Merdeka Tournament

Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day and mainly played at Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.[1] The competition bears the Malay word for independence. The Merdeka Tournament was once regarded as the 'Grand Old Lady of Asia' where top teams from football playing nations would love an invitation to the tournament.[2] As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in recent decades. Matches in Merdeka tournament considered International "A" matches (Friendly match) by FIFA.[3]

Merdeka Tournament
Special golden jubilee logo marks a 50th anniversary of tournament in 2007
Organising bodyFAM
Founded1957 (1957)
RegionInternational
Number of teamsVaried
Current championsMalaysia Malaysia U-23 (2nd title)
Most successful team(s) Malaysia (10 titles)
2023

History
The winner of the second season of Merdeka Cup in 1958, Malaya football team, five years before the merger to form Malaysia. Also in the picture is Tunku Abdul Rahman (centre), the first Prime Minister of Malaya, and at that time president of Football Association of Malaya & Asian Football Confederation.[4][5]

The Pestabola Merdeka is Asia`s oldest football tournament which invited football playing nations to compete since 1957.[6][7][8][9] The Merdeka tournament also was once called the ‘Mini Asia Cup’ around the 1960s to 1980s, which was founded by the former AFC President, Tunku Abdul Rahman.[10] While the tournament had been held annually from 1957 to 1988, it has been held only nine times from 1989 to 2013. During the late 1950s to early 1980s, it was a prestigious tournament among Asian nations because the participants sent their full senior players.[11] After the 1980s, interest in the cup waned from both football fans and football teams, because many Asian nations focused more on the qualification phases in FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup.[12][13]

The first edition of the Pestabola Merdeka was held in August and September 1957 with Hong Kong emerging inaugural champions.[14] However, from then on it was purely dominated by Malaysia, South Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia and a host of other countries, including South American and European clubs.[15]

Malaysia/Malaya exclusively lifted the trophy ten times, emerged runners-up on eight occasions, and in addition shared the winner’s rostrum twice with South Korea (1960 and 1979), while South Korean sides have won it seven times.

Indonesia, Taiwan and Myanmar hold multi-winning accolades. The other champions were Morocco (1980), New Zealand (2000), Uzbekistan (2001), Czechoslovakia Olympic (1987) and Austria’s with their SK Admira Wacker (1991), German Hamburger SV (1988), Argentinian Buenos Aires XI (1983) and Brazilian Santa Catarina XI (1982).

Brazilian states' Sao Paulo XI, Minas Gerais XI, and America FC Rio de Janeiro finished runners-up, as have Japan and India.

Champions

Below are the list of champions in Pestabola Merdeka competitions since 1957.[16][17]

YearChampionsRunners-upScore in finalNotes
1957Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1] Indonesia(tournament in group stages)1
1958 MalayaHong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1]
1959 Malaya[18] India
1960 Malaya[19]
 South Korea[note 2]		0–0(trophy shared)1
1961 Indonesia Malaya2–11
1962 Indonesia Pakistan2–11
1963 Taiwan[note 1] Japan[note 3](tournament in group stages)1
1964 Burma India1–01
1965 South Korea
 Taiwan[note 1]		1–1(trophy shared)1
1966 South Vietnam Burma1–01
1967South Korea Yangzee
 Burma		0–0(trophy shared)1
1968 Malaysia Burma3–0
1969 Indonesia Malaysia3–2
1970 South Korea[note 4] Burma1–0
1971 Burma Indonesia1–01
1972 South Korea Malaysia2–1
1973 Malaysia[20] Kuwait[21]3–11
1974 Malaysia South Korea1–02
1975 South Korea Malaysia[22]1–01
1976 Malaysia Japan[note 5]2–01
1977 South Korea Iraq1–0
1978 South Korea Iraq2–01
1979South Korea South Korea B
 Malaysia		0–0(trophy shared)
1980 Morocco Malaysia2–11
1981 IraqBrazil Sao Paulo XI1–0
1982Brazil Santa Catarina XI Ghana3–0
1983Argentina Buenos Aires XI Algeria XI2–1
1984South Korea South Korea BBrazil Minas Gerais XI2–0
1985South Korea South Korea BBrazil America FC Rio de Janeiro7–4 (a.e.t)
1986 Malaysia Czechoslovakia XI3–0
1987 Czechoslovakia Olympic South Korea3–2
1988West Germany Hamburger SV (West Germany)Austria FC Tirol Innsbruck1–0
1989–1990(Not Held)
1991Austria SK Admira Wacker China Olympic Team3–0
1992(Not held)
1993 MalaysiaSouth Korea South Korea B3–12
1994(Not held)
1995 IraqHungary Budapesti Vasas SC2–0
1996–1999(Not held)
2000 New Zealand Malaysia2–0
2001 Uzbekistan Bosnia and Herzegovina2–1
2002–2005(Not held)
2006 Myanmar Indonesia2–1
2007 Malaysia U-23 Myanmar3–1
2008 Vietnam U-22 Malaysia0–0(Penalties) 6–5
2009–2012(Not held)
2013 Malaysia U-23 Myanmar U-232–0
2014–2022(Not held)
2023

Note: 1 All teams participant fielded their strongest side and their match are regarded as full internationals for their association. 2 South Korea was represented by a reserve team with some senior players.

