Early years (1963–1969) in 1958,
Malaya football team, five years before the merger to form Malaysia. Also in the picture is
Tunku Abdul Rahman (centre), the first
Prime Minister of Malaya and at that time president of
Football Association of Malaya &
Asian Football Confederation. Prior to 16 September 1963,
North Borneo (now
Sabah),
Sarawak,
Malaya and Singapore were represented by their own national teams, a situation which pre-dated the establishment of Malaysia. Malaya and Singapore often competed in international competitions 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 led by
Abdul Ghani Minhat, who at that time was the first Asian player to reach
50 goals for the men's national teams. in 1962,
North Borneo football team, one year before the merger to form Malaysia. The beginning of the Malaysian football team match took place in
Merdeka Stadium on 8 August 1963 with the combined strength of Singapore and Malaya (although the federation only existed after 16 September 1963). With the combined forces of Malaya and Singapore, the team began by facing
Japan, and lost 3–4. The team continued to use a combination of players from Singapore and
Malay Peninsula until the formation of the Malaysia team, wherein the Football Association of Malaya was succeeded by the
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The combination players with Singapore ended when the latter
separated from Malaysia along with the establishment of
Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and their subsequent reaffiliation with
FIFA in 1965. Since then the squad was only represented by West Malaysian players, mainly due to travel time difficulties to
East Malaysia and the players were not well known to the mainstream West Malaysian football. From 1966 to 1970,
Chow Chee Keong was voted by
Asian Football Confederation as the best Asian's goalkeeper for 5 straight years.
Olympic Tournament and Asia Competition (1970–1980) during the
1972 Summer Olympics qualifiers on 25 September 1971. In 1971,
James Wong of Sabah was the first player from East Malaysia to represent the country. Malaysia
qualified for the
1972 Olympics in
Munich, beating
Japan 3–0,
South Korea 1–0,
Taiwan 3–0 and the
Philippines 5–0 along the way. Although they managed to defeat the
United States 3–0, they lost the other two matches with a score of 0–3 to
West Germany and 0–6 to
Morocco,
ranking 10th in the final standings. in action during the match against
West Germany in the
1972 Summer Olympics at
Munich on 27 August 1972. Since 1972,
Mokhtar Dahari has been considered a legendary football player for the Malaysian team maintaining his place as one of the best players in Asia. He manage to score a total of 125 goals in 167 appearances for Malaysia (including matches played against club sides, national 'B' teams and selection teams). Against other nations' national 'A' teams, he scored
89 goals in 142 appearances. This makes him as
one of the world's top scorer for men's national teams at one time. Together with the record of
Soh Chin Ann. According to both
RSSSF and
IFFHS, Soh is the player with the
most international caps in men's football and become the first men's footballers to reach 200 or more international caps (219) before being overtaken by
Portugal's
Cristiano Ronaldo in 2025. 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 four times, became runner-up three times and achieved third place twice during the 1970s. Malaysia
qualified again for the
1980 Olympics in Moscow, beating
Indonesia 6–1, South Korea 3–0,
Brunei 3–1, Philippines 8–0 and tied with Japan 1–1. Thus, the team meet South Korea in the play-off match. Malaysia won the play-off against South Korea with a 2–1 scored in the
Merdeka Stadium and qualified 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 Group A Malaysia participated the
1976 AFC Asian Cup for the first time, meeting Kuwait and China in Group A. During the tournament, Malaysia came in third place in the group, losing 0–2 to Kuwait in the opening match and drew 1–1 with China in the second match.
1980 AFC Asian Cup Group B Malaysia made its second Asian Cup appearance in
1980, placed in Group B alongside South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. They managed to hold South Korea 1–1 in the first match, but would lose 1–3 to Kuwait before regaining a 2–0 victory against the United Arab Emirates. Malaysia would eventually finish 3rd after holding Qatar 1–1 in their last match.
Falling performances and drought (1990–2009) (white) during a
friendly match in
Queen Elizabeth II Park,
Christchurch, New Zealand, on 19 February 2006. 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 performances of the 1970s and 1980s to qualify into major tournaments, 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 as co-host of the edition, 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 reached 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 the 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 were also reports that match-fixing and bribery that infiltrated Malaysian football in 1994 have 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 Ann were terminated.
