The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
league in
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 league replaced the former second-tier league,
Liga Perdana 2
Liga Perdana 2 or Liga Perdana Dua ( en, Premier League 2 or Premier League Two) was the nation's second-tier professional football league in Malaysia that operated from 1998 to 2003.
The league was formed and established in 1998 as second-tie ...
in the
Malaysian football league system
The Malaysian football league system, also known as the Malaysian football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in Malaysia. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between ...
.
The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs where the season usually ran from early February to late October, with a
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
break for a month depending on the
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...
. Teams played 22 matches (playing each team in the league home and away), totalling 132 matches in the season.
Most games were played on Fridays, with a few games played during weekdays.
The league operated on a system of
promotion and relegation
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
with promotion to the
Malaysia Super League
The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...
and relegation to the
Malaysia M3 League
The Malaysia M3 League ( ms, Liga M3 Malaysia) is the third level Association football, football league of the Malaysian football league system. It operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Malaysia Premier League and the Malays ...
.
In 2015, the
Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) - later known as Malaysia Football League (MFL) - was created in the course of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The partnership saw all 24 teams of the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League including 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) as a managing partner and
MP & Silva
MP & Silva Limited was an international sports marketing and media rights firm based in London. Founded in 2004 by Italian businessmen Riccardo Silva and Andrea Radrizzani, the company was primarily involved in the acquisition and international ...
as a special partner (FAM's global media and commercial advisor) to become stakeholders in the company.
The FMLLP owned, operated and ran five entities in Malaysian football under its jurisdiction, which included the Malaysia Super League (MSL), the Malaysia Premier League (MPL), the
Malaysia FA Cup
The Malaysia FA Cup ( ms, Piala FA) is an annual national knock-out football tournament in Malaysia. The cup was first held in 1990. The competition was previously managed by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), before being transferred to Fo ...
, 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 ...
and the
Piala Sumbangsih
Piala Sumbangsih (English: Malaysia Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah ( en, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup), is the Malaysian super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pitting ...
. It aimed to transform and move Malaysian football forward.
The
2022 season was the final season of the Premier League in its current form, as MFL will be discontinuing the league in favour of an expanded Super League, and a future second-tier league replacing the Premier League.
From the
2016 season to the
2018 season, the league was known as the 100PLUS Liga Premier for sponsorship reasons.
The last champions are
Johor Darul Ta'zim FC II who won the league in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
.
History
Origin
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) decided to privatise the
Malaysian 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 ...
from the 2004 season onwards where the Malaysia Super League and Malaysia Premier League were formed.
Teams in
Liga Perdana 1
Liga Perdana 1 or Liga Perdana Satu ( en, Premier League 1 or Premier League One) was the nation's top-tier professional football league in Malaysia that operated from 1998 to 2003.
The league was formed and established in 1998 to succeed the L ...
and
Liga Perdana 2
Liga Perdana 2 or Liga Perdana Dua ( en, Premier League 2 or Premier League Two) was the nation's second-tier professional football league in Malaysia that operated from 1998 to 2003.
The league was formed and established in 1998 as second-tie ...
were then put through a qualification and playoff phase to be promoted into the Malaysia Super League. Teams that failed to qualify were put into the new second-tier league, the Malaysia Premier League.
Liga Perdana 1 was the nation's top-tier league from 1994 until 2003 when it was then succeeded by the formation of a new professional football league, the Malaysia Super League in 2004 formed by the Football Association of Malaysia. Liga Perdana 2 was replaced by the new Malaysia Premier League where the teams were divided into two different groups.
The inaugural season for the new second-tier league started in 2004 with 18 teams divided into 2 said groups.