Teams' achievements

Below are the record of teams in Pestabola Merdeka competitions (1957–present).

#TeamsChampionsRunners-upTrophy sharedTotal
1 Malaysia (including Malaya)107217
2 South Korea7229
3 Myanmar/Burma4417
4 Indonesia34—7
5 Iraq22—4
6South Korea South Korea B3114
7 Vietnam (including  South Vietnam)2——2
8 Malaysia U-232——2
9 Czechoslovakia11—2
10 Taiwan[note 1]1—12
11Austria SK Admira Wacker1——1
11ArgentinaBuenos Aires Buenos Aires XI1——1
11West Germany Hamburger SV1——1
11Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1]1——1
11 Morocco1——1
11 New Zealand1——1
11BrazilSanta Catarina (state) Santa Catarina XI1——1
11 Uzbekistan1——1
11South Korea Yangzee1——1
12 India—2—2
12 Japan—2—2
13 Pakistan—1—1
13 Kuwait—1—1
13BrazilSão Paulo (state) Sao Paulo XI—1—1
13 Ghana—1—1
13 Algeria—1—1
13BrazilMinas Gerais Minas Gerais XI—1—1
13BrazilRio de Janeiro (state) América FC Rio de Janeiro—1—1
13Austria FC Tirol Innsbruck—1—1
13China China Olympic—1—1
13Hungary Budapesti Vasas SC—1—1
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina—1—1
13 Myanmar U-23—1—1

Goalscorers

Overall top scorers
Rank Player Team Matches Goals
1 Mokhtar Dahari Malaysia Malaysia 50 36[23]
2 Kunishige Kamamoto Japan Japan 18 22[24]
3 Abdul Kadir Indonesia Indonesia 36 22[25]
4 Cha Bum-kun South Korea South Korea 34 21[26]
5 Abdul Ghani Minhat Malaysia Malaysia 32

19[27]

Notable players

Here are some prominent footballers, who participated in this competition.

Notes
  1. Hong Kong sent its team that consisted of players that represented Republic of China (Taiwan) or Hong Kong from 1957 to 1961. From 1963 to 1968 here, the team officially represented Republic of China (Taiwan) yet was Hong Kong-based Republic of China international footballers; Hong Kong's national team also formally joined since 1965 as well as Taiwan's.
  2. See South Korea national football team results (1960–69).
  3. See Japan national football team results (1960–69).
  4. See South Korea national football team results (1970–79).
  5. See Japan national football team results (1970–79).

References
  1. "Stadium Merdeka soul of the nation". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  2. "Bring back Grand Old Lady of Asia". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  3. "Diiktiraf perlawanan kelas A, ini 5 sebab Pesta Bola Merdeka patut dihidupkan semula" [Recognized as a class "A" match, these are 5 reasons why the Pestabola Merdeka should be revived]. Majoriti.com. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. "ASIAN ICONS: TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN PUTRA AL HAJ". AFC at Wayback Machine. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  5. "OCM Sports Museum & Hall of Fame: Tunku Abdul Rahman". OCM at Wayback Machine. 12 April 2010. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. Ajitpal Singh (7 September 2013). "Glory beckons Malaysia". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  7. Ted Gim (2 September 2008). ""Hari Merdeka" Observed in Seoul". The Seoul Times. malaysia.or.kr. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. "Merdeka Cup To 'Restart' Again! India May Feature, Feels AIFF Chief". MENAFN. 22 October 2022. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  9. Asiaweek. Asiaweek Limited. 1990.
  10. "Piala FAM, Pestabola Merdeka bakal kembali" [FAM Cup, Pestabola Merdeka will return] (in Malay). Bebas News. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  11. Eric Samuel (31 August 2017). "Halcyon days of Malaysian football". The Star. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  12. Sulaiman Ismail (25 December 2018). "Pestabola Merdeka Akan Dianjurkan Mengikut Kalendar FIFA" [Pestabola Merdeka Will Be Organized According to the FIFA Calendar]. Semuanya Bola (in Malay). Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  13. IANS (22 October 2022). "Kalyan Chaubey, AIFF President, Says 'Merdeka Cup to Restart, India May Feature' After Meeting FA Malaysia President". Latestly. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  14. T. Avineshwaran (13 May 2004). "Sporting landmarks through the years". The Star. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  15. "Happy 64th Independence Day - Legasi Lagenda". Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023. 31 August 2021
  16. "Merdeka Tournament". International football.net. 25 October 2008. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  17. Neil Morrison (10 September 2015). "Merdeka Tournament (Malaysia)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  18. "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1959-60 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  19. "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1960-61 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  20. "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1973-74 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  21. "Kuwait national football team 'A' international record: [1973-74 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 1 March 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  22. "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1975-76 season]". 11v11. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  23. Mamrud, Roberto (18 March 2021). "Mohamed Mokhtar Dahari – Century of International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  24. Hatano, Morio. "Kunishige Kamamoto - Goals in international matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  25. Nazim, Samsun. "Abdul Kadir - Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 30 December 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  26. Villante, Eric. "Bum-Kun Cha - Century of international appearances". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  27. Villante, Eric. "Abdul Ghani Minhat – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
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