The 40th

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

was played from 15 to 25 October 2008. The tournament was won by

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

, who defeated

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 ...

6-5 on penalties in the final.

Teams

* * * (host country) *^* * * *^** *^*** ^*''

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

replaced

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

following Kazakhstan’s failure to confirm participation.

will play with their Under 20 squad.'' ^**''Sierra Leone will be sending their Under 20 squad.'' ^***''Vietnam will be sending their Under 22 squad.''

Stadiums

^*Venue for last group match change because of the poor pitch condition at the MBPJ Stadium.Malaysia demolish young Sierra Leone side to sail into the semis
Thestar 18 October 2008.

Group Stages

All times local (

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

)

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stages

All times local (

)

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Final

Winners

Goalscorers

;5 goals * Mohd Safee Mohd Sali ;4 goals *

Indra Putra Mahayuddin Indra Putra Bin Mahayuddin (born 2 September 1981) is a former Malaysian professional footballer. He is the all-time highest goalscorer of the Malaysia Super League. He is a versatile forward, who can operate as a striker or a winger. Club ...

* Phan Thanh Bình ;3 goals *

Dwight Foray Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer * New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors ...

;2 goals * Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak * Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin * Alusine Turay *

Mohamed Kabia Mohamed Kabia (born 4 October 1988) is a Sierra Leonean footballer who plays as a forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association foot ...

* Hoàng Đình Tùng * Nguyễn Đức Thiện * Trịnh Quang Vinh *

Soe Myat Min U Soe Myat Min ( my, စိုးမြတ်မင်း, ; born 19 May 1982) is a former Burmese footballer. He played for the Myanmar national team and spent the majority of his club career at Kanbawza. Making his debut for the national t ...

;1 goals * Lahai Freeman * Lajor Bah * Sulaiman Kamara * Amara Kamara * Mohd Amirul Hadi Zainal *

Hairuddin Omar Hairuddin Bin Omar (born 29 September 1979) also known as Hai-O is a Malaysian former international football player. He spent most of his career as a forward but can also play as a midfielder. Club career Born and raised in Setiu, 70 kilomet ...

* Mohd Nizaruddin Yusof *

Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri Mohd Khyril Muhymeen bin Zambri (born 9 May 1987) is a Malaysian footballer who plays for Petaling Jaya City in Malaysia Super League as a forward. He also played for the Malaysia national, the Malaysia U-23 and the Malaysia U-20 team. Club ...

* Mohd Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak * Hafizullah Qadami * Hashmatullah Barakzai *

Sayed Bashir Azimi ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamma ...

* Jahid Hasan Ameli * Zahid Hossain *

Jumanu Rai Ju Manu Rai (Nepali: जुमानु राई; born 24 January 1984 in Sarlahi District) is a Nepalese footballer, who currently plays for Nepal Police Club and the national side of Nepal. Career He used to play the local tournaments of fo ...

* Anil Gurung * Bijaya Gurung * Franciso Jange * Enio Saize * Mauricio Peguenino * Zaw Htet Aung * Min Thu *

Khin Maung Lwin Khin Maung Lwin ( my, ခင်မောင်လွင်; born 27 December 1988) is a Burmese footballer. He is the former captain of the Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA convent ...

* Nguyễn Văn Khải

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merdeka

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

2008 in Malaysian football 2008 in Afghan football 2008 in Burmese football 2008 in Nepalese sport 2008 in Sierra Leonean sport 2008 in Vietnamese football 2008 in Bangladeshi football mer Mer