Liga Nusantara

Liga Nusantara (English: Archipelago League), known as PNM Liga Nusantara for sponsorship reasons with PNM, is the third-tier of the football competition system in Indonesia, organized by Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI).^[1] The competition started in 2014 after PSSI merged the previous competitions, Liga Indonesia Second Division and Liga Indonesia Third Division. The competition is usually divided into several groups because of factors in terms of geography and number of participants.

The competition was established after Liga Indonesia Second Division and Liga Indonesia Third Division merged in 2014. Starting in 2015, the Liga Indonesia First Division was also merged with Liga Nusantara making it the third-tier level in Indonesian football system.^[1] Persatu Tuban won the competition's first season.^[2]

In 2017, Liga Nusantara was renamed to Liga 3, along with Indonesian Super League and Indonesian Premier Division which were renamed to Liga 1 and Liga 2, respectively.^[3]

In 2024, Liga 3 was renamed back to the Liga Nusantara, along with the establishment of Liga 4 as fourth-tier level.

The system that will be used in Liga 3 is a full competition with a home-away format. Each participating club is required to compete at least 18 times during the competition season. This is different from previous amateur competitions where the number of matches per club can be uneven. There are those who can compete more than 10, but there are also those who only competed 2 times.

Each province will hold a provincial phase, they are followed by amateur clubs without a limit of participants with different competition formats, the difference in the format is due to the different number of participants in each province. Furthermore, the teams that qualify from the provincial phase will compete in national phase.

A total of 80 teams will enter this phase.

• First round: 80 teams are divided into sixteen groups of 5. Each group is played on a home tournament basis. Winner and runner-up of each group advance to the second round.
• Second round: 32 teams which are the winners and runners-up from each group of the first round. They divided into eight groups of 4 and each winner and runner-up advances to the third round.
• Third round: 16 teams are divided into two groups. Each group is played on a home tournament basis. Same as previous round, the winner and runner-up of each group advance to the fourth round.
• Fourth round: 8 teams are divided into two groups. The three best teams of each group are promoted to the Liga 2. The winner of each group also advances to the final.
• Final: The 2 group winners from the fourth round play in the final match. The final played as a single match.

The league format was announced on 7 November 2024. There will be no provincial or national phase. Instead, there will be four rounds:^[4]

• Regular round: 16 teams being divided into two group of eight, with the round being played in a centralized format of double round-robin matches. The top three teams of each group will qualify for the championship round, while the remaining teams will qualify for the relegation play-offs.
• Relegation play-offs: 10 teams will be divided into two groups of five teams, with the round wil be played in a centralized format of single round-robin matches. The bottom three teams of each group will be relegated to the 2025–26 Liga 4.
• Championship round: 6 teams will be divided into two groups of three teams ,with the round will be played in home-and-away round-robin matches. The group winners will advance to the final and promoted to the 2025–26 Liga 2. The group runners-up will enter to the promotion play-off.
• Promotion play-off & Final: The play-off and final will be played as a single match. If tied after regulation time, extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out will be used to decide the winning team. The winner of the play-off match will be promoted to the 2025–26 Liga 2, while the winner of the final match being crowned as champions.

Sumut United

PSDS

Tornado

757 Kepri Jaya

Persiba Balikpapan

Persipani

Waanal Brothers

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Locations of non-Java-based 2024–25 Liga Nusantara teams.
Red: Group 1; Blue: Group 2

Perserang

PCB Persipasi

Persikab

PSGC

PSCS

Persiba Bantul

PSM Madiun

NZR Sumbersari

Persekabpas

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Locations of Java-based 2024–25 Liga Nusantara teams.
Red: Group 1; Blue: Group 2

Note: According to 2024–25 season.

Season	Player	Club
2014	Edi Winarno[5]	Persatu Tuban
2017	Assanur Rijal	Aceh United
2018	Galih Akbar	Persik Kediri
2019	Rizki Hidayat	Persijap Jepara
2021–22	Rian Ramadan	Karo United
2023–24	Sehabudin Ahmad	Adhyaksa Farmel
2024–25

Season	Top scorer	Club	Goals
2014	Imam Bagus Kurnia	Laga	4
2017	Arianto	Aceh United	7
2018	Septian Bagaskara	Persik Kediri	21
2019	Rikza Syawali	PSKC Cimahi	9
2021–22	Adam Malik	Putra Delta Sidoarjo	11
2023–24	Andi Sopian	Dejan	9
2024–25

• Official website