Malaysia Super League

Astro Malaysia Super League
Association	Football Association of Malaysia
First edition	1982
master	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (6th title)
Record champions	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (6 wins)
Current season	2019
Website	www.fam.org.my
Qualification for	AFC Cup
↓ Malaysia Premier League

The Malaysia Super League is a football league in Malaysia . It is also the highest league in the country. The most successful club in the Super League is Johor Darul Ta'zim FC with six consecutive titles from 2014 to 2019.

history

Until 1981 there was no championship in Malaysia, which was played in the league system. The highest competition until 1981 was the Malaya Cup , later the Malaysia Cup . At a meeting of the regional football associations in Malaysia in 1982, it was decided to introduce a football league. However, this should primarily serve as a qualifying competition for the Malaysia Cup . Today, however, the league is independent and is of great importance for football in Malaysia. Initially, only teams representing the associations of the individual states of Malaysia , the military and the police were admitted . There were also teams from neighboring countries from Brunei and Singapore . For example, a Singapore team played in the league until 1994 . In later years, football clubs were also allowed.

The first champion of the new league competition was Penang FA . To date there have been several changes to the league system.

From 1989 to 2003 there were two leagues, the 1st and the 2nd division. Between 1994 and 1997 the two leagues were merged into one league.

Master from 1982 to 2003

season	master
1982	Penang FA
1983	Malacca FA
1984	Selangor FA
1985	Singapore
1986	Kuala Lumpur FA
1987	Pahang FA
1988	Kuala Lumpur FA
1989	Division 1: Selangor FA
1990	Division 1: Selangor FA
1991	Division 1: Johor FA
1992	Division 1: Pahang FA
1993	Division 1: Kedah FA
1994	Singapore
1995	Pahang FA
1996	Sabah FA
1997	Sarawak FA
1998	Premier 1: Penang FA
1999	Premier 1: Pahang FA
2000	Premier 1: Selangor FA
2001	Premier 1: Penang FA
2002	Premier 1: Perak FA
2003	Premier 1: Perak FA

2004 until today

In 2004 it replaced the M-League as the highest league. At the beginning only eight teams played in the league and the last two teams were relegated to the second division. The Malaysian Football Association also decided to privatize the league and founded the company MSL Sendirian Berhad , which should take care of the marketing.

From 2004 to 2006 there was the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League with two groups as the 2nd division. Since 2007, they have returned to a single-track league operation. As of the 2009 season, the league will be played with 14 teams in the round two and no foreign players may be signed any more.

Champion of the Malaysia Super League since 2004

season	master	Runner-up	3rd place
2004	Pahang FA	Public Bank FC	Perlis FA
2005	Perlis FA	Pahang FA	Perak FA
2005/06	Negeri Sembilan FA	Telecom Malaysia	Perak FA
2006/07	Kedah FA	Perak FA	DPMM FC
2007/08	Kedah FA	Negeri Sembilan FA	Johor FC
2009	Selangor FA	Perlis FA	Kedah FA
2010	Selangor FA	Kelantan FA	Terengganu FA
2011	Kelantan FA	Terengganu FA	Selangor FA
2012	Kelantan FA	Singapore LionsXII	Selangor FA
2013	Singapore LionsXII	Selangor FA	Johor FC
2014	Johor FC	Selangor FA	Pahang FA
2015	Johor FC	Selangor FA	Pahang FA
2016	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	FELDA United	Kedah FA
2017	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Pahang FA	FELDA United
2018	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Perak FA	PKNS FC
2019	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Pahang FA	Selangor FA
2020

Ranking list

team	master	season
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	6th	2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Kedah FA	2	2006/2007, 2007/2008
Selangor FA		2009, 2010
Kelantan FA		2011, 2012
Pahang FA	1	2004
Perlis FA		2005
Negeri Sembilan FA		2005/2006
Singapore LionsXII		2013

Clubs of the Super League 2020

team	Location	Stadion	capacity
FELDA United	Jengka	Do Abdul Razak Stadium	25,000
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	Johor Bahru	Tan Sri Dato 'Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium	30,000
Kedah FA	Alor Setar	Darul Aman Stadium	32,387
Melaka United	Central Melaka	Hang Jebat Stadium	40,000
Pahang FA	Kuantan	Darul Makmur Stadium	40,000
Perak TBG FA	Ipoh	Perak Stadium	42,500
Petaling Jaya City FC	Petaling Jaya	Petaling Jaya Stadium	25,000
PDRM FA	Kuala Lumpur	Kuala Lumpur Stadium	18,000
Sabah FA	Sabah	Likas Stadium	35,000
Selangor FA	Shah Alam	Shah Alam Stadium	80,372
Terengganu FA	Kuala Terengganu	Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium	15,000
UiTM FC	Shah Alam	UiTM Stadium	10,000

criticism

In the history of league football in Malaysia, criticism has also been frequent on various points.

Radical changes in position

After the league started with only eight teams in 2004, there were often very radical changes in position in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. 2005 was Perak FA after 14 matchdays on the last place in the table. After six wins in a row, the team was in second place and ended the season in third place. In the 2006 season, Selangor MPPJ led the table after ten game days. Eight defeats in a row brought the team into relegation difficulties and they could only save themselves with two wins from the last two games.

