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Malaysia national football team

Malaysia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Harimau Malaysia
Association Football Association of Malaysia (FAM)
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation AFF (Southeast Asia)
Head coach Ong Kim Swee
Captain Mohd Amri Yahyah
Most caps Soh Chin Aun (112)
Top scorer Mokhtar Dahari (45)
Home stadium Bukit Jalil National Stadium
FIFA code MAS
FIFA ranking
Current 162 Decrease 1 (9 February 2017)
Highest 75 (August 1993)
Lowest 174 (April–May 2016)
Elo ranking
Current 177 (17 February 2017)
Highest 56 (1 March 1977)
Lowest 177 (29 March 2016)
First international
 Malaysia 1–1 Thailand 
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 12 October 1963)
Biggest win
 Malaysia 11–0 Philippines 
(Tehran, Iran; 7 September 1974)
Biggest defeat
 United Arab Emirates 10–0 Malaysia Malaysia
(Abu Dhabi, UAE; 3 September 2015)
Asian Cup
Appearances 3 (first in 1976)
Best result Group stage, 1976, 1980 and 2007

Malaysia national football team (Malay: Pasukan bola sepak kebangsaan Malaysia) is the national team of Malaysia and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The national team was founded in 1963 Merdeka Tournament one month before the establishment of the Malaysian Federation. Malaysia national football team is recognised by FIFA as the successor of the defunct Malaya national football team. The Malaysian team nicknamed Harimau Malaysia (formerly nicknamed Harimau Malaya, in reference of the Malayan tiger).

It is one of the successful teams in Southeast Asia along with Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, winning bronze at the Asian Games in 1974 as well winning the ASEAN Football Championship in 2010 and other small competitions while improving at the same time.

In the FIFA World Rankings, Malaysia's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in August 1993, at 75th. Malaysia's main rival on the international stage are their geographical neighbours, Indonesia and Singapore, and past matches between these two teams have produced much drama.

The Harimau Malaya name have been inherited from the Malaya national football team (which derived from Malayan tiger). Although the Federation of Malaysia have been formed in 16 September 1963, the name are still being maintained for the national squad, thus there is some debate as most Malaysian in the East felt the "Malaya" term does not cover the whole country. Another source stated the name was believed to have been derived from a Malayan football player from Stulang Laut, Johor named Abdullah Mohd Don (Dollah Don) after he been called as "Harimau Malaya" by the founding father of Indonesia, Sukarno when managed to chasing his team lost of 0–3 against an Indonesian football club by scoring hat-trick in a match between Singaporean Malay Club and Peseja (Persija Jakarta) in 1953. On 2 February 2016, the nickname was officially changed to Harimau Malaysia.Harimau Malaysia nickname finally to be used to acknowledge former national player, Shaharuddin Abdullah. Since 1970s, he was known as "Harimau Malaysia" by the football fans due to his ability to score goals. He once scored 15 goals for Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup tournament which stood as a record for a very long time.


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Wikipedia

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