Merdeka Tournament () is an international friendly

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 ...

tournament held 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 ...

to commemorate the

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

. It is mainly played at

Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a List of football stadiums in South Africa, football stadium in South A ...

, in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. "Merdeka" is the Malay word for independence. As of 2023, the tournament has been held 42 times, though with decreasing frequency in recent decades. The Merdeka Tournament is the oldest invitational football tournament in Asia, and the matches in the tournament are considered International "A" matches (

Friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

) by FIFA.

History

The Merdeka Tournament is Asia`s oldest football tournament which invited football playing nations to compete since 1957. The tournament also was once called the ‘Mini Asia Cup’ around the 1960s to 1980s, which was founded by the former AFC President,

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...

. At that time, the

FIFA president The following is a list of presidents of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world association football governing body. Presidents Daniel Burley Woolfall, Rodolphe Seeldrayers, and Arthur Drewry died during th ...

Sir Stanley Rous Sir Stanley Ford Rous (25 April 1895 – 18 July 1986) was an English football referee and the 6th President of FIFA, serving from 1961 to 1974. He also served as secretary of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962 and was an international ...

, was just as surprised that newly independent Asian country could successfully organize a football tournament where all expenses of the visiting teams were fully borne by the host. The Merdeka Tournament proved to be a huge success, inspiring similar tournaments like the

Jakarta Anniversary Tournament The Jakarta Anniversary Tournament was a 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 ...

in Indonesia, the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

in Thailand and the

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world except Europe as that continent competes against the United States in a similar but ...

in South Korea. While the tournament had been held annually from 1957 to 1988, it has been held only ten times from 1989 to 2023. During the late 1950s to early 1980s, it was a prestigious tournament among Asian nations because the participants sent their full senior players. After the 1980s, interest in the cup waned from both football fans and football teams, because many Asian nations focused more on the qualification phases in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

and

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

. The first edition of the tournament was held in August and September 1957 with

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

emerging inaugural champions. However, from then on it was purely dominated by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and a host of other countries, including

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an clubs. Malaysia/Malaya exclusively lifted the trophy ten times, emerged runners-up on eight occasions, and in addition shared the winner’s rostrum twice with

(1960 and 1979), while South Korean sides have won it seven times.

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and

hold multi-winning accolades. The other champions were

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

(1980),

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(2000),

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

(2001), Czechoslovakia Olympic (1987) and Austria’s with their SK Admira Wacker (1991), German

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

(1988), Argentinian

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

XI (1983) and Brazilian Santa Catarina XI (1982). Brazilian states' São Paulo XI, Minas Gerais XI, and America FC Rio de Janeiro finished runners-up, as have

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The 2024 Merdeka Tournament would be held in September 2024. Three countries will be invited to the tournament, from

Kim Pan-gon Kim Pan-gon (, born 1 May 1969) is a South Korean football manager and former player who played as a winger. He is the current manager of Ulsan HD. Early life Kim was born into a family of peasants in Jinju, a small town in South Gyeongs ...

's decision. The tournament uses the same format as the

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 ...

edition, where higher-ranked teams received a bye in the semi-final, and only waiting in the finals.

List of finals

Below are the list of Merdeka Football Tournament finals since 1957.

Records and statistics

Performance by nations

Below are the records of national teams (including youth teams) since 1957.

Performance by state or club teams

Below are the records of state or clubteams since 1957.

All-time top scorers

Top scorers

Notable players

Here are some prominent footballers, who participated in this competition. *

Mokhtar Dahari Malay styles and titles#State titles, Dato' Mohd Mokhtar bin Dahari (, IPA: ; (13 November 1953 – 11 July 1991) was a Malaysian professional association football, footballer who played for Selangor F.C., Selangor. He is considered a legenda ...

Soh Chin Ann Datuk Wira Soh Chin Ann (or Soh Chin Aun due to misspelling by Malaysian media; ; born 28 July 1950) is a Malaysian former footballer who played as a defender. He was affectionately known as ''Tauke'' or '' Towkay'' (''Boss'') by his teamma ...

Abdul Ghani Minhat Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Ghani bin Minhat ( Jawi: عبدالغني منحت; December 1935 – 28 September 2012) was an association football player who represented Selangor FA and Negeri Sembilan FA from the 1950s to the late 1960s. He played as ...

Chow Chee Keong Chow Chee Keong (26 November 1948 – 21 February 2018) was a Malaysian football goalkeeper who played in Hong Kong and the Malaysian national football team. Career His nickname in Hong Kong was ''Asian Steel Gate'' () and ''Crazy Sword'' (). ...