FA Premier League Asia Cup (2003) In July 2003, Malaysia qualified for the
2003 FA Premier League Asia Cup as the host nation and as the only national team to ever do so, and on 24 July 2003, they lost 1–4 against
Chelsea in the semi-finals in a match where
Hairuddin Omar scored Malaysia's only goal of the tournament to bring the match to 1–1. In the third-place playoff on 26 July 2003, they lost 0–4 against
Birmingham City and placed fourth in the tournament.
2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification Malaysia were placed in the 6th group in the
qualifying, alongside teams such as
Iraq,
Bahrain &
Myanmar. The Malaysian national team drew with Iraq 0–0, before smashing Myanmar with 4 to nil goals. Malaysia later scored 2 goals against Bahrain in the last 10 minutes, securing them 5 points. However, disappointment would strike as they bombed their next matches in
Manama, Bahrain. Malaysia failed to score points there, losing 5–1 to Iraq, 3–1 to Bahrain & 2–1 to Myanmar. Thus, Malaysia failed to qualify for
2004 AFC Asian Cup, sitting at the 3rd place with 1 win, 2 draws & 3 losses. The Malaysian media & fans reacted how the Malaysian team could lose with such a humiliating result outside Malaysia, similar to the
2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification, when they bombed their second leg matches against
Thailand,
North Korea &
Taiwan.
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 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.
Stagnation (2011–2022) 2010s: Mixed results and coaching changes During the 2010s, the Malaysian national team underwent several coaching changes but struggled to achieve consistent success in international competitions. In July 2014,
Dollah Salleh replaced
K. Rajagopal as head coach. Under Dollah's leadership, Malaysia reached the final of the
2014 AFF Championship, though the team failed to match its 2010 tournament victory. Subsequent matches saw uneven performances, including: • Heavy defeats to
Oman (0–6) and
Palestine (0–6) • A 1–1 draw against
Timor-Leste • A record 0–10 loss to the
United Arab Emirates in September 2015, after which Dollah resigned.
Ong Kim Swee served as interim coach from September 2015 until March 2017, when Portuguese manager
Nelo Vingada was appointed. Vingada's tenure saw disappointing results in
2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification: • A 1–2 loss to
Lebanon despite leading 1–0 at halftime • A 1–1 draw and subsequent 0–2 loss to
Hong Kong • Two 1–4 defeats against
North Korea • Elimination with 1 draw and 5 losses in the qualifying group Vingada resigned in late 2017 and was replaced by assistant coach
Tan Cheng Hoe.
2018 AFF Championship campaign Following their failure to qualify for the
2019 AFC Asian Cup, Malaysia competed in the
2018 AFF Championship, being drawn in Group A alongside
Vietnam,
Myanmar,
Laos, and
Cambodia. The team advanced as group runners-up with three victories and one defeat (against Vietnam). In the semifinals, Malaysia faced reigning champions
Thailand: • First leg: 0–0 draw at home • Second leg: 2–2 draw in
Bangkok, advancing on the
away goals rule The final against Vietnam saw: • First leg: 2–2 draw in Malaysia • Second leg: 0–1 loss in
Hanoi • Aggregate 2–3 defeat, marking Malaysia's third runners-up finish in the tournament's history The tournament highlighted progress in Malaysia's youth development program, with several young players making significant contributions. Malaysia entered the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification from the first round due to its FIFA ranking. In the first round, Malaysia defeated
Timor-Leste 12–2 on aggregate. In the second round, Malaysia was drawn into Group G with
Thailand,
Indonesia,
Vietnam, and the
United Arab Emirates. The campaign included: • A 3–2 victory over Indonesia, marked by heightened tensions between the rival nations. • A 1–2 home defeat to the UAE after leading early. • A 0–1 away loss to Vietnam, repeating their defeat in the
2018 AFF Championship. • A 2–1 home win against Thailand, keeping qualification hopes alive. • A 2–0 victory over Indonesia, moving Malaysia to second in the group behind Vietnam.
COVID-19 pandemic impact and coaching change The
COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected Malaysia's national team in 2021. During the final matches of
2022 World Cup qualification, several key players were unavailable, forcing head coach
Tan Cheng Hoe to field a squad featuring new call-ups and veteran players. The team's results during this period included: • 0-2 defeat against
Bahrain • 1-4 loss to
Kuwait in a friendly match • 0-4 defeat against the
United Arab Emirates • 1-2 loss to
Vietnam • A final 1-0 victory over
Thailand in qualification These results eliminated Malaysia from World Cup contention. The team's struggles continued at the
2020 AFF Championship (held in December 2021), where they failed to advance beyond the group stage. Following this performance, Tan Cheng Hoe resigned as head coach in January 2022.
