The 2018 Malaysia Premier League, known as 2018 100Plus Malaysia Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th season of the Malaysia Premier League, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia since its establishment in 2004.
Team changes A total of 12 teams contested the league, including 6 sides from the 2017 season, four relegated from the 2017 Malaysia Super League and four promoted from the 2017 Malaysia FAM League.
To Premier League
Relegated from Super League Felda United Sarawak Penang Terengganu II
Promoted from FAM League UKM Felcra
From Premier League Promoted to Super League Kuala Lumpur Negeri Sembilan PKNP Terengganu
Relegated to FAM League ATM Perlis
Notes: Originally Sime Darby were promoted along with UKM as finalists of the 2017 Malaysia FAM League final, but after Sime Darby announced their withdrawal from the Premier League participation, Felcra, the next highest team in the FAM League table, were invited as replacement.
FELDA United were relegated to Premier League after failing to receive the FAM License to compete in the Super League; while T-Team were relegated to Premier League after their absorption to Terengganu, rebranding as Terengganu II and change of their status as reserve team to Terengganu. Negeri Sembilan and PKNP, 2 highest teams in the Premier League with FAM License, were promoted to Super League in their place.
Disbandment of Kuantan FA After failing to settle bad debt with former players for last season campaign, 4 months failing to pay current team wages. and unable to turn up for a league fixture against PDRM, FMLLP decided to disqualify Kuantan from the rest of the campaign. Because of their disqualification, all points that were won by other teams against Kuantan will not count and the league was left with 11 teams out of initial 12 with teams that were due to play Kuantan were given a bye week. It is the first time this has ever occurred in the professional level of Malaysian football where a team is disallowed to compete after breaking the rules and regulations with the season on-going.
Kuantan stated that Marcerra (the team that bought their license) wanted to take over the bad debts amounted to RM 3.5 million and clear all the overdue payment from last season. But it seemed fruitless as after 4 months into the league campaign, the problem was still unsettled as the current squad players decided to leave the team and opted to join teams in the FAM league. Kuantan were awarded RM 500,000 annual grant but minus RM 200,000 for fined after failing to complete their registration papers.
Stadium and locations
Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. Team Location Stadium Capacity Felcra Shah Alam Shah Alam Stadium80,372 Felda United Jengka Tun Abdul Razak Stadium 25,000 Johor Darul Ta'zim II Pasir Gudang Pasir Gudang Corporation Stadium15,000 MIFA Petaling Jaya Petaling Jaya Stadium25,000 PDRM Shah Alam Shah Alam Stadium80,372 Penang Batu Kawan Penang State Stadium40,000 Sabah Kota Kinabalu Likas Stadium35,000 Sarawak Kuching Sarawak State Stadium26,000 Terengganu II Kuala Terengganu Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium15,000 UiTM Shah Alam UiTM Stadium10,000 UKM Selayang Selayang Stadium11,098
Personnel and sponsoring
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor(s) Felcra Tarcísio Pugliese Shahrom Kalam Uhlsport FELCRA, HeMAT Felda United B. Sathianathan Shukor Adan FBT FELDA, Hotel Tenera Johor Darul Ta'zim II Benjamin Mora Shakir Shaari Nike Forest City MIFA K. Devan Kpah Sherman Puma MIFA, MAHSA University PDRM Zulhamizan Zakaria Fauzi Majid Line 7 ODR Lubricants Penang Zainal Abidin Azrul Ahmad Puma Sabah Jelius Ating Rawilson Batuil Carino Sawit Kinabalu, Sabah Energy Corp, Asian Supply Base Sarawak Ian Gillan Hairol Mokhtar Starsport Terengganu II Mustaffa Kamal Hasbullah Awang Kobert Chicken Cottage UiTM Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail Afif Asyraf Puma Soaring Upwards, UiTM Holdings UKM Sulaiman Husin Asnan Ahmad SkyHawk Kopi Pak Belalang, Fusionex
