Malaysia 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 team which was founded for the 1963 Merdeka Tournament one month before the insitution of Malaysia. The team is officially nicknamed Harimau Malaya in reference to the Malayan tiger.
Residing in the top 4 most successful teams of Southeast Asia who has won the ASEAN Football Championship at least once and other competitions while improving overall, Malaysia fails to reach greater deed outside Southeast Asia than a bronze won at the Asian Games in 1974; having participated in the Summer Olympics once and three AFC Asian Cups, the team failed to progress beyond the group stage in all occasions.
Malaysia's main rivals on the international stage are geographical neighbours: Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, with dramatic past matches have been produced and in particular, fixtures involving Indonesia being the most heated among these that corresponds to political and social issues, named as 'Nusantara Derby' or sometimes 'Malay Derby'.

Etymology

The Harimau Malaya nickname have been used by the team's predecessor, Malaya national football team. The nickname referred to the national animal of Malaysia, the Malayan tiger. Another source stated the name was believed to have been derived from a Malayan football player from Stulang Laut, Johor named Abdullah Mohd Don after he had been called "Harimau Malaya" by the founding father of Indonesia, Sukarno when he managed to equalise against an Indonesian football club by scoring a hat-trick in a match between Singaporean Malay Club and Peseja in 1953 after trailing 3 goals behind them. Although the Federation of Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, the nickname is still used by the national squad, thus sparking some debates whether it was appropriate as most Malaysian in the East felt the "Malaya" term does not cover the whole country. Some supporters in the East felt offended when the media in the West Malaysia kept using the term and dismissed their concerns. Some party in the West even insensitively said that it is just a small matter and the naming issue had been politicised as the term "Malayan tiger" came from an endangered endemic tiger subspecies in Malay Peninsula rather than a geopolitical reason.
As part of rebranding of the national football team by FAM from 2 February 2016 onward, the nickname Harimau Malaya was officially changed to Harimau Malaysia in a bid to be more inclusive to the East Malaysian side. The Harimau Malaysia nickname was also used to refer the former national player, Shaharuddin Abdullah. Since the 1970s, he was known as "Harimau Malaysia" by the football fans due to his ability to score many goals. He once scored 15 goals for Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup tournament which stood as a record for years. However, during FAM congress in March 2017, it was decided that drastic measures will be taken to restructure all aspect of the national football organisation and management. This include the restoration of the old moniker of the team, Harimau Malaya starting from 3 April 2017 after using the term Harimau Malaysia for only one year. The sudden changes had also affected all related websites and social media as they went through rebranding. The Harimau Malaysia website has been taken down and all the updates concerning the national team will be posted on FAM website.

History

Early years (1963–1969)

Before 16 September 1963, North Borneo, Sarawak, Malaya and Singapore were represented by their own national teams, a situation which pre-dated the establishment of a Malaysia. Malaya and Singapore usually competed in an international competition such as the Merdeka Tournament while North Borneo and Sarawak competed in Borneo Cup. Malaya's biggest achievement in football was becoming the bronze medalist of the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta, Indonesia after defeating South Vietnam 4–1.
in 1962, North Borneo football team, one year before the merger to form Malaysia.
The beginning of Malaysia football team match took place in Merdeka Stadium on 8 August 1963 with the combined strength of Singapore and Malaya. With the combined forces of Malaya and Singapore, the team start their match with Japan, thought lost 3–4. The team continued to use combination of players from Singapore and Malay Peninsula until the formation of the Malaysia, wherein the Football Association of Malaya was succeeded by the Football Association of Malaysia. The combination players with Singapore ended when the latter separated from Malaysia along with the establishment of Football Association of Singapore and their subsequent reaffiliation with FIFA in 1965. Since then the squad was only represented by West Malaysian players, mainly due to difficulties of that time to travel to East Malaysia and the players were not well known to mainstream West Malaysian football.