Between 2004 and 2006, the Malaysia Premier League was divided into two groups of 8 teams, with the number changing due to some teams withdrawing:
* First Division: Malaysia Super League
* Second Division: Malaysia Premier League Group A
* Second Division: Malaysia Premier League Group B
At the end of the season, the top team from each group of the Malaysia Premier League were promoted to the Malaysia Super League. The teams that finished at the bottom of each group were relegated to the
Malaysia FAM League
The FAM Cup (Malay: Piala FAM) was a knock-out tournament for teams in both the Malaysia M3 League and the Malaysia M4 League in Malaysian football league system, Malaysia. The tournament was a cup format, but from 2008 to 2018 was held as a thi ...
. The two group champions also faced-off to determine the Malaysia Premier League champion.
2007 league revamp as a single group
For the 2006-07 season, the Malaysia Premier League was reorganised into a single division of 11 teams instead of being a competition involving two separate groups of teams. There were a fewer number of teams due to more teams being promoted to the Malaysia Super League, as part of that league's expansion, while some others withdrew from the Malaysia Premier League.
From 2007 onwards, the Malaysia Premier League was combined into one single league.
* First Division: Malaysia Super League
* Second Division: Malaysia Premier League
2010 league season with 12 teams
Over the years since its formation, the league has witnessed numerous changes to its format in order to accommodate the changes to the rules and number of teams competing in the league, only since the
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
season was when the number of teams competing was stabilised to 12 teams.
In 2015, the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) was created in the course of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The partnership saw all 24 teams of the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League including the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) as the Managing Partner and MP & Silva as a special partner (FAM's global media and commercial advisor) to become stakeholders in the company.
The company owned, operated and ran five entities in Malaysian football under its jurisdiction, which included the Malaysia Super League, the Malaysia Premier League, the Malaysia FA Cup, the Malaysia Cup and the Piala Sumbangsih. It aimed to transform and move Malaysian football forward.
End of Premier League
MFL has announced in 2022 that it will be discontinuing the league in favour of an expanded Super League from 2023 and a future second-tier semi-professional league replacing the Premier League, meaning that
2022 season is to be the final season of the Premier League in its current form. Excluding feeder teams and FAM-MSN Project team, which will be shifted into the Reserve League, the remaining 6 teams from the 2022 season will have the chance to be promoted to the 18-team
2023 Malaysia Super League
The 2023 Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia 2023), is the 20th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia for association football clubs since its establishment in 2004, and the 42nd s ...
at the end of the season, either automatically (top 4 teams) or through playoffs with the top 2
2022 Malaysia M3 League teams (bottom 2 teams).
[ Late in 2022 though, it was decided by MFL to cancel the playoffs and promote all the non-feeder teams to 2023 Super League, as teams from M3 League have failed in their Super League licence application.
]
Club licensing regulations
Every team in the Malaysia Premier League must have a licence to play in the league, or risk getting relegated from the league. To obtain a licence, teams must be financially healthy and meet certain standards of conduct such as organizational management. As part of the privatisation efforts for the Malaysian Football League, all clubs competing in the Malaysia Super League and Malaysia Premier League are required to obtain FAM Club Licensing.
As a preliminary preparation towards the total privatisation of the league, FAM Club Licensing Regulations was created with the hope of it being enforced throughout the Malaysia Super League fully by the end of 2018 and the Malaysia Premier League by end of 2019.
Privatisation of the league's football clubs
In November 2016, the Melaka United Soccer Association became the third FAM affiliate to separate itself from the management of its football team with a separate entity called Melaka United F.C. from the 2017 Malaysia Super League season onwards. The first two being the Pahang Football Association with Pahang F.C.
Sri Pahang Football Club () is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuantan, Pahang. Founded in 1959 and has traditionally worn a yellow home kit since. At the beginning, club's home matches were held around the city public fields an ...
and the Johor Football Association
Johore Football Association (JFA; ms, Persatuan Bolasepak Negeri Johor (PBNJ)) is the governing body of football for the state of Johor, Malaysia. JFA is responsible for coordinating and developing football in the state of Johor and has teame ...
with Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.
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 Supe ...
in early 2016.