Constant change of the league format

The reason for the establishment of the TM Liga Super was to further raise the standard of football in Malaysia. However, the press criticizes that there is no difference to the previous M-League . In addition, the many changes to the league format would not help stabilize football and the teams.

Foreign players

The use of foreign players is not seen as helpful in advancing football in Malaysia. Most teams and clubs see foreign players as a necessity, so the squad is usually filled with foreigners. Most of the time, these players are signed up for pre-season trial sessions. It often happens that some players are dismissed after two or three games or that they are not used for the entire season.

Ivan Ziga, a player from Slovakia , was part of the Sarawak FA squad. He later complained that his contract was terminated for no reason nine months before it ended. Furthermore, he would never have received a salary. When he submitted his complaint to FAM , it only responded when he threatened FIFA . There are several cases of this kind, especially with players from Africa whose contracts were simply terminated and then left to fend for themselves.

Best goalscorers since 1989

season	player	society	Gates
1989	Zainal Abidin Hassan	Selangor FA	12
1990	Alistair Edwards	Singapore	13
1991	Abbas Saad	Johor FA	11
1992	Zainal Abidin Hassan	Pahang FA	12
1993	Mohd Hashim Mustapha	Kelantan FA	13
1994	Mohd Hashim Mustapha	Kelantan FA	25th
1995	Scott Ollerenshaw	Sabah FA	22nd
1996	Scott Ollerenshaw	Sabah FA	18th
1997	Laszlo Repasi	Perak FA	19th
1998	Vyatcheslav Melnikov	Pahang FA	17th
1999	Azman Adnan	Penang FA	13
2000	Azizul Kamaluddin	Pahang FA	12
2001	Norizam Ali Hassan	Perak FA	13
2002	Muhamad Khalid Jamlus	Perak FA	17th
2003	Phillimon Chepita	Perlis FA	23
2004	Indra Putra Mahayuddin	Pahang FA	15th
2005	Júlio Rodriguez Zacharia Simukonda	Sabah FA Perlis FA	18th
2005/06	Keita Mandjou	Perak FA	17th
2006/07	Keita Mandjou Mohd Shahrazen Said	Perak FA DPMM FC	21st
2007/08	Marlon Alex James	Kedah FA	23
2009	Mohd Nizaruddin Yusof	Perlis FA	18th
2010	Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin	Terengganu FA	18th
2011	Abdul Hadi Yahya	Terengganu FA	20th
2012	Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona Francis Forkey Doe	Negeri Sembilan FA Terengganu FA	15th
2013	Marlon Alex James	ATM FA	16
2014	Paulo Rangel	Selangor FA	16
2015	Dramane Traore	PDRM FA	19th
2016	Jorge Pereyra Díaz	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC	18th
2017	Mohammed Ghaddar	Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (5) Kelantan FA (18)	23
2018	Rufino Segovia	Selangor FA	19th
2019	Kpah Sherman	PKNS FC	14th
2020

Sponsor of the Malaysia Super League

season	sponsor	League name
2004	Dunhill	Dunhill League Super
2005-2010	TM	TM League Super
2011	No sponsor	League super
2012-2014	Astro	Astro Liga Super Malaysia
2015-2017	No sponsor	League Super Malaysia
2018	Unifi	Unifi League Super Malaysia
2019	No sponsor	League Super Malaysia
2020	CIMB Group	CIMB League Super Malaysia

Foreign players and transfer regulations

The transfer rules for foreign players have changed several times since the league was founded. In 2009, the FAM took a drastic measure when it changed the transfer rules that no foreign players could be signed until 2011. Foreign players were only allowed to sign a contract in the league again from the 2012 season.

All overseas players must obtain an international transfer certificate from their former national football association, which their former clubs completed, before they can register with FAM to play in the Malaysia Super League.

season	number	Remarks
2009-2011	0	No foreign player may be under contract
2012	2
2013	3
2014	4th	4 foreigners, but only 3 on the field at the same time
2015-2017	4th	4 foreigners, including 1 Asian player
2018-2021	5	5 foreigners, including 1 Asian player and 1 ASEAN player

Explanations / individual evidence

1. ↑ See also S-League # 1988 - 1995
2. ↑ rsssf.com: List of masters since 1982
3. ↑ Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos Stadium (Larkin Stadium) , StadiumDB.com. Retrieved November 3, 2017. 
4. ↑ Darul Aman Stadium , Perbadanan Stadium-Negeri Kedah Darul Aman Stadium. Retrieved November 4, 2017. 
5. ↑ Hang Jebat Stadium, Perbadanan Stadium Melaka. Retrieved November 4, 2017. 
6. ↑ Darul Makmur Stadium , StadiumDB.com. Retrieved November 3, 2017. 
7. ↑ Perak to play at Lumut Stadium in 2018 . Astro Stadium. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
8. ↑ Kenali pasukan Terengganu , Sinar Harian. Retrieved November 3, 2017. 

See also

• List of the highest national soccer divisions

Web links

• Football Association of Malaysia
• Malaysia Soccer Fan Blog
• Current league videos and highlights
• Results and live ticker