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Football Association of Malaysia
Parliament
Founded	11 September 1926; 98 years ago
Headquarters	Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
FIFA affiliation	1954
Parliament affiliation	1954
AFF affiliation	1984
President	Hamidin Mohd Amin
General Secretary	Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar
Website	fam.org.my

The Football Association of Malaysia (commonly abbreviated as FAM; Malay: Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia, headquartered at Wisma FAM. The FAM is also one of the founding members of both the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). It has been affiliated with FIFA since 1954. The FAM oversees the organisation and development of football and advancing the game at all levels in Malaysia, and is responsible for all aspects of the amateur and professional game in its territory. This includes the men's, women's and youth national football teams as well as the Malaysian Amateur Football League and Malaysia Premier Futsal League.

History

Pre-independence football

The British introduced football to Malaya, and the locals quickly embraced the game, making it the country's leading sport. By the late 19th century, football had become a central activity in most sports clubs across Malaya, though it lacked proper structure. The establishment of the Selangor Amateur Football League in 1905 brought some administration and organization, but the competition remained limited to clubs in Kuala Lumpur.^[2]

In 1921, the battleship HMS Malaya visited the country. After competing in football and rugby matches with local teams, the officers and crew decided to commemorate the games by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both sports. This led to the establishment of a national football tournament involving all states in Malaya. Known initially as the Malaya Cup—later renamed the Malaysia Cup in 1963—the competition has been held continuously, except during the war years.^[2]

In 1926, the Selangor Amateur Football League was officially established. Ten years later, in 1936, the Football Association of Selangor was formed. This association began organizing tournaments, which inspired other states in Malaya to follow suit. Also in 1926, the Football Associations of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, and the Singapore Amateur Football Association came together to form the Malayan Football Association (MFA). The MFA was created to assemble a Malayan team to compete against an Australian side visiting Singapore that year.^[2]

In 1933, the MFA was reorganized into the Football Association of Malaya (FAM). Initially headquartered in Singapore, the FAM took on responsibility for running the Malaya Cup competition.^[2]

The first FAM president was Sir Andrew Caldecott, followed by M.B. Shelley, Dr. J.S. Webster, S.D. Scott, R. Williamson, and Adrian Clark, who served until 1940. As Europe entered full-scale war with Germany, FAM operations moved from Singapore to Malaya, and A.R. Singham became the first Asian secretary in 1941.^{[citation needed]} After the war, J.E. King became FAM's president, succeeded by H.P. Byson and then Dr. C. Rawson, who served for two years before the position was taken over by the first non-British president.^[2]

In 1951, Tunku Abdul Rahman—later Malaysia's first Prime Minister—was appointed as FAM president. Under his leadership, football in Malaysia entered a new phase, with the FAM playing a more prominent role beyond organizing the Malaysia Cup.^[2]

In 1956, FAM became one of the 14 founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Two years later, it achieved full membership in FIFA.^[2]

After independence

Tunku Abdul Rahman’s passion for football played a pivotal role in the construction of the Merdeka Stadium, which in 1957 became a historic site as the venue for Malaysia’s independence declaration from Britain.^[3]

The stadium also marked the beginning of the Merdeka Tournament (Pestabola Merdeka), which was popularly referred to as the 'Mini Asia Cup' from the 1960s to the 1980s.^[4] The tournament was a significant success and inspired similar events such as the Jakarta Anniversary Tournament in Indonesia, the King's Cup in Thailand, and the President's Cup in South Korea.^[5] The inaugural tournament—then the premier football competition in Asia—was won by Hong Kong.^[3] Malaya claimed the title three consecutive times, winning in 1958 and 1959, and sharing it with South Korea in 1960.^[3] The country later qualified for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.^[3]

In the early 1960s, the organization’s name was officially changed to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). Tunku Abdul Rahman continued to promote football development, particularly through youth competitions, until his resignation in 1974.^[2] His successor, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, held the post for one year before Hamzah Abu Samah took over in 1976. Hamzah, who was the Minister of Trade and Industry, introduced several initiatives to develop the sport.^[2]

Between 1976 and 1984, numerous football programs were implemented under Hamzah’s leadership.^[2] The FAM entered a new phase when the Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah, assumed leadership. His tenure saw the introduction of the semi-professional league in 1989, which eventually transitioned into full professionalism.^[2] Despite these efforts, success on the international stage for Malaysia's national team remained elusive.^[2]

One of the highlights of Malaysian football history was hosting the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Domestically, the league underwent several transformations, culminating in the establishment of the Malaysia Super League (M-League) in 2004. However, the national team suffered significant defeats in international competitions during this period.