Asia's most formidable (1970–1980)

In 1971, James Wong of Sabah is the first player from East Malaysia to represent the country. Malaysia qualified for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, beating Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines along the way. Although they managed to defeat the United States 3–0, they lost the other 2 matches with a score of 0–3 to West Germany and 0–6 to Morocco, ranking 10th in the final standings. From 1972, Mokhtar Dahari is considered as the legend footballer for the Malaysian team as he booked his place as one of the best players in Asia. He manage to score 175 goals, of which the 175 goals for Selangor FA, 20 goals in 13 appearances for Kwong Yik Bank and another 125 goals for the national team, giving a total of 320 goals in his career.
Together with the record of Soh Chin Aun, it is however not recognised by FIFA. Two years later, Malaysia won their second bronze medal at the 1974 Asian Games after defeating North Korea 2–1. The team went on to qualify twice in a row for the AFC Asian Cup, in 1976 and 1980. It was only in 1977; when the FAM sent a talent scout to the East. The list continued by the late James Yaakub of Sarawak in 1977. The team also won the Merdeka Tournament three times, became runner-up four times and achieved third place twice during the 1970s. Malaysia qualified again for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but joined the US-led boycott of the games as the Malaysian government made a decision to protest the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

1976 AFC Asian Cup

Malaysia participated the 1976 AFC Asian Cup for the first time, meeting Kuwait and China. During the tournament, Malaysia performed worse in the first match, losing 0–2 to Kuwait but managed to hold China to a 1–1 draw in the second match.

1980 AFC Asian Cup

Malaysia made its second Asian Cup appearance in 1980, met and managed to hold South Korea 1–1 in the first match, despite losing 1–3 to Kuwait before regaining a 2–0 victory against United Arab Emirates and holding Qatar 1–1 in their last match.

Falling performances and drought (1990–2009)

In 1994, Malaysian football was embroiled in one of the largest bribery scandals in the country. With the dearth of mainstream interest and lack of funds, Malaysian football has failed to repeat the achievements of the 1970s and 1980s, despite the recruitment of Claude LeRoy. Allan Harris appointed as a new head coach in 2001. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona. In the second half of 2004, FAM appoint Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, to succeed Allan Harris. Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup tournament, but was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly against Singapore in Penang on 8 June 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before confronting a Singapore player. In September 2005, his contract was terminated after a mutual agreement.
Norizan Bakar became the next head coach of the Malaysian team. He guided the Malaysian squad to the 2007 AFF Championship semifinals in 2007, where Malaysia lost through penalties to Singapore. Norizan's position as the head coach was criticised by the Malaysian football community, fans and officials alike, after the team's performances during the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, where Malaysia lost to China 1–5, Uzbekistan 0–5 and Iran 0–2. After the removal of Norizan Bakar, B. Sathianathan took over as head coach. Although he guided the squad to win the 2007 Merdeka Tournament, Malaysia once again failed to qualify for the World Cup after losing 1–4 and drawing 0–0 with Bahrain in the qualifying round. In March 2008, Sathianathan once again reach the final of the Merdeka Tournament. However, Malaysia lost on penalties to Vietnam. Sathianathan also led Malaysia to the semi finals of the 2008 Myanmar Grand Royal Challenge Cup. However, Malaysia then shockingly lost 1–4 to eventual winners, Myanmar.
During the 2008 AFF Championship, Malaysia started their campaign with a 3–0 win over Laos, but were defeated in the second match by Vietnam with a score of 2–3 and were finally eliminated when they lost 0–3 to Thailand in the final match of the group stage. This was the first time that the Malaysian squad had not passed through the group stages in 12 years. There are also reports that match-fixing and bribery that infiltrate the Malaysian football in the 1994 are returned. In the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, the Malaysian team lost 0–5 to the United Arab Emirates. This defeat was the final straw in the eyes of Malaysian supporters, and in February 2009, the contracts of Sathianathan and manager Soh Chin Aun were terminated.

AFF Championship triumph (2010)