State football associations such as the Johor Football Association
Johore Football Association (JFA; ms, Persatuan Bolasepak Negeri Johor (PBNJ)) is the governing body of football for the state of Johor, Malaysia. JFA is responsible for coordinating and developing football in the state of Johor and has teame ...
shifted its focus to state football development and managing their own state league, the Johor Darul Taʼzim League
Johor Darul Tazim League is the state football league in Johor. The league is managed by the Johor Football Association. The league has been established since 1922 albeit undergoes multiple iteration of structures until its current structure took ...
.
In February 2017, the FMLLP released a statement regarding the official status of Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. and Johor Darul Ta'zim II F.C. where Johor Darul Ta'zim II became an official feeder club to Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. when the feeder club agreement between both clubs was approved on 19 August 2016. Through the agreement, both clubs were allowed an additional four player transfer quota which can be used outside of the normal transfer windows for players between both clubs. The feeder club was also required to register a minimum of 12 players under the age of 23 for its squad from 2017 onwards. A feeder club will be required to be in the league below the main club at all times which meant that Johor Darul Ta'zim II will never be allowed promotion even if the club won the Malaysia Premier League. By 2018, a feeder club must field four players under the age of 23 in their first eleven during match days and a feeder club is not allowed to play in other cup competitions where the parent club competes in such as the Malaysia FA Cup and the Malaysia Cup.
Logo evolution
Since the inception of the league as the second-tier league in 2004, numerous logos had been introduced for the league to reflect sponsorships. In its inaugural season, the Dunhill logo was incorporated as a title sponsor and it was the only season sponsored by the tobacco company before tobacco advertising
Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products ...
was banned in the country.
From 2004 to 2010, the Malaysia Premier League incorporated the TM brand as part of its logo as the title sponsor.
After the end of the TM sponsorship which lasted for seven consecutive years, FAM launched a new logo for the 2011 season where it was partnered with Astro Media as a strategic partner for the Malaysian League marketing. The Astro branding was only incorporated as part of the Malaysia Premier League logo from the 2012 season which included the wording of Malaysia until the partnership ended at the end of the 2014 season.
In the 2015 season, no title sponsor was incorporated when the league was sponsored by MP & Silva. For the 2016 season a new logo was introduced as part of the takeover of the league by the FMLLP where 100PLUS was announced as title sponsor.
Sponsorship
Finances
The FMLLP introduced the merit-point system starting from the 2016 season. Points were awarded based on a team’s league position, progress in the Cup competitions (Malaysia FA Cup and Malaysia Cup) and the number of live matches shown. A point in the season’s Malaysian League was worth RM41,000.
The money is distributed twice per season. First during early in the season where the teams will receive a basic payment out of that particular year's league sponsorship and the second payment will be received at the end of the season where all merit-points have been calculated. For the 2016 season, the first basic payment consisted of a 30 percent cut out of the RM70 million in league sponsorship that equated to RM21 million which was distributed among the 24 teams of the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League.
Teams in the Malaysian League have quite often been involved in financial problems as their spending was more than their revenue. The Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia
Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia ( ms, Persatuan Pemain Bolasepak Profesional Malaysia, abbrev: PFAM)
is a representative organisation for professional football players in Malaysia, established in 2009. It is affiliated with the ...
(PFAM) is one of the active members in pursuing the issue of unpaid salaries. In January 2016, the PFAM president suggested a couple of solutions to promote financial sustainability on the competing teams' parts where the teams should make long-term investments by operating according to their budgets and requiring teams' wage bills to be no bigger than 60 percent of their total spending. Other suggestions included for the salaries to be deducted directly from team grants and winning prizes, for points to be deducted from teams experiencing payment issues, and a ruling that requires teams to settle all their late salary payments before the start of every new season.
In response to these issues, the FMLLP decided that starting from the 2016 season, football clubs would be given warnings with the deduction of three league points if they failed to pay a player's salary. If the problem persists, it will affect the licence of the clubs. When a club's licence is withdrawn, the team will not be able to compete in the next season. If a team doesn't adopt the right structure, they will be left behind and club licensing will be a problem for them, with the team ultimately dropping out from competing in the league.
