{{for, the professional football club created after season 1 of the TV show, UPB-MyTeam F.C. ''MyTeam'' is a

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 ...

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series which aired on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

. The idea behind the show was to select a team of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

players with no professional playing experience known as "MyTeam", have them trained by top coach, and then have them play a match against the

Malaysian national football team The Malaysia national football team () represents Malaysia in international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia. The national team is recognised by FIFA as the successor of the defunct Malaya national football t ...

(which MyTeam lost 2-1). Season 1 of the show aired in 2006. A second season, ''MyTeam2'', aired in 2007. The season 2 team unsuccessfully challenged the Indonesia national team, 2-0). The former Malaysia national team footballer

Shebby Singh Serbegeth "Shebby" Singh ( pa, ਸਰਬੇਤਥ ਸਿੰਘ, Sarabētatha sigha; 20 August 1960 – 12 January 2022) was a Malaysian professional footballer who played as a defender. After retiring, he worked as a coach as well as a sports ...

was the coach of both MyTeam and MyTeam2. Following the success of season 1, MyTeam was subsequently invited to join the

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leagu ...

for the 2007 season. After merging with the existing club

Perak UPB FC UPB-MyTeam Football Club is a defunct Malaysian football club which formerly competed in the top tier of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super League. The team's home stadium was the Stadium MBPJ, in Petaling Jaya. The club as it exists to ...

, MyTeam joined the league under the name UPB-MyTeam FC. The club finished runners-up in the Premier League in 2007, and were thus promoted to the Malaysian Super League for the 2008 season. The series has also spawned an

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n version of the show.

Idea

Malaysian politician

Khairy Jamaluddin Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar ( Jawi: ; born 10 January 1976) is a Malaysian politician. He most recently served as Minister of Health in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 t ...

and radio DJ

Jason Lo Jason Lo (born 27 April 1975) is a Malaysian music artist, music producer, DJ, entrepreneur and former chief executive officer of Tune Talk. He is sometimes known by the nicknames "LO" and "J Lo". Early life Lo was born in Kuching, Sarawak, t ...

were the creators of the ''MyTeam'' concept, and served as the Executive Producers of the show. The idea was to have 22 non-professional players selected from trials held across Malaysia competing against the Malaysian national squad, with the selection and training of the team being track through the show's broadcasts. The show was launched through an event at Kuala Lumpur Planet Hollywood, and was hailed as a football revolution. A massive media campaign was launched to generate interest for trials and the match itself. Former Malaysian national team footballer Shebby Singh was engaged to be the team's coach.

''MyTeam'' season 1

Selection

Selections trials were open to non-professional Malaysian footballers. Participants were required to be at least 17 years of age, and had to be able to run 100 metres in less than 12 seconds. Trials were held in all 13 Malaysian states, and the top three trialists from each state were called to a final round of trials at Bukit Jalil. From a total of 39 players selected from each state, 22 were selected to be squad members of MyTeam.

Match

The match, held in the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, kicked off at 8.45 pm on May 28, 2006. Prior to the match, controversy was stirred up when the Secretary-General of 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) likened MyTeam to a packet of

instant noodles Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is ...

. There was also an element of mystery as there was a fair amount of speculation over the "national team" that would show up to play MyTeam. Some speculated that the FAM would send its under-20 side to play MyTeam. Others thought the senior Malaysian side would show up. In the end, the "Malaysia" that played MyTeam was a mixture of both the senior and under-20 sides managed by K. Rajagopal (coach for the under-20 side). MyTeam stunned Malaysia by taking the lead first, before eventually succumbing to a 2-1 defeat. In two separate incidents that occurred between goals from both teams, MyTeam's captain and Malaysian striker Zaquan Adha were sent off.

Aftermath

The match did generate a considerable amount of interest, though many scorned the supposed "revolution of Malaysian football". On a positive note, the senior team won the match; but on the negative side, Malaysia managed to play badly enough against a team of amateurs to embarrass themselves. MyTeam joined the Malaysian Premier League for the 2007 season after taking over an existing team called Perak UPB FC, competing under the name UPB-MyTeam FC. Khairy Jamaluddin and Jason Lo, who created the ''MyTeam'' show, became the President and Deputy President of UPB-MyTeam FC. The team performed well in the league, finishing runners-up and earning promotion to the Malaysian Super League for the 2008 season.

''MyTeam2''

On June 6, 2007 ''MyTeam2'' was announced by Khairy Jamaluddin. The team selected was again coached by Shebby Singh, assisted by the UPB-MyTeam FC coach

Bojan Hodak Bojan Hodak (born 4 May 1971) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player. He is the coach of Malaysia Super League club Kuala Lumpur City. Early life Hodak was born and raised in Zagreb, Croatia, as the second child in a f ...

. MyTeam2 unsuccessfully challenged the Indonesia national football team on October 21, 2-0.

External links

Official MyTeam siteMyTeam Online Community site
2000s Malaysian television series 2006 Malaysian television series debuts 2007 Malaysian television series endings Malaysian reality television series Association football reality television series TV3 (Malaysia) original programming