Malaysia Premier League

Malaysia Premier League
Country Malaysia Malaysia
Confederation AFC
Founded 1994 (1994)
Relaunched in 2004 (2004)
Divisions 2
Number of teams 12
Level on pyramid 2
Promotion to Malaysia Super League
Relegation to Malaysia FAM League
Domestic cup(s) Malaysia Cup
Malaysia FA Cup
Current champions Kedah
(2015)
Most championships Kedah
(4 title)
Website Official Website
2016 Malaysia Premier League

Malaysia Premier League (Malay: Liga Perdana Malaysia) is currently the second-tier football league in Malaysia. The league is now known as 100PLUS Liga Premier Malaysia for sponsorship reason.[1] The league was the nation's top-tier league from 1994 until 2003 when it was succeeded by the formations of Malaysia Super League in 2004 by Football Association of Malaysia.

The league was previously called the TM Malaysia Premier League and Astro Malaysia Premier League because of the sponsorship from TM and Astro Media respectively.

History

Origin

Beginning in the 1994 season, Malaysia joined the other countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea with full professional status within the Asian Football Confederation with the formation of the Malaysian League. The Malaysian Semi-Pro Football League (MSPFL) which was a Malaysia's semi-pro league at that time was transformed to become the Malaysia Premier League.

Early era of Malaysia Premier League (1994-1997)

Malaysia Premier League was formed and established in 1994 to succeed the Malaysian Semi-Pro Football League and became the Malaysian fully professional football league and was the top-tier football league in the country at that time.[2] It was then called as Liga Perdana in Malay.

Era of Malaysia Premier League 1 and Malaysia Premier League 2 (1998-2003)

In 1998, Malaysia Premier League was divided into two divisions consist of Malaysia Premier League 1 and Malaysia Premier League 2 (Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2 in Malay).[3][4]

During 1998, Malaysia Premier League 1 consist of 12 teams while Malaysia Premier League 2 had 8 teams.[3] 10 teams that previously qualified for Malaysia Cup which played in 1997 Malaysia Premier League was automatically qualified to Malaysia Premier League 1. The other two spots was filled by playoff round of 5 lowest teams in 1997 Malaysia Premier League and the Malaysian Olympic football team. The lowest four teams from playoff round will then put into Malaysia Premier League 2 alongside Police, Malaysia Military, Negeri Sembilan Chempaka F.C and PKN Johor. At this time the league still consist of semi-pro team where each team was allowed to register 25 players where 12 players must be a professional for Malaysia Premier League 1 and a minimum of six professional playes in Malaysia Premier League 2.[3]

Both leagues continued until 2003.

2004 league revamp

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) decided to privatise the league in 2004 season onwards where Malaysia Super League was formed. Teams in Malaysia Premier League 1 and Malaysia Premier League 2 was then was put through a qualification and playoff to be promoted into Malaysia Super League. Teams that failed the qualification was put into now a second-tier league Malaysia Premier League. It was now called as Liga Premier in Malay.

The Malaysia Premier League 1 was the nation's top-tier league from 1994 until 2003 when it was succeeded by the formations of professional football league, Malaysia Super League in 2004 by Football Association of Malaysia. The Malaysia Premier League 2 then was relaunched as the new Malaysia Premier League where the teams was divided into two different groups.

Between 2004 and 2006, Malaysia Premier League was divided into two groups of 8 teams:

At the end of the season, the top team from each group of the Premier League was promoted to the Malaysia Super League. The teams which finished bottom of each group were relegated to the National League Malaysia. The two group champions also faced-off to determine the Malaysia Premier League Championship.

2007 league revamp as a single group

For the 2006-07 season, the Malaysia Premier League was reorganised into a single league of 11 teams instead of being a competition involving two separate groups of teams. There were less amount of teams due to more teams was promoted to Malaysia Super League as part of the league expansion and some other withdrew from Malaysia Premier League.

For 2007 onwards, Malaysia Premier League was combined into one single league.

Logo evolution

In 2010, The Football Association of Malaysia released a new logo for the 2011 season, followed by another new logo made from the league sponsor, Astro for the 2012 season.[5]

Prize money

These were price money for the 2012 competition.[6]

However FAM's Malaysia National under 21 team, the Harimau Muda were not given the prize money. The money were kept by the organiser (FAM). But for the 2010s league, Harimau Muda B will keep their prize money (unlike their brother last year).

Champions

Season Champions Runners-up
2004 Selangor MPPJ FC Malacca TMFC
2005 Selangor Selangor Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan FA
2005–06 Kedah Kedah Malacca Malacca
2006–07 Malaysia PDRM Kuala Lumpur MyTeam
2007–08 Kedah KM Naza Kuala Lumpur PLUS FC
2009 Malaysia Harimau Muda A Terengganu T-Team
2010 Kuala Lumpur FELDA United Sabah Sabah
2011 Selangor PKNS Sarawak Sarawak
2012 Malaysia ATM Pahang Pahang
2013 Sarawak Sarawak Kuala Lumpur Sime Darby
2014 Malaysia PDRM Kuala Lumpur FELDA United
2015 Kedah Kedah Penang Penang