In April 2009, K. Rajagopal was named the new coach of Malaysia replacing B. Sathianathan and took over the position in July 2009, of which he also looked after the Malaysia under-23 squad. Rajagopal's first match was against Zimbabwe, which Malaysia won 4–0. Rajagopal also coached Malaysia in two games against visiting English champions, Manchester United, losing both matches 2–3 and 0–2. During his time as the coach of the Under-23 team, Rajagopal led Malaysia to their fifth SEA Games gold medal and also led Malaysia to qualify for the second round of the 2010 Asian Games as one of the best four third-placed teams after a lapse of 32 years.
During the 2010 AFF Championship, a total of 14 Malaysia's players were under the age of 23. Placed in group A and lost the first match to host Indonesia 1–5, Malaysia bounced back from defeat drawing Thailand and beating Laos 5–1. As runner up of group, Malaysia qualified for the semi finals to meet Group B winners and defending champions Vietnam. In the first leg of the semifinal, Malaysia won 2–0 on home soil and later drew 0–0 in the second leg, advancing to the final with an aggregate of 2–0. An opportunity of revenge opened up in the finals as Malaysia again met Indonesia, who were unbeaten in all previous matches.
On the first leg of the finals at home, Malaysia won 3–0. Malaysia scored twice through Safee Sali and once through Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin on a night when Bukit Jalil National Stadium was filled over capacity for the first time since it was built. The match attracted so many people that after tickets were sold out, policemen manning the gates were seen allowing friends and relatives into the stadium, causing people having to trespass onto the cable bridge above the electronic display besides standing on the aisles and corridors to view the game. On the second leg of the finals that was held in Jakarta, Malaysia lost 1–2 to Indonesia but the final aggregate was 4–2 to Malaysia, thus Malaysia were awarded the title. It was the first time in history that Malaysia were crowned the champions of AFF Championship and a trophy in the international stage.

Hope for resurgence (2011–present)

Since the 2010s, the expectations to regain their success in the 1980s are rising despite the team still failed to deliver any new high achievements records. In June 2014, Dollah Salleh replaced Rajagobal as the head coach after his contract has ended. Dollah guiding Malaysia to the final of the 2014 AFF Championship but failed to replicate the same form as the previous head coach. In international fixtures, the coach has also recorded a loss of 0–6 to Oman and Palestine as well as 1–1 draw against Timor-Leste. However, the 0–10 defeat to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia worst ever defeat in 50 years, have prompted his resignation as the head coach. The place was taken by interim coach Ong Kim Swee who later promoted as the head coach until the end of March 2017. The official coaching post then was taken over by Portuguese coach Nelo Vingada in the hope to raise the Malaysian football performances. On 13 June, Malaysia played their first match in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification against Lebanon. Despite having a 1–0 lead during the first half, they eventually lost the match with a score 1–2. Malaysia's poor performance however, continued. Despite given high hope and expectation from the match against Hong Kong, Malaysia only managed a 1–1 draw, before losing to the same team 0–2 in Hong Kong. As for the result, frustration happened in the team and Malaysia had suffered two consecutive defeats on the hand of North Korea, both ended 1–4. Malaysia also losing the second final matches against Lebanon in Beirut by 1–2. With only 1 draw and 5 defeats, Malaysia subsequently eliminated from the qualification. The coaching position was taken over by the team assistant coach Tan Cheng Hoe in late 2017 after Vingada stepped down following a string of poor results.
After failure to qualify into the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Malaysia proceeded its journey in the 2018 AFF Championship and was grouped with rival Vietnam together with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Malaysia won the second place with three wins and only one loss that was against Vietnam. By qualifying as group runners-up, Malaysia faced Thailand, the fierce rival in their long-time head to head records as well the reigning champions in the tournament where they able to overcame the latter by holding them 2–2 in Thailand's home stadium of Bangkok, winning the match by away goals rule in one of the tournament's greatest shock despite being tied 0–0 earlier at home. In the finals, they met Vietnam again and held the latter 2–2 at home before losing 0–1 in Vietnam's home ground of Hanoi, subsequently finishing the tournament with an aggregate of 2–3 as the runners-up for the third time in their AFF Cup history. Despite being unable to achieve the AFF Cup the second time, the enhancing performance of Malaysia was seen with the emergence of new talents coming from its youth football development which brought a hope in future.
Malaysia participated in 2022 World Cup campaign from the first round due to poor record previously, but with its first opponent was only Timor-Leste, Malaysia easily destroyed the Timorese 12–2 on aggregate. There, they joined the second round where the team was surprisingly grouped in a group containing three other Southeast Asian rivals Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; alongside the United Arab Emirates. Malaysia opened their game with a 3–2 comeback victory over rival Indonesia in a match with full scandal and strong Anti-Malaysian sentiment among Indonesians. It was followed by an unlucky 1–2 home loss to the UAE, and to add the irony, Malaysia took the lead from early minute only to see itself being beaten at home. The next encounter against rival Vietnam in Hanoi, which was the rematch of 2018 AFF Championship, ended with another Malaysian defeat as the Malay Tigers fell 0–1. However, Malaysia has not been eliminated as the team can still get an opportunity to qualify further. Then, Malaysia managed one of the most famous victories in their FIFA World Cup campaign, beating neighbor and regional powerhouse Thailand 2–1 at home to keep its dream alive. Malaysia boosted its confidence with its victory over Thailand to overcome a demoralized Indonesia, also at home, 2–0, to occupy second spot behind Vietnam and above Thailand.

