Malaysia national football team
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| Nickname(s) | Harimau Malaya (Malayan Tiger) | ||
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| Association | Football Association of Malaysia |
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| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Head coach |  K. Rajagopal |
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| Captain | Norhafiz Zamani Misbah | ||
| Most caps | Soh Chin Aun (252) | ||
| Top scorer | Mokhtar Dahari (125) | ||
| Home stadium | National Stadium, Bukit Jalil | ||
| FIFA code | MAS | ||
| FIFA ranking | 157 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 75 (August 1993) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 170 (April 2008) | ||
| Elo ranking | 164 | ||
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| First international | |||
 Korea Republic 3 - 2 Malaya  (Singapore; April 13, 1953) Malaysia 1 - 1 Thailand  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 1964) |
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| Biggest win | |||
Malaya 15 - 1 Philippines  (Jakarta, Indonesia; August 27, 1962) Malaysia 11 - 0 Philippines (Tehran, Iran; September 7, 1974) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
Malaya 1 - 6 South Vietnam  (Tokyo, Japan; May 25, 1958) Malaysia 2 - 8  New Zealand(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; November 16, 1967) Malaysia 1 - 7 China PR  (Bangkok, Thailand; December 20, 1978) |
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| AFC Asian Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 1976) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 1976, 1980 and 2007 | ||
The Malaysia national football team is the national team of Malaysia and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia.
The Malaysian national team are nicknamed the Tigers, as the tiger is a national symbol of Malaysia. Their main regional rivalries are against Singapore (which are nicknamed the lions) and Indonesia. Before 1963, the team represented the Federation of Malaya and was known as the Malaya national football team.
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[edit] History
[edit] National Team
Before the establishment of Malaysia in September 16, 1963, the Malaysia national football team was known as Malaya national football team. The team was very well known in the early 1950s to 1960s as one of the Asian footballing giants along with South Korea. Malaya's biggest achievement in football was becoming the bronze medalist in 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta after defeating South Vietnam 4-1. This team boasted luminaries such as Abdul Ghani Minhat (nicknamed "Raja Bola" or "King of the Ball"), Arthur Koh, G. Govindaraju, Robert Choe, Edwin Dutton and Stanley Gabriel.[1].
After the establishment of the Malaysian Federation in September 16, 1963, the team until today is known as the Malaysia national football team. The glory of this team continued after the establishment of Malaysia, with notable players such as Namat Abdullah and Shaharuddin Abdullah, Wong Fook Chuan, N. Thanabalan, Zulkifli Norbit and captain Abdullah Nordin.[1] Malaysia qualified for 1972 Olympics in Munich, conquering Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Philippines en route. Two years later, Malaysia won their second bronze medal in 1974 Asian Games after defeating North Korea 2-1. The team continued its glory after qualifying twice in a row for the AFC Asian Cup in 1976 and 1980.
This era saw the rise of a generation of now legendary players, led from the front by the thunderous striker Mokhtar Dahari, centreback pairing of Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Aun (deemed one of the best centreback pairs in Asia in the 70s) and R. Arumugam, affectionately known as "Spiderman" for his agility, in goal.
Malaysia would qualify for the Olympics for a second time, this time at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, but would later boycot the tournament. Nonetheless, Malaysia would still produce quality players like "the world's first overlapping centreback" Serbegeth Singh (or Shebby Singh as he's now known), Zainal Abidin Hassan, Dollah Salleh and Lim Teong Kim, who played for Hertha Berlin in 1988.[2]
However, the glory fell like a house of cards in 1994 as Malaysian football was embroiled in one of the biggest bribery scandals in the country. Many star players like Matlan Marjan and Azizol Abu Haniffah were involved the corruption scandal that destroyed the credibility of Malaysian football. High-profile players who survived, such as Azman Adnan and Khairul Azman Mohamed continued to inspire cult followings, but the game had been badly hit.
The 2000s saw the arrival of Muhamad Khalid Jamlus (a trialist with Eintracht Frankfurt), Akmal Rizal Ahmad Rakhli (once signed to RC Strasbourg) and Indra Putra Mahayuddin, among others, but for all their European connections, still failed to generate a mainstream interest in national football.
