Piala FAM was established in August 1951 as a secondary knockout competition to the more prestigious
Malaya Cup. The competition was held between the state teams and uniformed units including
Singapore, the
Police, the
Army, and the
Malaysian Prison Department in its early days. The inaugural season started in September 1951 after the Malaya Cup final concluded. The final was held on 26 April 1952 between
Penang and
Selangor which was won by Penang. Starting in 1974, the state teams were barred from entering the competition and only club sides were allowed to enter. In 2008, further changes were made when the knockout stages were abolished and a
double round-robin league format was introduced. The tournament was now known as
Liga FAM. In 2016, the FAM decided to rename the competition again from Liga FAM back to its original name, the
Piala FAM. However, the format of the competition was still contested as a league tournament as before. The final match for the 2016 season was broadcast by
Astro Arena. A total of 16 clubs competed in the competition for the
2017 season and was divided into two groups. On 15 February 2017,
Sungai Ara withdrew from the league and left the competition with 15 clubs in total. It was announced on 19 December 2018 that the format was changed back to a straight knock-out tournament, starting from the 2019 season. This proposal was scrapped however as the
Football Association of Malaysia rebranded the competition as the
Malaysia M3 League from the
2019 season onwards, with the FAM taking control of both the Malaysia M3 League and the
Malaysia M4 League as well. == Logo evolution ==