Other than this, each team raises revenue via sponsorship deals from local, regional and international sponsors for their team.
Media coverage
Radio Televisyen Malaysia
Radio Televisyen Malaysia ( en, Radio Television of Malaysia, abbreviated as RTM, stylised as rtm), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia ( ms, Jabatan Penyiaran Malaysia) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia. Establi ...
(RTM), a free-to-air broadcaster had been broadcasting the Malaysian League for years even before the formation of the Malaysia Premier League. They continued to broadcast the league for the most part exclusively until the end of the 2010 season where Astro Media were announced as sponsors and were contracted to manage the broadcasting rights of the league for four years spanning from 2011 until the 2014 seasons. During this time, the league was broadcast on one of the cable channels of Astro Media, which was 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 ...
alongside RTM where it showed free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
broadcasts. In 2015, Astro Media lost the broadcasting rights to the league where the rights were given to Media Prima
Media Prima Berhad, doing business as Media Prima and stylised as media prima, is a Malaysian media company based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It is Malaysia's largest media and entertainment conglomerate with business interests in television, pri ...
, a parent company of multiple free-to-air channels alongside the broadcast with RTM. In 2016, RTM stopped broadcasting the Malaysia Premier League. However, the broadcasting rights for the 2016 season were given to Media Prima for 3 years with a maximum of three games in each gameweek shown live on television.
In 2019, MyCujoo won the Malaysia Premier League broadcasting rights for the 2019 season, with MyCujoo airing up to 3 games per week and in 2020, aired all 66 games of the season that was truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Although the broadcasting rights were held by the broadcasters, Malaysia Premier League matches have not been shown live for a quite some time as most of the production is fully utilised for Malaysia Super League matches. As a result, matches from the Malaysia Premier League most of the time are only shown as highlights for sports news segments on local television.
Champions
Since the inception of the Malaysia Premier League as a second-tier league in 2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
, Kedah
Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...
, PDRM FA
Royal Malaysia Police Football Club (), well known as PDRM FC, is a Malaysian professional football club associated with the entity of the Royal Malaysia Police, that participate in the Malaysia Super League. The club is based in Kuala Lumpur. ...
and Felda United
Felda United Football Club is a Malaysian football club based in Jengka, Pahang which is owned by the Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).[double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...]( ...<br></span></div> are the most successful Malaysia Premier League teams with two titles.
<h2><br><p> Best performing teams </h2></p>
Table below is a list of the number of league winners since 2004.
<h1><br><p> Great honours </h1></p>
Great honours for the Malaysia Premier League are entitled to the team who have won 2 trophies (<div class=)
) or 3 trophies ( treble) in the same season. It covers the Malaysia Premier League, Malaysia FA Cup and the Malaysia Cup. As of 2021, only 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 ...
have achieved this feat.
Treble
Players
Golden Boot winners
Below is the list of golden boot winners of the Malaysia Premier League since its inception as a second-tier league in 2004.
Foreign players
The foreign players policy has changed multiple times since the league's inception. In 2009, FAM took a drastic measure when they changed the foreign players policy to banned them from playing in the league until 2011. Foreign players were only allowed be back to the league starting from the 2012 season onwards.
All foreign players must obtain International Transfer Certificate
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
from their previous national football governing body that their previous clubs are affiliated to before they can be register with the FAM in order to play in the Malaysia Premier League.
* 2009–2011: foreign players banned.
* 2012: 2 foreign players.
* 2013: 3 foreign players.
* 2014: 4 foreign players and only 3 can be on the field at a time.
* 2015–present: 4 foreign players including 1 Asian quota.
See also
* List of Liga Premier seasons Season 2004
The Liga Premier champions for 2004 were MPPJ FC (Selangor). They were promoted to Super League Malaysia 2005 along with runners-up Melaka TMFC.
Group A
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F ...
References
{{AFC second leagues
2
Second level football leagues in Asia
Sports leagues established in 2004
2004 establishments in Malaysia