The 2019 Malaysia Cup group stage began on 2 August and ended on 22 September 2019. A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage of the 2019 Malaysia Cup.
The draw for the group stage was held on 22 July 2019, 12:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.[1] The 16 teams were drawn into 4 groups.[2] In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the knockout stage.
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season):
The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public, with the following match sequence.
Note: Positions for scheduling do not use the seeding pots, e.g. Team 1 is not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.
| Matchday | Dates | |
|---|---|---|
| Matchday 1 | 2–4 August 2019 | |
| Matchday 2 | 7–8 August 2019 | |
| Matchday 3 | 16–18 August 2019 | |
| Matchday 4 | 20–21 & 23–25 August 2019 | |
| Matchday 5 | 13–14 September 2019 | |
| Matchday 6 | 17–18 & 22 September 2019 |
Below were the participating teams grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
| Key to colours | |
|---|---|
| Teams from 2019 Malaysia Super League | |
| Teams from 2019 Malaysia Premier League |
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In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
The matchdays were 2–4 August, 7–8 August, 16–18 August, 20–21 & 23–25 August, 13–14 September, and 17–18 & 22 September 2019.
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