Coaching changes Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. TeamOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming coachDate ofappointment Terengganu II Rahmad Darmawan Resigned 23 November 2017Pre-season Mustaffa Kamal 27 November 2017 PDRM Fauzi Pilus End of contract 31 October 2017 Zulhamizan Zakaria 28 November 2017 Sarawak Pengiran Bala End of caretaker role 1 December 2017 Ian Gillan 2 December 2017 MIFA Jacob Joseph End of contract 31 October 2017 K. Devan 3 December 2017 Felcra Rosle Md. Derus Reassigned as assistant coach 22 December 2017 Tarcísio Pugliese 22 December 2017 Kuantan Zulhamizan Zakaria Resigned 28 November 2017 Ismail Zakaria 1 December 2017 PDRM Zulhamizan Zakaria End of contract 31 July 2018 5th Fauzi Pilus 1 August 2018 Johor Darul Ta'zim II Benjamin Mora Promoted to JDT I 10 August 2018 4th Ervin Boban 11 August 2018
Foreign players The number of foreign players is restricted to four each team including at least one player from the AFC country.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 AFC player Former player Felcra Léo Carioca Endrick Casagrande David Laly Felda United Thiago Junio Gilberto Fortunato Thiago Fernandes Iain Ramsay Johor Darul Ta'zim II Bruno Soares Nicolás Fernández Harry Novillo Hafiz Sujad Murilo Damasceno Lucas Ontivero MIFA Elizeu Kpah Sherman L'Imam Seydi Bae Beom-geun PDRM Argzim Redžović Shim Un-seob Petrisor Voinea Shunsuke Nakatake Penang Ugo Ukah Sanna Nyassi Chidi Edeh Kang Seung-jo Ken Ilsø Sabah Francis Kasonde Rodoljub Paunović Pito Ramos Keisuke Ogawa Heo Jae-nyeong Lee Kil-Hoon Sarawak Nebojsa Marinkovic Mateo Roskam Miloš Raičković Kim Chi-gonTerengganu II Andrew Jean-Baptiste Sébastien Thurière Akanni-Sunday Wasiu Bruno Suzuki Lee Jun-hyeob UiTM Mamadou Danso Venyamin Shumeyko Okereke Timothy Noh Sang-min Kota Kawase Lucas Pugh Dechi Marcel Dao Bakary UKM Waheed Oseni Redouane Zerzouri Michael Ijezie Nam Se-in Atuheire Kipson
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window. Foreign players who left their clubs or were de-registered from playing squad due to medical issues or other matters.
Naturalisation Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Team Player 1 Player 2Felda United Stuart Wark Curran Singh FernsJohor Darul Ta'zim II Samuel Somerville Ernest WongSarawak Shazalee Ramlee
Notes: Carrying Malaysian heritage. Participated in the Malaysia national team squad.
Results
League table
Result table
Positions by round
Season statistics
Top scorers
Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. RankPlayerClubGoals1 CasagrandeFelcra192 Bobby GonzalesSarawak14 Hector RamosSabah Kpah ShermanMIFA Thiago FernandesFelda United6 Akanni-Sunday WasiuTerengganu II127 Gilberto FortunatoFelda United108 Mateo RoskamSarawak9
Top assists Players sorted first by assists, then by last name. Rank Player Club Assists1 EndrickFelcra10 Nicolás FernándezJohor Darul Ta'zim II3 Iain RamsayFelda United94 Bae Beom-geunMIFA85 Maxsius MusaSabah7
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Gilberto Fortunato Felda United PDRM 6–2 (A) Casagrande Felcra Sarawak 3–2 (A) Žarko Korać Kuantan UKM 4–0 (H) Casagrande Felcra Terengganu II 3–1 (H)
Notes: (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Own goals Rank Player For Against Date Goals1 Daudsu Jamaluddin Kuantan UiTM 1 Fazly Mazlan Johor Darul Ta'zim II Terengganu II 1 Andrew Jean-Baptiste Terengganu II Sarawak 1
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Farizal HarunFelda United5 Muhaimin MohamadMIFA Sheril AnuarPDRM4 Soffuan TawilUiTM45 Suhaimi HusinTerengganu II3 Rozaimie RohimSabah7 Robson Rendy RiningSabah28 Iqbal SuhaimiSarawak1 Abdul Gafur SamsudinUKM
See also 2018 Malaysia Super League 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup 2018 Malaysia FA Cup 2018 Malaysia Cup 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup List of Malaysian football transfers 2018
References
External links Football Association of Malaysia website Football Malaysia LLP website