P. K. Banerjee Pradip Kumar Banerjee (23 June 1936 – 20 March 2020) was an Indian professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), striker for the India national football team. He also captained the nationa ...

Chuni Goswami Subimal "Chuni" Goswami (15 January 1938 – 30 April 2020) was an Indian professional footballer and first-class cricketer. As footballer, he played as a striker or winger, captained both the Mohun Bagan club and the India national te ...

* Inder Singh *

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (, born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Indian Super League club Bengaluru and captains the India national team. He is the all-time top scorer in Indian Super League history. He is ...

Moosa Ghazi Moosa Ghazi (; 1937 – 12 May 2003) was a Pakistani Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), left winger. Ghazi represented the Pakistan national football team in the 1950s to 1960s, and was member of the ...

Muhammad Umer Muhammad Umer Baloch Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, TI FIFA Order of Merit, FIFAOM (; 1935 – 21 March 2004), alternatively spelled Mohammad Omer and popularly known as Captain Umer, was a Pakistani professional footballer who played as a Striker (association ...

Qayyum Changezi Abdul Qayyum Ali Khan Changezi (Urdu: ; 25 December 1935 – 25 June 2005), commonly known as Qayyum Changezi, was a Pakistani Football player, footballer. A versatile player, Changezi played in multiple positions, including Forward (association ...

* M.N Jehan *

Kim Jae-han Kim Jae-han (born 1 April 1947) is a former South Korean football player. Early life Kim decided to be a baseball player in Daegu High School, but his baseball team was disbanded while he attended the school. He changed his career path late ...

Cha Bum-kun Cha Bum-kun (; or ; born 22 May 1953) is a South Korean former football manager and player. A forward, he was nicknamed Tscha Bum or "Cha Boom" in Germany because of his name and thunderous ball striking ability. He showed explosive pace an ...

Park Sung-Hwa Park Sung-hwa (; born 7 May 1955) is a South Korean football manager and a former football player. He is a gold medalist in the 1978 Asian Games. Managerial career After his playing career, Park managed Yukong Elephants and Pohang Steele ...

* Lee Woon-jae *

Kunishige Kamamoto is a former Japanese football player, manager, and politician. He won the bronze medal with the Japan national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with seven goals, and is the all-time leadi ...

Yasuhiko Okudera is a Japanese former football player and manager. He is the president of J2 League club Yokohama FC and was formerly the president of English club Plymouth Argyle. A midfielder, Okudera was the first Japanese footballer to play professionally i ...

Hiromi Hara is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He also managed Japan national team as caretaker. Club career Hara was born in Nasushiobara on October 19, 1958. After graduating from Waseda University, he j ...

Abdul Kadir Abd al-Qadir or Abdulkadir () is a male Muslim given name. It is formed from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and '' Qadir''. The name means 'servant of who can do everything'. ''Al-Qādir'' is one of the names of Allah in the Qur'an, which ...

Iswadi Idris Iswadi Idris (18 March 1948 – 11 July 2008) was an Indonesian football player and coach. He was nicknamed "Boncel" because of his small, stature. He was captain of the Indonesia national football team from 1970 to 1980. He is the second all-ti ...

Jakob Kjeldbjerg Jakob Kjeldbjerg Jensen (; born 21 October 1969) is a Danish television presenter and former professional footballer. As a player as a central defender who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea from 1993 to 1997, prior to this he ...

Jacob Laursen Jacob Thaysen-Laursen (born 6 October 1971) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Laursen most notably played for English club Derby County and won the Danish Superliga championship with Silkesborg and Copenhage ...

Suk Bahadur Suk Bahadur Thapa () was a Burmese footballer who served as the major for 4th Infantry Battalion (4th Gurkha) of Myanmar Army. He was also a dominating tennis and field hockey player as well as the national 100-meter sprint champion which he ...

Hussein Saeed Hussein Saeed Mohammed (, born 21 January 1958) is an Iraqi former association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward and is a former president of the Iraq Football Association. Saeed is in twelfth place in ...

Abedi Pele Abedi Ayew ( ; born 5 November 1964), known professionally as Abedi Pele, is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and served as captain of the Ghana national team. He is regarded as one of the grea ...

Ryan Nelsen Ryan William Nelsen (born 18 October 1977) is a former New Zealand professional football player and former head coach of Major League Soccer side Toronto FC. Nelsen commonly played as a defender, and his professional career began in 1995. He ...

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse", Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regard ...

Notes

References

External links

{{Friendly association football tournaments in Asia International association football competitions hosted by Malaysia Recurring sporting events established in 1957 1957 establishments in Malaya International men's association football invitational tournaments