Malaysia Premier League

This article is about the former professional second-tier division Premier League. For the former top-tier division Premier League that was active from 1994 to 1997, see Liga Perdana (1994–97).

Liga Premier
Organising bodyMalaysian Football League
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)
Folded2022; 2 years ago (2022)
CountryMalaysia
Last championsJohor Darul Ta'zim FC II (1st title)
(2022)
Most championshipsFelda United
Kedah
PDRM
(2 titles)
Top goalscorerBobby Gonzales (90)
Websitewww.malaysianfootballleague.com
Current: 2022 Malaysia Premier League

The Malaysia Premier League (Malay: Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system.

The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ran from early February to late October, with a Ramadan break for a month depending on the Islamic calendar. Teams played 22 matches (playing each team in the league home and away), totalling 132 matches in the season.[1] Most games were played on Fridays, with a few games played during weekdays. The league operated on a system of promotion and relegation with promotion to the Malaysia Super League and relegation to the Malaysia M3 League.

In 2015, the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) - later known as the Malaysia Football League (MFL) - was created in the course of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The partnership saw all 24 teams of the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League including the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) as a managing partner and MP & Silva as a special partner (FAM's global media and commercial advisor) to become stakeholders in the company.[2] The FMLLP owned, operated and ran five entities in Malaysian football under its jurisdiction, which included the Malaysia Super League (MSL), the Malaysia Premier League (MPL), the Malaysia FA Cup, the Malaysia Cup and the Piala Sumbangsih. It aimed to transform and move Malaysian football forward.

The 2022 season was the final season of the Premier League in its current form, as MFL will be discontinuing the league in favour of an expanded Super League, and a future second-tier league replacing the Premier League.[3][4]

From the 2016 season to the 2018 season, the league was known as the 100PLUS Liga Premier for sponsorship reasons.[5][6]

The last champions are Johor Darul Ta'zim FC II who won the league in 2022.

  1. ^ Eric Samuel (7 May 2015). "More domestic football on TV next season". The Star. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Press Release: FAM Inks deal with MP & Silva to formalise FMLLP". Football Association of Malaysia. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  3. ^ "Malaysia play the Fifa game". MSN Sport. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  4. ^ "MFL to expand super league, discontinue premier league from 2023". Free Malaysia Today. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  5. ^ Zulhilmi Zainal (5 February 2016). "New MSL and MPL emblems revealed by FMLLP". Goal.com. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  6. ^ Zulhilmi Zainal (2 February 2018). "Malaysia Super League gets title sponsor in RM480 million deal". Goal.com. Retrieved 27 February 2018.