Pre-2004 Malaysian football league second-tier champions

Year Champions
1982–88 no second-tier league
1989 Division 2: Perlis Perlis
1990 Division 2: Terengganu Terengganu
1991 Division 2: Negeri Sembilan N.Sembilan
1992 Division 2: Kedah Kedah
1993 Division 2: Selangor Selangor
1994–97 no second-tier league
1998 Premier 2: Terengganu Terengganu
1999 Premier 2: Johor Johor
2000 Premier 2: Kelantan Kelantan
2001 Premier 2: Johor Johor FC
2002 Premier 2: Kedah Kedah
2003 Premier 2: Selangor Public Bank

Best performing teams

#ClubTitles
1Kedah Kedah4
2Selangor Selangor2
3Terengganu Terengganu2
4Malaysia PDRM2
5Johor Johor1
6Perlis Perlis1
7Negeri Sembilan N.Sembilan1
8Selangor MPPJ FC1
9Kelantan Kelantan1
10Johor Johor FC1
11Selangor Public Bank1
12Kedah KM Naza1
13Malaysia Harimau Muda A1
14Kuala Lumpur FELDA United1
15Selangor PKNS FC1
16Malaysia ATM1
17Sarawak Sarawak1

Great Honours

Great honours are titled for the team who won 2 trophies (double) and 3 trophies (treble) in the same season. It covers Malaysia Premier League, Malaysia FA Cup and Malaysia Cup.

Treble

Year Teams Titles
2005 Selangor Malaysia Premier League, Malaysia FA Cup & Malaysia Cup

Players

Golden Boot Winners

Season Players Teams/Clubs Goals
1998 Ghana Seidu Issifu Terengganu Terengganu FA 8
1999 Malaysia Rusdi Suparman Selangor Selangor FA 15
2000 Malaysia Anuar Abu Bakar Kelantan Kelantan FA 12
2001 Malaysia Suharmin Yusuf
Malaysia Shahrin Abdul Majid		 Sabah Sabah FA 12
2002 Ghana Issac Kuffour Malacca TM FC 22
2003 Argentina Juan Manuel Arostegui Selangor MPPJ FC 33
2004 Argentina Brian Diego Fuentes Selangor Selangor FA 25
2005 Indonesia Bambang Pamungkas Selangor Selangor FA 23
2006 Argentina Gustavo Fuentes Malacca Malacca FA 18
2007 Croatia Marin Mikac Selangor UPB MyTeam FC 13
2008 Senegal Mohamed Moustapha N'diaye Kelantan Kelantan FA 27
2009 Malaysia Mohd Haris Safwan Mohd Kamal Terengganu T-Team 24
2010 Malaysia Mohammad Zamri Hassan Selangor PKNS FC 11
2011 Malaysia Mohd Fitri Omar Johor Muar FC 16
2012 Malaysia Khairul Izuan Abdullah Malaysia PDRM FA 27
2013 Croatia Karlo Primorac Federal Territory (Malaysia) Sime Darby FC 24
2014 Republic of Ireland Billy Mehmet Kedah Kedah FA 23
2015 Liberia Francis Doe Negeri Sembilan NS Matrix F.C. 17

Foreign players

The professionalism of some teams have also been questioned. Most teams view foreign players as a necessity and as a result, most teams usually fill up their rosters with unknown foreigners. Teams usually sign foreigners based on their performances in pre-season trials. It is not uncommon for foreign players to be released after just two or three matches or be kept on the sidelines for an entire season.

The last case of unprofessional conduct involved Ivan Ziga, a Slovakian player who plays for Sarawak FA. Ivan Ziga claims his contract was terminated nine-months early without any explanation. He also claimed he was not paid. He took his plight to the Football Association of Malaysia but received no reply until Ivan Ziga threatened to take the case to FIFA.

Ivan Ziga's case is not uncommon in Malaysia, with most other cases involving African players who are either not paid or left stranded when their contracts are terminated early without any proper explanation given by teams.

Foreign players are to come back to the league starting from the 2012 season onwards. All foreign players must obtain International Transfer Certificate from their previous national football governing body that their previous clubs affiliated before they can be register with FAM to plays in Malaysia Premier League.

The early editions of Division 2 League, M-League, Premier 2 League and Malaysia Premier League used the same format for foreign players as the previous edition of second layer league in Malaysia, which allows club to have three foreign players from any countries without further restrictions. Further up, clubs can employ as many as four foreign players and only three of them are allowed to play together in a match.

Guidelines exist on the hiring of "Foreign Players".

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2016/02/05/20020792/new-msl-and-mpl-emblems-revealed-by-fmllp
  2. ↑ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036849500000015 The demand for Semi-Pro League football in Malaysia 1989–91: a panel data approach
  3. 1 2 3 http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=1998&dt=0111&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Sukan&pg=sp_01.htm Pemain Malaysia bebas ke Brunei
  4. ↑ http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=1998&dt=0613&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Sukan&pg=sp_03.htm Demam Piala Dunia rasuk Liga Perdana
  5. ↑ MSL perkenal dua logo baru Liga M (MALAY) Retrieved at 31 December 2011
  6. ↑ http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/12/13/more-prize-money-for-super-premier-league-champions/
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