The Malaysia Cup (Piala Malaysia) is an annual association football tournament in Malaysia. The cup was first held in 1921. The competition is currently played at the end of each year's football season, and is contested by the 16 most successful teams in Malaysia's football leaguethat year.
The tournament began in 1921, when it was called the Malaya Cup. The original trophy was presented by the officers and men of a British battleship, the HMS Malaya. In honour of this, the competition was renamed the HMS Malaya Cup in 1933. A new trophy was inaugurated in 1967, and since then the competition has been known as the Malaysia Cup. A rugby uniontournament of the same name, was started in parallel with the football cup, and still bears the same name.
A league competition was introduced in Malaysia in 1982. 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 Malaysia Cup. When the league began, it was intended primarily as a qualifying tournament for the Malaysia Cup. However over the years, the league competition has gained important stature in its own right.
In 2003, Selangor MPPJ became the first club team to win the cup. Prior to that year, the two teams which made the final had always been representative sides of the regional Football Associations, or military teams.
Teams representing two of Malaysia's neighbouring countries have been involved in the competition. Brunei won the cup in 1999 and continue to be involved (though in recent years they have been represented by the club side Brunei DPMM FC, whereas initially their team was organized by the Football Association of Brunei). Singapore used to enter a team organized by the Football Association of Singapore. Their team won the cup 24 times and are the second most successful side in the competition's history after Selangor. However after their last win in 1994, Singapore withdrew from the competition following a dispute with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over gate receipts and have not been involved since. In 2011, Football Association of Singaporeannounced that Singapore would be back to join the Malaysia Cup in 2012.[1]
On 5 December 2011, Football Association of Singapore had unveiled the new squad list and line up planned for the 2012 edition of Malaysia Cup. The team will hence be named as LIONSXII.[2][3]
Records[edit]
| Records | Teams | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Most Times Champion | Selangor FA | 32 times, including two time champion with Singapore FA |
| First Champions Malaya Cup | Singapore FA | 1921 |
| HMS Malaya Cup Champions | Singapore FA | 1933 |
| First Malaysia Cup Champions | Perak FA | 1967 |
| First champion after World War II | Negeri Sembilan FA | 1948 |
| The first winner of the 21st century | Perak FA | 2000 |
| Records | Teams | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First champion at Merdeka Stadium | Perak FA | 1957 |
| First champion at Shah Alam Stadium | Singapore FA | 1994 |
| First champions National Stadium, Bukit Jalil | Perak FA | 1998 |
| The team that had won a hat-trick | Singapore FA | 5 times (1923-1924-1925) (1928-1929-1930) (1932-1933-1934) (1939-1940-1941) and (1950-1951-1952) |
| Selangor FA | 4 times (1927-1928-1929) (1961-1962-1963) (1971-1972-1973) and (1995-1996-1997) | |
| Kuala Lumpur FA | 1 times (1987-1988-1989) | |
| First club team to compete | Johor FC | 2000 |
| The team first club champion | MPPJ FC | 2004 |
| The team entered the final of the longest consecutive | Singapore FA | 1921-1941 |
| The teams share the title | Selangor FA &Singapore FA | 1928 and 1929 |
| The team entered the final but lost | Sabah FA | 3 times (1996, 2002 and 2003) |
| ATM FA | 3 times (1949, 1966 and 2012) | |
| Sarawak FA | 1999 | |
| The state team that never played in the final yet | Malacca FA | |
| The team entered the finals three times (or more) but did not win all | Perak FA | 2 times (1959, 1960 and 1961) and (1970, 1971 and 1972) |
| (Except Selangor and Singapore) | Penang FA | 1952, 1953 and 1954 |
| Kedah FA | 1987, 1988 and 1989 | |
| Perlis FA | 2004, 2005 and 2006 | |
| The team with the longest period gap of winning the Malaysia Cup again | Negeri Sembilan FA | 61 years (1948-2009) |
| The team requires the longest period to win the Malaysia Cup | Kelantan FA | 89 years (1921-2010) |
| Perlis FA | 83 years (1921-2004) |
| Records | Teams and Players | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Most teams goal in the final | Selangor FA | 8 goals (1927 and 1968) |
| Singapore FA | 8 Goals (1933) | |
| Most goal in the final | Singapore FA - Selangor FA | 10 goal (1933) |
| Scorer in the final | Abdul Ghani Minhat | 4 goals (1961) |
| Scorer, scoring a hat-trick in the final |  Abdul Ghani Minhat (4 goals) N.Thanabalan Ervin Boban Abbas Saad Juan Manuel Arostegui Bambang Pamungkas | 1961 1991 1968 1994 2003 2005 |
| Foreign coach most of the championship team lead | Ken Worden | 3 times (1995, 1996 and 2002) |
| Players champion in the team most similar |  Mokhtar Dahari | 10 title (1972-1986) |
| Foreign player hat-trick to help the team champion | Mehmet Durakovic | 1995, 1996 and 1997 |
credit to : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Cup