Resurgence of Harimau Malaya (2022–2025) After Tan Cheng Hoe's resignation, former vice-president of
Korea Football Association,
Kim Pan-gon was appointed as Malaysia's new national team coach on a 2-year contract. His first task was the
2022 FAS Tri-Nations Series held in Singapore in March 2022. At that time, Pan-gon recorded his first success when Malaysia won 2–0 against
Philippines but suffered a subsequent 1–2 loss to Singapore in the next match. Pan-gon's next challenge came when Malaysia faced
Brunei and
Hong Kong in a series of friendly matches as part of preparations for the
2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification. Malaysia won 4–0 against Brunei and 2–0 against Hong Kong, raising confidence and support from FAM and Malaysians in the hope of improving Malaysian football's fortunes which had declined in the previous years. In the third round of
2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Malaysia faced 3 matches which began with a 3–1 victory against
Turkmenistan in the first match, suffering a 1–2 loss to
Bahrain, before successfully ending their campaign by defeating
Bangladesh with 4–1. Thus, Malaysia finished second in Group E behind Bahrain and automatically qualified for the
2023 AFC Asian Cup on merit after 42 years. Shortly thereafter, Malaysia's FIFA ranking rose up to 147th from 154th in March 2022. Later in September 2022, Malaysia entered the
2022 King's Cup in Thailand, facing the host and later,
Tajikistan in the final. Malaysia won 5–3 on penalties against Thailand after a 1–1 draw but later failed to win the cup after a 0–3 lost in the
penalty shootout after being held to a goalless draw.
2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round Group E At the end of 2022, before the start of the
2022 AFF Championship campaign, Malaysia held 2 friendly matches against
Cambodia and
Maldives, winning 4–0 and 3–0 respectively. In the 2022 AFC Championship, Malaysia has won 1–0 against Myanmar with
Syihan Hazmi saving a late penalty to secure the win for Malaysia. In the next match, Malaysia went on to thrash Laos 5–0 but lost 0–3 against Vietnam in a controversial match that led to
Azam Azmi's red card. Yet, Malaysia won 4–1 against causeway rivals, Singapore in the last match being the first time Malaysia had won over Singapore on home soil which also sees Malaysia finishing in second place of Group B, thus seeing them automatically qualified to semi-finals match against Thailand. Malaysia won the first leg of the match with
Faisal Halim scoring the only goal in the match but in the second leg, Thailand scored thrice which see Malaysia failing to enter the final after with a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Thailand. Despite this, Malaysia ended 2022 with astonishing results overall which see them rose up to 145th in FIFA ranking. Later in March 2023, Malaysia won again against Turkmenistan with 1–0 and 2–0 against Hong Kong at the
Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in
Johor in a series of friendlies. In June 2023, Malaysia won 4–1 against
the Solomon Islands and recorded their second biggest victory ever when they won 10–0 against
Papua New Guinea at the
Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in
Terengganu. Shortly after, Malaysia's FIFA ranking rose up again to 137th in the world and 4th in ASEAN, behind the Philippines (135th), Thailand (113th) and Vietnam (95th), thus making it the highest ranking attained in 17 years. In September 2023, Malaysia faced their biggest challenge ever when they met
Syria and
China in
Chengdu, China. Malaysia passed the test after coming back from two goals down to manage a 2–2 draw with Syria and 1–1 with China respectively. In October 2023, the
Merdeka Tournament was held after a 10-year absence, with Malaysia meeting India and Tajikistan. In the opening match, Malaysia won 4–2 against India in the semi-final but later lost to Tajikistan again 0–2 in the final.
