Malaysia national football team
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | Harimau Malaya Pak Belang Juara Dunia Ikan Masin Malaya | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Football Association of Malaysia | ||
| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Head coach | Norizan Bakar | ||
| Most caps | R Arumugam (196) | ||
| Top scorer | Mokhtar Dahari (125) | ||
| Home stadium | National Stadium, Bukit Jalil | ||
| FIFA code | MAS | ||
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| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 154 | ||
| Highest | 75 (August 1993) | ||
| Lowest | 157 (January 2007) | ||
| First international | |||
 South Korea 3 - 2 Malaya  (Singapore; April 13, 1953) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Malaya 15 - 1 Philippines  (Jakarta, Indonesia; August 27, 1962) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Japan 13 - 0 Malaysia  (Tokyo, Japan; September 27, 1997) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 0 times (first in -) | ||
| Best result | - | ||
| AFC Asian Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 (first in 1976|2007) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 1976, 1980 and 2007 | ||
The Malaysia national football team is the national team of Malaysia and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia. It has never qualified for the World Cup finals, although the team did qualify to play in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. However, Malaysia did not take part after heeding a United States-led boycott of the Games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Previously, Malaysia's first Olympic appearance was in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. While suffering losses to hosts West Germany 0-3 and Morocco 0-6, Malaysia did beat the USA 3-0. The best years of Malaysian football were from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, during which time Malaysia and South Korea were the two main rivals in East Asia.
However, while South Korea have gone on to compete successfully on the world stage, Malaysia's competitiveness has declined. With Malaysian football no longer able to dominate even at South East Asian level, local football fans have turned their interests to foreign leagues in Europe.
The Malaysian national team are nicknamed the Tigers, as the tiger is a national symbol of Malaysia. Their main regional rivalries are against Singapore (which are nicknamed the Lions) and Indonesia.
History
The Allan Harris era
In December 2000, Allan Harris was the second big name to be brought in to coach the Malaysian national side after Frenchman Claude LeRoy. Harris came with strong credentials, having assisted Terry Venables at FC Barcelona, but he soon found the Malaysian job to be a little too demanding.
The Football Association of Malaysia had high expectations of him. Harris had limited resources and most players had little or no international exposure.
Midway through his tenure with the national side, he was told to take over the National Under-23 team and as a result, youth development became his responsibility.
When he guided Malaysia to the bronze medal in the regional SEA Games competition, he was derided by sections of the local press for having low expectations. Despite doing a good job with the minimal resources at hand, Harris was constantly under pressure to produce results. The last straw came when Harris' charges lost 4-0 to China in a World Cup qualifier. His contract was not renewed when it ended in 2004.
When he was finally removed from his post, Harris famously took a swipe at local press, telling them he found it difficult to do his job right when "the players didn't even know which shoes to wear for different pitch conditions".
The Bertalan Bicskei managership
In the second half of 2004, FAM decided on a successor to Harris. Bertalan Bicskei, former Hungarian goalkeeper and national coach, succeeded Allan Harris on 1 July 2004.
Coaches such as Bobby Houghton and Dragoslav Stepanovic had been serious contenders for the position of Malaysian head coach before the FAM finally settled on Bicskei.
Bicskei led the national side to third place at the regional Tiger Cup competition, despite having a squad which was deemed "not strong enough" by local press. The local press took offence in the selection of strikers Amri Yahyah and Khalid Jamlus, who were not key players during Allan Harris' charge. Bicskei was demoted to youth development duties by FAM for his actions during a friendly against Singapore in Penang on June 8 2005. Bicskei, disgusted by the standard of officiating, threw a bottle onto the pitch before storming to confront a Singapore player. He was fired on 15 December 2005.
Subsequently, Bicskei was demoted after his youth players lost 7-0 to rivals Thailand.
Recent history
The team is currently under the charge of Norizan Bakar, who was previously the coach of Penang. Despite the efforts of the FAM in organizing high profile matches for the national side such as the ones against Manchester United and Brazil, interest for the national side has generally been low.
The Malaysian national side reached the semi-final stage of the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship, losing to Singapore on penalties after playing out a 2-2 draw over two legs.
Furore over FIFA ranking
The August 2006 FIFA World Rankings ranked Malaysia at 148. This sparked a nationwide furore over the terrible state of football in the country. It became a parliamentary issue and calls for the Football Association of Malaysia to be disbanded became more and more vocal.
Asian Cup 2007
Malaysia participated in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup as co-hosts along with Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. They were placed together in Group C with China, Uzbekistan and Iran. They lost terribly in their first two matches against China and Uzbekistan 5-1 and 5-0 respectively, prompting a major uproar amongst the Malaysian public and press. The team rallied together, often having 11 men behind the ball to avoid being routed by Iran, losing just 2-0.
For the record, Malaysia was the only team that finished without any points in the tournament and could only manage a solitary goal. Among the four co-hosts, Malaysia had the poorest performance and record in the 2007 tournament.
The national team's embarrasing results triggered resignations among top FAM officials like Tengku Abdullah (Deputy Head) & Khairy Jamaluddin (upcoming politician). There were speculations that these officials were trying to avoid shouldering the responsibility of the sorry state of Malaysian football by taking the easy way out through resignation. There were rumours circling in the Malaysian press that coach Norizan Bakar had been sacked, but the Football Association of Malaysia have insisted that he will stay on until his contract ends in November.
Trivia
In 1975, Malaysia won a friendly match against English giants Arsenal F.C. 2-0, both goals being scored by Mokhtar Dahari.
Competition history
World Cup record
Asian Cup record
- 1956 - Did not qualify
- 1960 - Did not qualify
- 1964 - Did not enter
- 1968 - Did not qualify
- 1972 - Did not qualify
- 1976 - Round 1
- 1980 - Round 1
- 1984 to 2004 - Did not qualify
- 2007 - Round 1
Tiger Cup/ASEAN Football Championship record
- 1996 - Runners-up
- 1998 - Group stage
- 2000 - Third place
- 2002 - Fourth place
- 2004 - Third place
- 2007 ASEAN Football Championship - Semifinalist
Last and next games
March 26, 2007, Colombo, Sri Lanka - 
June 18, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 
June 21, 2007, Kelana Jaya, Malaysia - 
June 28, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 
July 10, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 
July 14, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 
July 18, 2007, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 
Malaysia squad
Most recent squad
The squad selected for Malaysia's upcoming international tournament, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup (July 7, 2007 - July 29, 2007).
Head coach:
Foreign based players
All Time Malaysian Greats
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References and notes
See also
- Malaysian Super League
- Malaysian Premier League
- Malaysia Cup
- Malaysian FA Cup
- Malaysian FAM Cup
- Malaysian Football Foreign Talent Scheme
External links
International association football | ||
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| Asia | ||
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| North & Central America and the Caribbean | ||
| Oceania | ||
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