The Piala Malaysia is one of Asia's longest-running football competitions. Established in 1921, it was known as the Malaya Cup from 1921 to 1967, after the donation of a trophy from the British Royal Navy ship
HMS Malaya. The tournament was renamed the Piala Malaysia in 1967.
Pre-war years The popularity of the tournament was already apparent in its early years; in 1923, a newspaper described it as "by far the greatest sporting event of the year". The east coast states such as
Pahang,
Kelantan,
Terengganu and
Perlis entered the competition for the first time. In 1957, the final was played for the first time at the newly constructed Merdeka Stadium. The majority of the finals would be held at the Merdeka Stadium until the 1990s. In 1967, the Malaya Cup was retired and replaced with a new trophy, the Piala Malaysia, in line with political developments and since then the competition has been known as the Piala Malaysia. Where previous tournaments had been segmented into geographical zones, the 1979 edition saw every team play each other in a 17-team competition. The top four teams at the end of the league will face off in two semi-finals before the winners made it to the finals. In 1981, the quarter-finals stage were introduced. When the league began, it was intended primarily as a qualifying tournament for the Piala Malaysia. However, only in 1982, the league trophy was awarded to the winners of the league stage. Since then, the Piala Malaysia has been held after the conclusion of the league each year, with only the best-performing teams in the league qualifying for the Piala Malaysia.
Modern era In 2003,
MPPJ FC became the first club and a non state 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
DPMM FC, whereas initially their team was organised by the
Football Association of Brunei. Singapore used to enter a team organised 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 over gate receipts and have not been involved since. In 2011, the Football Association of Singapore announced that Singapore would be back to join the Piala Malaysia in 2012. On 5 December 2011, the Football Association of Singapore had unveiled the new squad list and line up planned for the 2012 edition of Piala Malaysia where
LionsXII was sent to compete.
Privatisation era In 2015, the
Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) was created in the course of privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The partnership saw all 24 teams of Liga Super and Liga Premier including FAM as the Managing Partner and
MP & Silva as a special partner (FAM's global media and commercial advisor) to become stakeholders in the company. == List of finals ==