The MFL Challenge Cup ( Malay: ''Piala Cabaran MFL''), which was previously referred to as the Malaysia Challenge Cup, is a prestigious football tournament in Malaysia that is organized under the joint supervision and management of 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 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). The tournament serves as a secondary-tier cup competition, specifically designed to provide an additional platform for teams that are eliminated during the round of 16 stage of the prestigious

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 ...

History

The tournament was created for 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 ...

and the

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ra ...

teams that did not qualify for the

tournament through their league standings. The idea was mooted by the Football Malaysia in December 2017 as a solution to increase the number of competitive games. Observers such as

FourFourTwo ''FourFourTwo'' is an association football magazine published by British company Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4–4–2. Future acquired the ...

Malaysia see benefits of the Challenge Cup; as another chance of silverware for the competitors, maintaining the competitive edge between the participating teams, and as a way to analyze players in their teams in preparation for the next season. The inaugural tournament was held in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, with eight teams divided into 2 groups of four and playing a double round-robin system of games. The winners and runners-up of each group qualify to the knockout round on a home and away basis including the final. The tournament is held concurrently with the Malaysia Cup, with Challenge Cup games mostly played in midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday) as opposed to Malaysia Cup games played on weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

Competition format

Selection of teams

For the 2018 edition, the team that finished last in the Malaysia Super League, and the sixth-placed to twelfth-placed teams in the Malaysia Premier League qualified for the tournament. The selection of teams remained the same for 2019. From 2020 until 2023 it was not held, mostly due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and subsequent restrictions. FAM announced the competition will return in 2023, featuring 8 teams who are eliminated in the last 16 of the 2023 Malaysia Cup.

Knockout stage

From the quarterfinals all the way to the final stage of the competition, the matches will be conducted in a two-legged format, with each team playing one match at their home venue and another match at their opponent's venue to determine the winner.

Results

List of finals

Performances

Performances by team

The table shown performances by the six teams who reached the final stage of the MFL Challenge Cup.

Record and statistics

Final

* Most wins: 1, joint record: ** Terengganu II (

) ** Johor Darul Ta'zim II (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) ** PDRM (

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

) **

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

( 2024–25) * Most appearances in a final: 2, joint record: ** UKM FC (

) ** PDRM (

, 2024–25) * Most defeats in a final: 2, UKM FC (

) * Biggest win in a final: 4 goals, PDRM 0–4

in the second leg ( 2024–25) * Most goals in a final: 4, joint record: ** UKM FC 2–2 Terengganu II in the first leg (

) ** PDRM 0–4

in the second leg ( 2024–25)

Head coaches

List of winning head coaches

Players

List of top goalscorers

Awards

Player of The Tournament

Officially known as MASKargo Player of The Tournament for sponsorship reasons, it is awarded to the overall best player of the season.

References

{{Football in Malaysia Recurring sporting events established in 2018