competition which is expected to take place in 2026.

"We have to build a strong foundation. This pre-season league is not just a trial tournament, but a more established and competitive women's League formation embryo going forward," Erick Thohir said in an official statement, Saturday.

Later this pre-season tournament is planned to be attended by four clubs which are expected to become embryos as well as an important framework for the formation of the league competition which is scheduled to roll starting in 2027.

Erick said that PT LIB must make the pre-season competition the basic framework for welcoming a more professional Women's League.

Through this pre-season competition, Erick hopes that the 2027 Women's League competition plan can involve more clubs and carry a competition format without a relegation system.

Through this format, Erick is confident that he can provide space for new clubs to continue to improve the quality of competition gradually.

PSSI previously planned that the Women's League would be held in 2027, or a year later than the initial plan that should have been held starting in 2026.

Meanwhile, the last time the Women's League rolled out was in 2019. After that, there was not a single special competition for women's soccer to be held in the country.