On 13 September 2018, FAM received the AFC Dream Asia Award in the Developing Category.^[6] In 2019, FAM was also awarded the AFC Dream Asia Award (Bronze) in the Inspiring Category.^[7]

Associations affiliation

There are 20 Football Associations affiliated to the FAM. Besides the 14 FAs with regional location, six others are affiliated units.^[8]^[9]

State affiliation

Perlis Football Association (PFA)
Football Association Penang (FAP)
Kedah Football Association (KFA)
Perak Football Association (PAFA)
Football Association of Selangor (FAS)
Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA)
Negeri Sembilan Football Association (NSFA)
Melaka Football Association (MAFA)
Johor Football Association (JFA)
Football Association of Kelantan (KAFA)
Football Association of Terengganu (TFA)
Football Association of Pahang (PBNP)
Football Association of Sarawak (FAS)
Sabah Football Association (SAFA)

Affiliation units

Malaysian Malays Football Association (PBMM)
Malaysian Chinese Football Association (MCFA)
Malaysian Indian Sports Council (MISC)
Royal Malaysia Police Football Association (RMPFA)
Armed Forces Football Association (AFFA)
Football Coaches Association of Malaysia (PJBM)

The State Associations have their own constitutions and structure. During the early amateur era of Malaysian football, most of the state FAs was made up of small organisation with only some bigger states have an active football league while the smaller FAs will send a team to compete in the Malaysia Cup.^[10]^[11]^[12]

Depending on the size of the state, the State Associations have district associations affiliated to them. Clubs are directly affiliated to the State Football Association alongside the District Football Association.

Each State conducts its own competitions. Competitions are at state level where the winners will have a chances to be nominated by their state FAs for promotion to Malaysia FAM League.^[13] There are also inter-district competitions such as Liga Bolasepak Rakyat.

Competitions

The Football Association of Malaysia had run all top football competitions in Malaysia until 2015, when the Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP), which is now known as the Malaysian Football League (MFL) was formed as part of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The MFL took over all the top professional football competition previously managed by the FAM. The list below are the competitions which are managed by the Malaysia Football League since it inception in 2015:^[14]

FAM now focuses on youth development football, women football and futsal leagues and tournaments in Malaysia:^[15]

Piala Presiden (U21)
Piala Belia (U19)
Malaysia National Women's League (Women's)
Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah (Women's)
Malaysia Premier Futsal League
Malaysia Premier Futsal League (Women)
Malaysia Futsal Cup
Malaysia Futsal Cup (Women)

AFL is a subsidiary of MFL that is responsible to organize and manage lower football leagues in Malaysia.

Awards

Principals

Office-holders^[2]
Office	Name	Tenure
President	Sir Andrew Caldecott	1933–1934
	M.B. Shelley
	J.S. Webster
	S.D. Scott
	R. Williamson
	Adrian Clark	1938–1940
	J.E. King	1947–1948
	H.P. Byson	1948–1949
	C. Rawson	1949–1951
	Tunku Abdul Rahman	1958–1974
	Abdul Razak Hussein	1975–1976
	Hamzah Abu Samah	1976–1983
	Ahmad Shah of Pahang	1984–2014
	Abdullah of Pahang	2014–2017
	Tunku Ismail Idris	2017–2018
	Hamidin Mohd Amin	2018–

Office-holders^[2]
Office	Name	Tenure
General Secretary	A.R. Singham	1941
	Kwok Kin Keng	1948–1979
	T.P. Murugasu	1980–1987
	Paul Mony Samuel	1988–2000
	Dell Akbar Khan	2000-2005
	Ibrahim Saad	2005–2007
	Azzuddin Ahmad	2007–2013
	Hamidin Mohd Amin	2013–2018
	Stuart Ramalingam	2018–2021
	Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar	1 September 2021–

Name	Position	Source
Hamidin Mohd Amin	President	^[16]^[17]
Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub	Vice President	^[16]
Ab Ghani Hassan	2nd Vice President	^[16]
S Sivasundaram	3rd Vice President	^[16]
Rosmadi Ismail	4th Vice President	^[16]
Subahan Kamal	5th Vice President	^[17]
Mohd Yusoff Mahadi	6th Vice President	^[17]
Stuart Ramalingam	General Secretary	^[16]^[17]
Ismail Karim	Treasurer	^[16]
Scott O'Donell	Advisor & Agent
Yusuke Adashi	Vice Advisor & Agent
Scott O'Donnell	Technical Director	^[16]^[17]
Peter Cklamovski	Team Coach (Men's)	^[16]^[17]
Jacob Joseph	Team Coach (Women's)	^[16]^[17]
Wan Fakhrul Bakar	Media/Communications Manager	^[16]
P Sentikumar	Futsal Coordinator	^[16]
Kassim Kadir Bacha	Referee Coordinator	^[16]

Management

April 2017 Source:^[18]^[19]

Executive committee

President: TMJ
Deputy President: Subahan Kamal (Selangor), Mohd Yusoff Mahadi (Melaka)
Vice-President: Joehari Ayub (Sabah), Ab Ghani Hassan (Negeri Sembilan), S. Sivasundaram (Selangor), Rosmadi Ismail (Kelantan)
Other members: Ajisman Alias, Aminuddin Omar, Hishamudin Yahaya, Jefferey Low, Md Dali Wahid, Christopher Raj, Subkhiddin Mohd Saleh, Firdaus Mohamed, Suraya Yaacob, Shafizah Umamah Abdul Mutalib