Team image

Media coverage

All matches of Malaysia are shown live on Astro Arena, RTM, and Media Prima. All matches are broadcast with both English and Malaysian commentary.

Kits

From the 1970s to 2007, the national team kit was manufactured and sponsored by Adidas. Since 2007, the official Malaysia team kit is manufactured by Nike. The home kit design of black and yellow stripes is a throwback to the kit used by Malayan national team in the 1920s. The national team of the 1970s also sported similar stripes, which are supposed to be reminiscent of the stripes of a tiger.
In November 2010, Nike Malaysia created a new football kit specially made for the 2010 AFF Championship. The home kit's design of black and yellow stripes is shaped by a black row of lines. The away kit features a plain blue front and red and white at the edge of the sleeves. Nike used the Malaysian flag as their logo instead of putting the Football Association of Malaysia logo to remembering the team success in the 1970s. On the underside of the flag, the quote "Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku" can be found. The quote is part of the Malaysia National Anthem, alluding that they are doing their best for the country.
The practice of using the flag on the kits ended when Malaysia got a new kit in late 2016. They have the FAM logo on the kits.

Grounds

Home Stadium
Malaysia's home stadium is the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. The stadium capacity is 87,411 which makes it the eighth largest football stadium in the world. Malaysia's previous national stadium was the Merdeka Stadium before the Bukit Jalil sports complex was constructed. Malaysia also uses other stadiums for their matches such as the Kuala Lumpur Stadium.
Training ground
Wisma FAM is the main headquarters for the Football Association of Malaysia which located at Kelana Jaya, Malaysia. The training facility for the Malaysia national football team also located at the Wisma FAM. Others than that, it also serves as a meeting point for the coaches and national players. Also equipped with a room for press statement and small apartment rooms available for the national players during the training camp. Sometimes, ticket matches also sold on this training facility.

Supporters

Ultras Malaya is the name of the major supporters for the national team in Malaysia. They are known for their high fanaticism and support towards the national team. In every international match the national team played, they are found in a group standing at the supporters area. The main colours for these supporter are usually in black with a yellow scarf and banners just like the national team kits colours. These supporters always bring flares, drums and large national flags to the stadiums.

Sponsorship

According to the website of Football Association of Malaysia, Malaysia main sponsors include Telekom Malaysia, Bank Islam, Yakult, Nike, 100plus, One Goal, MYCAT and Malaysia Airlines.

Rivalries

Malaysia draws opponents mostly against Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. These rivalries are rooted from geographical closeness.
Indonesia is Malaysia's most heated rival and matches between two teams usually draw large supporters alike. The rivalry traces its background from the infamous Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. Due to the strong nationalist sentiments in both sides, the rivalry has always been taken with high priority.
Singapore is Malaysia's only recent rival. Their rivalry is mostly rekindled only when it comes to the AFF Championship, and is also less heated than Malaysia's rivalry with Indonesia.
Thailand is Malaysia's other traditional rival, with matches between two teams also draw large supporters alike. Malaysia holds a significant distinction for being undefeated at home to Thailand since 1990s, as well as having a better head-to-head record, with 41 wins comparing 35 draws and 35 losses.

Squad

Foreign-born player

Current squad

The following is a list of 23 players that were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round against and on 14 and 19 November 2019 respectively.
Caps and goals are correct as of 19 November 2019, after the match against Indonesia.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up within the last 12 months.

Results and fixtures

All time results

2019

Coaching staff

Management and supporting staff

Head coaches records

Champion Runners-up Third place
Fourth place

FIFA World Cup

Olympic Games

AFC Asian Cup

AFF Football Championship

Asian Games

Southeast Asian Games

Notes:

FIFA world rankings

Last update was on 19 December 2019.
Source:
Worst Ranking Best Ranking Worst Mover Best Mover

Head to head records (FIFA 'A' International Matches)

Last update was against on 19 November 2019.
;Notes:

Continental

Regional

Minor