The Malaysia Premier Futsal League, commonly abbreviated as MPFL, is a men's professional futsal league sanctioned by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). It was previously known as the Liga Futsal Kebangsaan (LFK). Successful MPFL teams qualify for Asian continental club competitions, including the AFC Futsal Club Championship and AFF Futsal Club Championship. MPFL currently does not practice promotion and relegation. Since the league's inception in 2004, 8 teams have been crowned champions. Selangor have been the most successful team with 3 titles, followed by Figos RSA (2), Felda United (2), Melaka (2), PDRM (1), AOB Teras Selatan (1), Johor (1), PKNS (1) and Pahang Rangers (1).
The current champions are Pahang Rangers, having won their first MPFL title in the 2023 season.
History
Origins
In 2004, Football Association of Malaysia introduced the first futsal league (carnival format) sponsored by Hyundai. The league was known as the Hyundai National Futsal Championship, which was then joined by 18 teams and was held at Sports Planet Ampang.
Foundation
In 2006, the league was called the Celcom National Futsal Championship after Celcom took over as the main sponsor. It was a carnival format in four zones (North, Central, South & East). A total of 33 teams battled this time for the league title.
In 2007, FELDA took over as the official sponsor and was called Liga Futsal Kebangsaan FAM/FELDA. The women categories were introduced in that year.
Figos RSA became the first club to win the title back-to-back in the 2008-09 and 2009–10 seasons. In the 2014–15 season, Felda United matched the record after winning the season for the second time.[1]
The league was on hold for the 2016 season after a financial problem and postponed to January 2017 for the new season.[2][3][4][5] For 2017 season, a total of 10 teams was supposed to compete in men categories. However, Selangor withdrew from the competition before the start of the season. In women's categories, a total of six teams compete in the competition.
Rebranding as Malaysia Premier Futsal League
In 2019, the Liga Futsal Kebangsaan was rebranded into the Malaysia Premier Futsal League. A total of 9 teams were competing to be the first MPFL champion.[6]Selangor won the inaugural edition of the new league, ending a six-year wait to be crown champions of Malaysia. The previous champions Melaka failed to defend the championship as they were in 7th position in the league. Saiful Nizam, Ridzwan Bakri and Fariq Mohammad became the inaugural winners of the Golden Boot awards as they scored 18 goals respectively.
2020s
Before the start of the 2020 season, Selangor changed their name to Selangor MAC due to a merging with MAC FC. The previous season's runner-up, Pahang, also changed their name to Pahang Rangers. Four new teams joined for the 2020 season; they were Sarawak, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and KPT–PST Mustangs. Melaka withdrew from the league, so that 12 teams would be taking part in the 2020 MPFL season, three more than last season.[7] Only six games were played before the league was postponed on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and on June 1, 2020, the season was officially cancelled.[8] For the 2021 season, a new format would be used: 20 teams would be divided into two groups, the top four teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages.[9] However, the league was cancelled again due to the pandemic.
After COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia restrictions were eased, MPFL were back for the 2022 season. A total of 15 teams were competing in the 2022 season. Four new teams joined, namely PDRM, Selangor TOT United, Shah Alam City and ATM. Sarawak withdrew from the league.[10] The 2022 season used one round league format and all matches were played at Panasonic Sports Complex, Shah Alam due to Malaysia government's Covid-19 restrictions. Selangor MAC became the fourth club to win the title back-to-back as they won 2019 and 2022 seasons.[11] Also, Selangor MAC became the first club to win three first division titles. For the second time in a row, Pahang Rangers finished as runner-up. The new teams PDRM, finished in 5th position in the league. Silva Matheus Vasconcelos became the first foreign player to win the Golden Boot award which was also shared with his Selangor MAC's teammate Ekmal Shahrin as they each scored 14 goals.
The 2023 will use a new format, 14 competing teams will be divided into two groups,the top four teams in each group will qualify for the knockout stages. 3 new teams joined for 2023 season, they were Johor Darul Ta'zim, Sabah and PFA Odin Sarawak. Four teams withdrew from the league, they were Perak, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan and PDRM.[12] Pahang Rangers became the champion after they beat the new team Johor Darul Ta'zim 9–6 on aggregate in the final, ending the two year dominance of Selangor MAC.[13]Selangor MAC' s Ali Ebrahimi became the top scorer as he scored 22 goals.
Divided into two divisions
Starting from the 2024 season, the league will be divided into two separate divisions. The teams that advanced to the knockout stage last season (excluding Pulau Pinang) and KL CIty will play in MPFL Division 1, while the teams that did not advance to the knockout stage last season (excluding KL CIty) will play in MPFL Division 2. Additionally, two new teams, namely Melaka and Negeri Sembilan United, will join the MPFL Division 2. However, Kuala Lumpur, the team that participated last season, will not take part in the 2024 season. Selangor TOT United and Selangor MAC have reverted to their former names; Gombak TOT United and Selangor.
The following teams that had competed in the Malaysia Premier Futsal League but are not competing in the Malaysia Premier Futsal League during the 2023 season.
The all-time Malaysia Premier Futsal League table is a cumulative record of all match results, points and goals of every team that has played in the Malaysia Premier Futsal League since its inception in 2019. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2023 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2023 Malaysia Premier Futsal League. Numbers in bold are the record (highest either positive or negative) numbers in each column. Note that in the 'Best Position' column, some will show positions in the group due to the group stage format used in the 2023 season.
^AFF, Editor (13 March 2022). "Selangor MAC win 2022 MPFL crown". AFF - The Official Website Of The Asean Football Federation. Retrieved 13 April 2023. ((cite web)): |first= has generic name (help)
