Sarawak FA

This article is about the Sarawak Football Association football team. For Sarawak United Football Club, see Sarawak United FC.

Sarawak FA
Full nameFootball Association of Sarawak State Football Team
Nickname(s)
  • Ngap Sayot
  • Bujang Senang
  • The Crocs
  • Sarawak FA
  • Sarawak
Founded1974; 50 years ago (1974)
Dissolved2021
GroundSarawak State Stadium
Capacity26,000[1]
OwnerFootball Association of Sarawak
WebsiteClub website

Sarawak FA State Football Team (Malay: Pasukan Bola Sepak Negeri Sarawak) was a football team which represented the Malaysian region (formerly state)[2] of Sarawak from 1974 to 2020 in the Malaysian football league.[3] It was one of the 14 Malaysian state teams of the Malaysian football structure before the Malaysian football league demanded all teams competing in the country's top two leagues to be run as or changed to professional clubs by 2021. It is also important to note that Sarawak FA is a football team that is not run as a professional football club, but rather a team that was funded and run by a Malaysian state football association that relied mostly on state government grants. How the team was run was much like all the other Malaysian state football teams competing in the old Malaysian football system before the year 2021 too. To outsiders who are not familiar with the Malaysian football system or league (before the year 2020), the team was simply known as Sarawak FA because it was run by the Football Association of Sarawak (FAS). To those who follow Malaysian football on the other hand, the team was simply known as Sarawak or the Sarawak State Football Team.

The team's home matches used to be played at the 26,000 capacity Sarawak State Stadium in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak.

Having won a few major Malaysian football honours and trophies, the team had won the Malaysia FA Cup in 1992, the old Malaysian Premier League in 1997 (which was Malaysian top-tier division league at the time) and the Malaysia Charity Shield in 1998. In 2013, the team won the second-tier division league, the Malaysia Premier League, which is their first domestic trophy in 12 years, in which they were promoted to the Malaysia Super League, the Malaysian top-tier division league, the following year.[4]

The team last played in the third-tier division in Malaysian football, Malaysia M3 League in 2020 but due financial constraints faced by FAS at the time, the team's parent body which runs the team, Sarawak FA did not register to compete in the Malaysia M3 League the following year.[5] As the team did not compete in the 2021 Malaysia M3 league, many football fans in Malaysia saw this as the end to a once legendary team from Sarawak. Although there is a club, supported by FAS, which started to use the name Sarawak United to compete in the second-tier division in Malaysian football, the Malaysia Premier League, from the year 2020 onwards, Sarawakian football purists only accepted the team as a "reincarnation" of the old Sarawak FA team, and not its successor.[6]

  1. ^ "Introduction [Sarawak State Stadium]". Sarawak Sports Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Sabah CM says would welcome redefinition of Sabah, Sarawak to 'regions' instead of 'states'". Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Tiada Ruang Untuk Pasukan Sarawak FA?". Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  4. ^ Matthew T. Umpang (25 June 2013). "S'wak clinches Premier League title!". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  5. ^ Dr Cyril Dason. "Ketiadaan Dana Punca Sarawak FA 'Lenyap' Dari Liga M3". Sarawak Crocs. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Kuching welcome participation of Sarawak United in Premier League". Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.