2023–24 Bali United F.C. season

Due to the change of AFC competition dates to an autumn–spring format, the winners of the last two seasons of Liga 1 (Bali United as 2021–22 champions and PSM as 2022–23 champions) competed in an additional two-legged play-off to determine the allocation of AFC competition slots.[4] Bali United won the play-off by defeating PSM 5–4 on penalties after 2–2 draw on aggregate. Therefore, Bali United would compete in the preliminary round of the 2023–24 AFC Champions League.[5]

The league season began with a home loss against PSS on 1 July. Ricky Cawor scored in the early second half for PSS to give Bali their third consecutive defeat to PSS since last season.[6] Bali then suffered another defeat to Borneo Samarinda, the first time they had started a league campaign with consecutive losses since the 2017 season. Privat Mbarga scored first before Terens Puhiri and a brace from Matheus Pato turn things around for Borneo.[7] On 15 July, Bali achieved their first league victory of the season, a 2–1 home win against Madura United. Jefferson Assis scored a penalty and Jajang Mulyana with a header, after Jajá scored a penalty in the early first half. This match was marked by 3 red cards, 1 for Bali and 2 for Madura.[8] On 21 July, Bali obtained their second consecutive league victory with a 3–1 away (played in Bali's home of Kapten I Wayan Dipta) win against Arema. Gustavo scored the opening goal in the 14th minute, before Elias Dolah equalised in the first half. Ricky Fajrin and Jefferson then scored two goals in order to secure victory against Arema.[9] On 29 July, Bali obtained their third consecutive league victory with a 3–1 home win against Dewa United. Again, Bali was left behind first by a goal from Ricky Kambuaya, before Jefferson equalised just before half time with a penalty. Two substitutes, Ilija Spasojević and Kadek Agung then scored two goals in order to secure victory against Dewa United, who were on top of the league table, having started the season on a four-match unbeaten streak.[10]

On the next match Bali faced Persib in their away league game. Both teams had plenty of chances but ultimately had to settle for a goalless draw as Bali extended their unbeaten league record against the West Java side to 11 matches, dating back to May 2017.[11] They hosted Persik four days later. Éber Bessa shotted home in the 41st minute, but following a foul in the penalty area by Dolah, Yohanes Pahabol slotted home the penalty in the third minute of stoppage time.[12] Bali played their second home encounter in August against last year champions PSM. Rizky Eka Pratama opened the scoring for PSM in the 5th minute with a left-footed kick from just outside the penalty area. Bali equalised seven minutes later when Mbarga scored after escape the offside trap. Yance Sayuri slotted home from a free-kick before the break to bring PSM into the lead, despite playing with 10-men because Safrudin Tahar got a red card. Substitute Spasojević drew Bali level again on 74th minute before sealed the victory 11 minutes later with his second goal. This is their first league win against PSM since 2019.[13] Eight days later Bali travelled to Persis. Jefferson scored his fourth Liga 1 goal; however, it was not enough to earn a point due to the goals from Diego Bardanca, Fernando Rodríguez and their former player Arapenta Poerba. Bali lost two straight away matches in three days – after a devastating lost in Hong Kong.[14] On 27 August, Bali faced Barito Putera. A back-pass error from Carli de Murga to the keeper made Spasojević scored smoothly to open an early lead. But Bali led only briefly before Gustavo Tocantins scored the equaliser from a penalty. Rahmat then made it 2–1 after a pass from Mbarga and sealed the win.[15]

In the last match before international break, Bali were away to PSIS and left behind in the 25th minute when Carlos Fortes scored after a corner kick. In the 50th minute, Gali Freitas doubled the lead for PSIS. Jefferson scored his fifth goal of the season but it wasn't enough to prevent the loss from the home side.[16] Bali then suffered another defeat to RANS Nusantara. Kenshiro Daniels and Evandro Brandão scored for RANS before they conceded a goal by Yabes Roni to give Bali their first ever home defeat to RANS.[17] They visited Persija four days after their AFC Cup match in Biñan. Their two-game winless run was continued after Rahmat Arjuna' first half goal – his first Bali goal – was cancelled out by a second half goal from Ondřej Kúdela. Haudi received a second yellow card in the 63th minute. Despite with 10-men, they almost scored a winning goal if Irfan Jaya didn't miss the one-on-one chance against Andritany Ardhiyasa.[18] Five days later, they welcomed Persikabo 1973 at home. A goal each from Novri and Jefferson, both scoring after mistakes from opposing goalkeeper, secured the win.[19]