2023 AFC Asian Cup After 42 years of absence (excluding 2007, when Malaysia was one of the hosts), Malaysia went to the
2023 AFC Asian Cup with high expectations, as they were put in a group with
Jordan,
Bahrain, and
South Korea. As part of the preparation for the tournament, Malaysia had a friendly match with Syria again with the same score as last year, a 2–2 draw. Malaysia opened their tournament with a disastrous start, as they were beaten 0–4 by Jordan. In the second match against Bahrain, whom they met in the qualifiers, the game looked to be ending in a draw, until
Ali Madan scored a last-minute goal for Bahrain. Thus, Malaysia failed to advance past the group stages of the AFC Asian Cup again after four appearances, while they were also struggling to find their first Asian Cup win since their last win in
1980. Malaysia headed into their final group stage fixture against the favourites in the group, South Korea. Within the 21st minute, Malaysia were already 1–0 down through a
Jeong Woo-yeong header, heading into the second half of the match on the back foot. However, in the second half,
Faisal Halim scored with an audacious chip against South Korean goalkeeper
Jo Hyeon-woo (which was nominated as the goal of the tournament), followed up by a penalty slotted away by
Arif Aiman to give Malaysia a surprising 2–1 lead against the Koreans. Eventually, a
Lee Kang-in free-kick and a penalty from
Son Heung-min put South Korea back in the lead. With the score 3–2 to the Koreans and the match surpassing the 90th-minute mark, it looked to be three losses out of three for Harimau Malaya until the 90+15th minute, when
Romel Morales scored an equaliser against all odds. The match ended
3–3, securing a memorable draw, and earning Malaysia's first point since 1980.
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – Second Round Heading into the match against
Oman in March, the Malaysian camp remained optimistic about getting positive results. However, Malaysia suffered 2–0 defeats, both away & at home. Malaysia then managed to get 1 point against
Kyrgyzstan and 3 points against
Chinese Taipei, and eventually finished in third place with 10 points. However, it proved insufficient as Kyrgyzstan finished second with 11 points, thus seeing Malaysia out of contention for the World Cup, and instead compete in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualification.
Kim Pan-gon's resignation and temporary care by Pau Martí Following Malaysia's elimination from the World Cup qualification, on 16 July 2024, Pan-gon announced his resignation as Malaysia's national team head coach, citing personal commitments. Assistant coach
Pau Martí replaced Pan-gon as the caretaker coach. While managing the team, Martí helped the team win the
2024 Merdeka Tournament. The
2024 ASEAN Championship was his final international duty as the caretaker coach.
Peter Cklamovski appointment and 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification On 16 December 2024, FAM announced the appointment of
Peter Cklamovski, who was recently the former manager of
FC Tokyo, as the new head coach for the Malaysian team. Cklamovski will begin his duties on 5 January 2025 with the task of leading the team to qualify for the
2027 AFC Asian Cup. Subsequently on 11 January 2025, FAM announced a new management line-up for the national team as part of its restructuring process.
Rob Friend has been recruited as
CEO, Dr. Craig Duncan appointed as head of high performance and sports medicine, and former
Australian international footballer
Tim Cahill has been elected as a personal advisor on sports and international relations.
Falsicfication scandal (2025–2026) On 26 September 2025, the FAM and seven "Malaysian heritage" players
Gabriel Felipe Arrocha,
Facundo Tomás Garcés,
Rodrigo Julián Holgado,
Imanol Javier Machuca,
João Vitor Brandão Figueiredo,
Jon Irazábal Iraurgui and
Héctor Alejandro Hevel Serrano were sanctioned by
FIFA after an investigation uncovered falsification and forgery of documents relating to the players' eligibility. The scandal involved attempts to register foreign-born footballers as Malaysian nationals, who played for Malaysia in the
third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against
Nepal and
Vietnam. FIFA imposed a fine of
CHF 350,000 (approximately
RM 1.9 million) on FAM, while each player received an individual fine of CHF 2,000 (about RM 10,560) and a 12-month suspension from all football related activities. FAM announced that it would appeal the sanctions. On 6 October 2025, FIFA released an official report detailing falsifications concerning the players' eligibility, including the alleged birthplaces of their grandparents. While FAM claimed that the seven players had grandparents born in Malaysia, FIFA discovered that their grandparents had in fact been born in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands. FIFA condemned the act as a deliberate attempt to deceive, describing it as a serious breach of sporting integrity that undermines confidence in fair competition and compromises the fundamental principles of honesty and transparency in football. On 3 November 2025, the FIFA Appeal Committee rejected FAM's appeal and the sanctions stood. As a result of the scandal, on 17 December 2025, FIFA overturned the results of three friendly matches of Malaysia against
Cape Verde,
Singapore and
Palestine into 0–3 defeats. On 5 March 2026,
CAS dismissed FAM's appeal, while slightly eased the punishments against the players. On 17 March 2026, the AFC also overturned the results of two matches in the
third round qualification of 2027 Asian Cup against
Nepal and
Vietnam into 0–3 defeats, which resulted in Malaysia failing to qualify for the
2027 AFC Asian Cup. == Team image ==