The decline of the Malaysian national team comes in tandem with the decline of its domestic leagues. Many Malaysian fans point to the bribery scandal of 1994 as the catalyst, but the popularity of subscription TV has also led Malaysia's large footballing viewership away from live domestic matches to pre-recorded high-profile European games. With the dearth of mainstream interest and starvation of funds, Malaysian football today is miles away from its glorious days of the 1970s and 1980s.
[edit] The Allan Harris era
In December 2000, Allan Harris was the second big name to be brought in to coach the Malaysian national side after Frenchman Claude LeRoy. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona.
Midway through his tenure with the national side, he was told to take over the National Under-23 team and as a result, youth development became his responsibility.
When he guided Malaysia to the bronze medal in the regional SEA Games competition, he was derided by sections of the local press for having low expectations. Despite doing a good job with the minimal resources at hand, Harris was constantly under pressure to produce results. His contract was not renewed when it ended in 2004.
[edit] The Bertalan Bicskei managership
In the second half of 2004, FAM selected Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, to succeed Allan Harris.
Coaches such as Bobby Houghton and Dragoslav Stepanovic had been serious contenders for the position of Malaysian head coach before the FAM finally settled on Bicskei.
Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup competition, but was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly against Singapore in Penang on June 8 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before confronting a Singapore player. In September, 2005 the contract was terminated after mutual agreement. The reason was that Bicskei tried to assure international friendlies for the national team, but the Football Association of Malaysian had different views.[3]
[edit] Recent history
Despite the efforts of the FAM in organizing high profile matches for the national side such as the ones against Manchester United and Brazil, interest for the national side has generally been low.
The Malaysian national side reached the semi-final stage of the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship, losing to Singapore national football team on penalties after playing out a 2-2 draw over two legs.
[edit] Asian Cup 2007
Malaysia participated in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup as co-hosts along with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. They were placed together in Group C with China, Uzbekistan and Iran. They lost all three matches, including losing 1-5 to China and 0-5 to Uzbekistan. With an aggregate score of 12-1, Malaysia became the only team that finished the tournament without any points.
This resulted in a nationwide furore, which led to the resignations of head coach Norizan Bakar and FAM officials Tengku Abdullah. B. Sathianathan was selected to replace Norizan Bakar after winning the Merdeka Cup tournament with the Malaysian Under-23 side.
[edit] 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup
Under B. Sathianathan, FAM expected to see Malaysia reach into the final of AFF Suzuki Cup. The team show impressive performance in the first match against Laos. However Malaysia losing 2-3 to the Vietnamese because of mistake by goalkeeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias. The team exit the tournament after losing 3-0 to the host Thailand. The exit saw Sathianathan future with the national team in doubt. However the FAM decided to extend his contract for one more year with condition he must improve Malaysia FIFA ranking. In February 2009, Sathianathan and manager Dato' Soh Chin Aun contract was terminated by the FAM due to humiliating 0-5 defeat to UAE national football team.[4]
[edit] Kit
Before the national team kit manufactured by Nike, the national team kit was manufactured by Adidas. Adidas has been the sponsor for national team kit since 1970s.
On 2007, the Official Malaysia National team Kit is manufactured by Nike. It was officially launched in January 2007 and made its debut in the Asean Football Championship 2007 in Bangkok. The association with Nike will last till 2011.
The home kit's design of black and yellow stripes is a throwback to the kit used by Malaysian national team of the 1920s. The great national team of 1970s also sported similar stripes, which are supposed to be reminiscent of the stripes of a tiger, the symbol of Malaysia's national football team.
This new home kit also sports black shorts and yellow socks. The new away kit features a blue jersey, white shorts, and blue socks. What will give further distinction to the new Malaysian kit is also the representation of the Malay ‘keris’ at the bottom left corner of each shirt.
[edit] Competition Records
[edit] World Cup record
[edit] Olympic Games Record
[edit] AFC Asian Cup Record
[edit] Asian Games Record
[edit] Tiger Cup/AFF Football Championship record
[edit] Schedule and recent resultsFurther information: Malaysia national football team results
1 Non FIFA 'A' international match [edit] Current squad
[edit] Coaching staff
[edit] Previous squads[edit] National Team Coaches[edit] References and notes
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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