The FAM Cup (Malay: Piala FAM) was a knock-out tournament for teams in both the Malaysia M3 League and the

Malaysia M4 League The Malaysia M4 League ( ms, Liga M4 Malaysia) is a fourth tier state level football league in the Malaysian football league system. The league was created in 2018 as part of the Malaysian Football League's plan to reform the Malaysian football ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The tournament was a cup format, but from 2008 to 2018 was held as a third-tier league tournament and used the FAM League (Malay: Liga FAM) name. The competition was first held in September 1951. Up to 1973, the competition was open to state teams that also competed in the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

, before the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM, ms, Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia responsible for organising the Malaysia national football team within the country. The Football Association of ...

(FAM) opened up the competition to club sides from 1974 onwards.

Format

* 1951–1973: as a secondary knockout competition between state teams only after

Piala Malaysia The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the nation's ol ...

. * 1974–1989: as a secondary knockout competition between club teams only after

. * 1990–2007: as a third-tier knockout competition. * 2008–2018 : as a third-tier league competition.

History

Piala FAM was established in August 1951 as a secondary knockout competition to the more prestigious

Malaya Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the nation's o ...

. The competition was held between the state teams and uniformed units including

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, the

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

, the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, and the Malaysian Prison Department in its early days. The inaugural season started in September 1951 after the Malaya Cup final concluded. The final was held on 26 April 1952 between

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

and

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

which was won by Penang. Starting in 1974, the state teams were barred from entering the competition and only club sides were allowed to enter. With the advent of the two-division Semi-Pro League in 1989, the FAM Cup became a third-tier competition. In 1993, the format of the competition was changed to include a two-group league which was followed by a traditional knockout format. Promotion to the professional

M-League The Malaysian League or also known as the M-League (Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M'') is a terminology used to describe the professional association football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and it ...

was introduced for the first time in 1997, with

Johor FC Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super ...

and NS Chempaka becoming the first two sides to be promoted that year. The final knockout competition format was played out for the 2007 season where four clubs were promoted including the champions, runners-up and the losing semi-finalists. In 2008, further changes were made when the knockout stages were abolished and a double round-robin league format was introduced. The tournament was now known as Liga FAM. In 2016, the FAM decided to rename the competition again from Liga FAM back to its original name, the Piala FAM. However, the format of the competition was still contested as a league tournament as before. The final match for the 2016 season was broadcast by

Astro Arena Astro Arena may refer to: *Astro Arena (Houston), now NRG Arena, a sports centre in Reliant Park, Houston, Texas *Astro Arena (TV channel) Astro Arena is a Malaysian television station owned and operated by Radio Televisyen Malaysia and Astr ...

. A total of 16 clubs competed in the competition for the 2017 season and was divided into two groups. On 15 February 2017, Sungai Ara withdrew from the league and left the competition with 15 clubs in total. It was announced on 19 December 2018 that the format was changed back to a straight knock-out tournament, starting from the 2019 season. This proposal was scrapped however as the

rebranded the competition as the Malaysia M3 League from the 2019 season onwards, with the FAM taking control of both the Malaysia M3 League and the

as well.

Logo evolution

Since the inception of the competition in 1951, numerous logos were introduced to reflect the sponsorship. For the 2017 season a new logo was unveiled. File:2013 FAM League Logo.png, The logo that was used from

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

until the end of the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Format

History

Logo evolution

Clubs

Champions

As Malaysia FAM Cup

Performances by clubs/teams and states

Performance by club (1952–present)

Performance by states (1952–present)

References