Endless Wait for Women's Soccer League

Tia Darti Septiawati could only take a deep sigh upon hearing the news that the Women's League would be held in 2027. This means that Indonesia's women's football competition has been postponed once again.

The former women's national football team player was clearly disappointed but not surprised. Understandably, this was not the first time the Women's League event had been postponed. It was also not the first time Tia's hopes of competing again in domestic competitions had been dashed.

"Sad, disappointed, and it feels like there's no hope left. Moreover, the league has been postponed multiple times, and now it's postponed again to 2027, with no guarantee that it will actually take place," said Tia, who led Persib Putri to victory in the inaugural women's football competition titled Liga 1 Putri 2019.

Since the conclusion of the 2019 Women's League 1, women's football competitions in the country have been dormant. The then Chairman of PSSI, who also initiated the Women's League 1 for the first time, Mochamad Iriawan, had targeted the competition to be held again no later than April 2020. However, that target was not met due to the pandemic.

In 2021, while the three tiers of men's football competitions and junior competitions had been conducted, the Women's League still did not take place. The Head of the Women's Football Department of PSSI at the time, Papat Yunisal, stated that they respected the decision that the Women's League could not yet be held. The consideration was that clubs were just beginning to recover after being affected by the pandemic and were starting their revival by preparing for the men's competitions.

If the Women's League were forced to be held in 2021, Papat was concerned that it would not be optimal and would lack participants. Nevertheless, Papat ensured that his party solidified plans so that the Women's League could be held in 2022. However, when 2022 arrived, the league still did not take place.

In fact, at that time, PSSI encouraged the men's teams participating in Liga 1 to obtain the AFC Club Licensing Regulation. The license is granted if the criteria set by the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) are met. One of the requirements to obtain the license is to have a legally established women's team.

This is actually a bright spot for the development of women's football. Because, the AFC Club Licensing Regulation will add League 1 clubs that have women's teams. Automatically, the participants of the Women's League will increase because the competition is still prioritized for League 1 clubs.

Clubs like Persis Solo, which had just been promoted at that time, tried to meet the requirements by forming Persis Women. They had even held training for more than a year until the team was finally disbanded in early October 2023.

Persis Women was temporarily disbanded because the “hilal” of the competition was still not visible. Tia, who moved to Persis Women after leading Persib Putri to win the 2019 Women's League 1, was one of the players affected.

In fact, Tia had been willing to give up her job at a bank to join "Srikandi Sambernyawa" with a two-year contract until 2024. However, that hope was dashed.

A month earlier, the Chairperson of the PSSI Women's Football Committee, Vivin Cahyani, had actually conveyed the plan for the Women's League to be held again in 2024. In the plan, the participants in the Women's League were 10 teams competing in League 1 and the implementation of the competition was focused on Java Island.

As happened before, when the time came, the competition also did not roll. PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir when met in Bali during the U-17 Women's Asian Cup event, May 2024, confirmed that the new women's soccer league would roll in 2026. For two years leading up to 2026, PSSI chose to build the national team first.

"Well, if the national team has been consistent for 2-3 years, then we will hold a women's league in 2026. The league cannot be like the men's league which has promotion and relegation. I imagine it's like in America or Australia. This league has 6 clubs and is closed," said Erick.

Erick assessed that the players' talents are not enough to hold a competition in the near future. Erick targets the Women's League to be officially decided at the 2025 PSSI Ordinary Congress.

However, on February 20, just hours before the women's national team won 1-0 in an official FIFA match against Saudi Arabia, Erick announced something else. Erick said that his party had just held a meeting to plan the Women's League 1 which would roll in 2027.

On another occasion, Erick said that in 2027 the availability of players would be sufficient. "If possible, the league can be held in 2026, but I don't want to be too aggressive because I want to make sure that the players can match the needs of the eight teams," said Erick. (Kompas.id, 2/22/2025).

Tia said, since 2019, the players have been waiting for almost six years to experience the competition again. So far, women's footballers have been helped by the presence of PON and other tournaments, such as the Pertiwi Cup. In addition to the tournament format, PON also runs every four years.

The Pertiwi Cup is not consistently held. The national round of the Pertiwi Cup will only be held again in 2024 after being canceled in 2023. In 2023, several regions actually held the regional level Pertiwi Cup. However, because the national round did not roll, the steps of the winners from each region only stopped at the regional level.

"If we talk about the talent pool, are the players who play in PON, Piala Pertiwi, or regional tournaments not enough? If we have to wait until 2027, that means we have to wait for 8 years since we last played in the league and that is not a short time," said Tia.

In PON, for example, the women's soccer branch is followed by nine teams. From PON and the Pertiwi Cup, the national team coach, Satoru Mochizuki, was also able to get potential players for the ASEAN Women's Championship and the AFF Women's Cup even though the conditions were not ideal.

"If there is a regular competition, of course finding seeds for the national team will be easier. This is also part of coaching, the benchmark is in the competition," said Tia.

Deep down in my heart, I certainly don't want to leave football and will never really leave football. However, if I keep hoping, I will always be disappointed.

The hope of the league rolling also slowly disappeared from the heart of another former women's national team player, Hanipa Halimatusyadiah. At the age of just 20, Hanipa began to think about focusing on her business rather than waiting for something that was uncertain to come.

According to Hanipa, hoping for the presence of the league is like throwing oneself into endless disappointment. Hanipa has hoped many times, and has been disappointed many times because her hopes have not come true.

“Deep down in my heart, I certainly don't want to leave football and I won't really leave football. "It's just that if you keep hoping, you'll always be disappointed," said Hanipa.

"I'm lucky because I have other businesses, but there are quite a few friends who really depend on football for their livelihood, waiting for the league because in addition to being able to compete, they can also have a career like a professional. The longer you wait, the longer you will only rely on regional tournaments or inter-village tournaments (tarkam)," he said again.

Another female footballer, Risda Yulianti, also expressed her disappointment and pessimism because the league was postponed again. Risda also wondered why the women's football competition was difficult to hold again. "Isn't it that interesting to hold?" said Risda.

Risda also compared it to the women's futsal league. For Risda, the women's futsal league is not only a savior for footballers who cannot compete, but also an example of consistency.

The women's futsal league has been consistently held since 2012 under the name Indonesia Women's Professional Futsal League (WPFL). After the first edition produced the Women's champion Mataram FC Sleman, WPFL has been held regularly every year since 2015. Its level is still maintained with the Women's Nusantara Futsal League as the second caste of the competition.

According to Risda, the women's soccer league can be an example of a futsal league that is consistently held and tiered. Only after that, slowly improve the quality of the league from year to year.

Risda added that the players who continue to voice the presence of the women's league are not only thinking about their own careers. They are proof that the totality and love for Indonesian women's football is very great.

"We have waited longer before there was finally Liga 1 Putri. Then, now we have waited more than five years for another league. But, how long do we have to wait?" he said.