Nine days later, they visited Bhayangkara Presisi Indonesia. Éber opened the scoring for Bali with a free kick in the 34th minute, and Dolah extended their lead just before half-time. Sani Rizki scored for Bhayangkara, but only narrowed the gap as Bali pick up the win. The win also extended Bali's unbeaten run to five in all competitions.[20] On 20 October, Bali obtained their third consecutive league victory with a 3–1 home win against Persebaya. Mbarga scored in the first half, before Dušan Stevanović equalised on the 48th minute. Mbarga doubled their lead with a solo run before Jefferson scored the penalty in order to secure victory.[21]

As the winner of the AFC Club Competition play-off, Bali United faced 2022–23 Hong Kong Premier League runners-up Lee Man in the preliminary round of the qualifying play-off east region.[23] Bali were defeated 5–1 by Lee Man, with a brace from Mitchel Paulissen and a goal each from Gil, Everton Camargo and José Ángel cancelled Tsui Wang Kit's own goal.[24]

Date	Round	Opponent	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
16 August 2023 – 20:00	Preliminary round	Lee Man	A	1–5	Tsui Wang Kit (o.g.)	4,238	Abdullah Jamali

As one of the losers in the Champions League preliminary round, Bali entered the AFC Cup group stage. This was their fifth AFC Cup campaign. They entered the competition in the group stage, which was drawn on 24 August 2023, with Bali in Pot 2 ASEAN Zone along with Macarthur and Hougang United.[25] They are drawn into Group G with Malaysian club Terengganu, Philippines representative Stallion Laguna and Australian champions Central Coast Mariners. The meetings with all of clubs in this group are Bali's first against teams. The group stage began on 20 September and will be concluded on 13 December 2023.[26]

In the first match, Bali were away to Stallion Laguna. After a slow start, Bali took the lead when Ilija Spasojević was put through by Éber Bessa and curled his shot past the goalkeeper. Laguna's response was swift and clinical as a quick interchange of passes allowed Junior Ngong Sam squeezing his shot past Adilson Maringá in the 30th minute. They retook the lead just three minutes later, Bessa's corner kick found Haudi Abdillah unmarked to head in Bali's second. The two teams got penalty each and missed it before the first half ends. Bali got their third goal in the 54th minute when Mohammed Rashid latched onto Privat Mbarga's perfectly lofted pass to fire in, giving them a valuable gap in the match. The Tridatu Warriors kept up the intensity and increased their lead further with two goals in quick succession through Rahmat (69th) and Spasojević (72nd). Laguna pulled a goal back through Abraham Placito in the 88th minute but it was nothing more than scant consolation for the Filipino side.[27] Bali hosted Terengganu on 4 October. After a goalless draw in the first half, Bali finally broke the deadlock through Mbarga, who finished off Jajang Mulyana's corner from close range. But Terengganu struck back with an 84th minute equalizer courtesy of a Syahmi Zamri's tap-in following Hakim Hassan's headed pass.[28] The next match, they faced Central Coast Mariners in Australia. Warshawsky gave Bali a 17th minute lead when he fumbled Mbarga's cross through his own legs and over the goal line but with Marco Túlio and Jacob Farrell both scoring braces, also a goal from Christian Theoharous and an own goal from Kadek Arel Priyatna only could be replied by Mbarga and Jefferson Assis.[29]

Date	Opponent	H / A	Result F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee	Group position
20 September 2023 – 16:00	Stallion Laguna	A	5–2	Spasojević (2), Haudi, Rashid, Rahmat	350	Zaid Thamer Mohammed	1
4 October 2023 – 20:00	Terengganu	H	1–1	Mbarga	2,180	Bijan Heydari	1
26 October 2023 – 16:00	Central Coast Mariners	A	3–6	Warshawsky (o.g.), Mbarga, Jefferson		Kim Woo-sung	3
8 November 2023 – 20:00	Central Coast Mariners	H
29 November 2023 – 20:00	Stallion Laguna	H
13 December 2023 – 20:00	Terengganu	A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Central Coast Mariners	3	2	0	1	15	5	+10	6	Zonal semi-finals
2	Terengganu	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5	Possible Zonal semi-finals
3	Bali United	3	1	1	1	9	9	0	4
4	Stallion Laguna	3	0	1	2	5	16	−11	1