The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions associated within the Malaysian football league system.

History

Origin

The concept of an annual competition between the states in Malaysia goes back more than 100 years. In 1967, the Malaya Cup ( Malay: ''Piala Malaya'') was renamed as the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), 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 country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

( Malay: ''Piala Malaysia'') but essentially the amateur ethos continued until the foundations of a nationwide Malaysian football league was introduced by the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (commonly abbreviated as FAM; ) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia, headquartered at Wisma FAM. The FAM is also one of the founding members of both the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) a ...

(FAM) in 1979 as a "halfway house" towards full professional status through a revamp of the format for the

Era of Liga Malaysia (1979–1989)

A Malaysian football league competition involving the representative sides of the state football associations was first held in Malaysia in 1979. When it began, it was intended primarily as a qualifying tournament for the knockout stages of the Malaysia Cup where teams competed in a one-round league before advancing to the knockout stages. The top four teams at the end of the league will face off in two semi-finals before the winners advance to the finals. In 1981, the quarter-finals stage were introduced where eight teams qualified from the preliminary stage. However, it was not until 1982 that a league trophy was introduced for Liga Malaysia to recognise the winners of the preliminary stage as the league champions which then officially started the era of a nationwide

football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

in Malaysia at an amateur level. Since then, the Malaysia Cup has been held after the conclusion of the league each year, with only the best-performing teams in the league qualifying for the tournament. Over the years, the league competition gained important stature in its own right.

Era of Liga Semi-Pro (1989–1993)

In the early days, the Malaysian football league system consisted of a single division amateur league before changes were made in 1989 when it was fully known as Liga Semi-Pro from 1989 to 1993. The league was divided into two divisions, Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1 and Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 2. The inaugural season of the Liga Semi-Pro consisted of nine teams in Divisyen 1 and eight teams in Divisyen 2. The Royal Malaysian Police joined Divisyen 2 in 1990. Games were played on a home and away basis for about four months roughly between the end of April or early May and the end of August or early September.

Early era of Liga Perdana (1994–1997)

Liga Perdana was formed and established in 1994 to succeed the Liga Semi-Pro and became Malaysia's first fully professional football league and was the top-tier football league in the country at that time. At this time the league was interchangeably referred as the Malaysian League or M-League.

Era of Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2 (1998–2003)

In 1998, Liga Perdana was divided into two divisions, consisting of Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2. During this time both divisions were just referred to as the Malaysian League as a whole. In the 1998 season, Liga Perdana 1 consisted of 12 teams while Liga Perdana 2 had 8 teams. 10 teams that previously qualified for the Malaysia Cup that also competed in the 1997 Liga Perdana were automatically qualified to for that season's Liga Perdana 1. The other two spots were filled by a playoff round of the 5 lowest teams in the 1997 Liga Perdana and the Malaysian Olympic football team, ''Olympic 2000''. The lowest four teams from the playoff round were then put into Liga Perdana 2 alongside the

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

, the

Malaysian Armed Forces The Malaysian Armed Forces (: MAF; ; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ), are the armed forces of Malaysia, consists of three branches; the Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The number of MAF active personnel is 113,000 ...

, Negeri Sembilan Chempaka F.C and PKN Johor. At this time, the league still consisted of semi-professional teams where each team was allowed to register 25 players where 12 players must be a professional for Liga Perdana 1 and a minimum of six professional players in Liga Perdana 2. Both leagues continued until 2003 when the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) decided to privatise the league from the 2004 season onwards when the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League (), known simply as the Super League (), is the men's top professional Football in Malaysia, football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnersh ...

was formed. Teams in Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2 were put through a qualification stage and playoffs to be promoted into the brand new Malaysia Super League. Teams that failed to progress in the qualifications were put into the new second-tier league, the Malaysia Premier League.

Era of Malaysia Super League and Malaysia Premier League (2004 onwards)

After 2004, the Malaysian League term is mainly used to describe the top-two divisions in the Malaysian football league system as a whole rather than just the top-tier division in the country.

Logo history

There have been multiple different iterations of the Malaysian League logo. The first logo was used during the era of Dunhill sponsorship. The new logo which replaced it was when

Telekom Malaysia Telekom Malaysia Berhad or simply TM is a Malaysian telecommunications company that was founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio, and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become ...

sponsored the league in 2005. The last logo used was in 2011 when Astro Media first sponsored the Malaysian League. From 2012, no logo was created for the league as the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League had its own logos. File:Liga Malaysia Logo 2011.jpg, The Malaysian League Logo which was used for the 2011 Malaysian League season.

Current league system

Unlike most countries that plays its football with separate systems, the league system in

consists of professional clubs that compete at the top levels, to representative teams from state or district associations,

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

sides,

city councils A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counci ...

and clubs from

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

ministries Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

government agencies A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, ...

Malaysia Super League

The Malaysia Super League ( Malay: ''Liga Super Malaysia'') is a

n professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league. It is the top flight of the Malaysian football league system and is managed by the

Malaysian Football League The Malaysian Football League, also known simply as the MFL, was created during the course of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system.https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/johor-crown-prince-resigns-as-fam-president-appo ...

(MFL) and in partnership with the

(FAM). The league is contested between 12 teams and operates on a system of

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

with the Malaysia Premier League until 2022. The 14 clubs participating in the top flight league need to pass a set of requirements and a verification process, particularly related to professionalism and infrastructure feasibility.

Malaysia Premier League

The Malaysia Premier League ( Malay: ''Liga Premier Malaysia'') is the second-tier

league in the Malaysian football league system and it is also managed by the

(MFL) and in partnership with the

(FAM). The league is contested between 12 teams and operates on a system of

with the

and the Malaysia M3 League. The 12 clubs participating in this league need to pass a set of requirements and a verification process, particularly related to professionalism and infrastructure feasibility although with a lower requirement compared to the Malaysia Super League.

Former competitions

Malaysia FAM League/Cup

The Malaysia FAM League or Malaysia FAM Cup ( Malay: ''Liga FAM'' or ''Piala FAM'') was the third-tier football league in

. The tournament used to be a cup format, but was changed 2008 as it was held as a league tournament and changing to the Malaysia FAM League name. Malaysia FAM Cup was established in 1952 as a secondary knockout competition to the more prestigious Malaya Cup, the competition was held between the state teams including

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, and the Prisons Department of Malaysia in its early days. Starting in 1974, the state teams were barred from entering the competition and only the club sides were allowed to enter.

Liga Bolasepak Rakyat

The Liga Bolasepak Rakyat was the fourth-tier football league in

. The league was managed by the Liga Bolasepak Rakyat-Limited Liability Partnership (LBR-LLP) and was an amateur-level competition which was established in 2015 which aimed to create a bigger base at grassroots level and eventually provide an alternative route for footballers under the age of 28 to make the grade. In its inaugural season, a total of 111 clubs out of more than 150 possible districts in the country competed in the league. The clubs were divided into 8 zones.

Development and youth competition

Piala Presiden

The Piala Presiden is a developmental football competition in Malaysia for Under-21 players. Since its inception in 1985, the Piala Presiden has been the major tournament for Under-21 and Under-23 players. In 2009, the format of the competition was changed to allow only Under-20 players being eligible to be fielded for the tournament. In 2015, the format of the competition was reverted to the original format with Under-21 players and three overaged players eligible to play.

Piala Belia

The Piala Belia is a youth football competition in Malaysia for Under-19 players. Since its inception in 2008, the Piala Belia has been the major tournament for Under-19s. In 2009 to 2011, the competition was combined with the Piala Presiden. In 2015, the format of the competition was changed to a league format.