| Headquarters: | Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya |
| Fifa Affiliation: | 1954 |
| Region: | AFC |
| Region Affiliation: | 1954[1] |
| Subregion: | AFF |
| Subregion Affiliation: | 1984 |
| President: | Hamidin Mohd Amin |
The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM; Malay: Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia. The Football Association of Malaysia headquarters is located at Wisma FAM.
Football arrived in Malaya with the British. The locals soon picked up the game, and before long it was the country's leading sport. Towards the end of the 19th century, football was one of the central pillars of most sports clubs in Malaya. But it was not structured. Even when the Selangor Amateur Football League took shape in 1905 – which ensured proper administration and organisation – the competition was confined only to clubs in Kuala Lumpur.[2]
In 1921, the battleship HMS Malaya visited the country. After engaging local opposition in football and rugby, the officers and men of HMS Malaya decided to commemorate the matches by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both rugby and football in Malaya. A national tournament featuring all the states that made up Malaya was started. The competition, known as the Malaya Cup (later renamed the Malaysia Cup in 1963), has been continuously since then, except during the war years.
In 1926 the Selangor Amateur Football League was established, and in 1936 the Football Association of Selangor was formed and this association soon started organising tournaments and this inspired other states in Malaya to follow suit. Along the same year in 1926, the Football Associations of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and the Singapore Amateur Football Association, came together to form the Malayan Football Association (MFA), in order to field a Malayan team against an Australia side that visited Singapore that year.
In 1933, the MFA was revived to form the Football Association of Malaya (FAM). Initially, the FAM was based in Singapore. It was chiefly responsible for the running of the Malaya Cup competition.
The first president of FAM was Sir Andrew Caldecott followed by M.B. Shelley, Dr. J.S. Webster, S.D. Scott, R. Williamson and Adrian Clark, who served up until 1940 before Europe went on a full-scale war with Germany. In 1940, control of the FAM moved from Singapore to Malaya, with A.R. Singham becoming the first Asian secretary in 1941. The FAM's first president after the war was J. E King, to be followed by H.P Byson, and then Dr. C Rawson, who served for two years before vacating for the first ever non-British personality to take over the helm.
In 1951, Tunku Abdul Rahman (who was to become the first Prime Minister of Malaysia) became the FAM president. It was under Tunku Abdul Rahman that football in Malaysia entered its next phase, with the FAM taking a much bigger role than just being the backbone in the organisation of the Malaysia Cup.
FAM was inducted as one of 14 founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1956, before becoming a full-fledged member of FIFA two years later.
Tunku Abdul Rahman's love for the game was the main catalyst which resulted in the construction of the Merdeka Stadium and in 1957 it became hallowed ground for all Malaysians when it was the venue chosen to announce Malaysia's independence from Britain.
It also signalled the birth of the Merdeka Tournament (Pestabola Merdeka) and was once called the ‘Mini Asia Cup’ around the 1960s to 1980s.[3]
The Merdeka Tournament proved to be a huge success, inspiring similar tournaments like the Jakarta Anniversary Tournament in Indonesia, the King's Cup in Thailand and the President's Cup in South Korea.[4] The inaugural tournament then the premier football competition in Asia was won by Hong Kong. Malaya won the title three years in a row, in 1958 and in 1959, and sharing it with South Korea in 1960. The country qualified for the Football at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Following the change in name to the Football Association of Malaysia in the early 1960s, Tunku Abdul Rahman continued to play a big role in the development of the game through various youth competitions. Following his departure in 1974, the reins of the FAM was taken over by Malaysia's second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, who served for just one year. The post was then filled by Tan Sri Datuk Seri Setia Raja Hamzah Haji Abu Samah in 1976, who was the Minister for Trade and Industry at the time.
Between 1976 and 1984, various football activities were introduced under Tan Sri Datuk Seri Raja Hamzah. The FAM entered a new era when the Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah took over. The Sultan was integral in the growth of football in the new era with the introduction of the semi-pro league in 1989 before the game went fully professional several years later. However, success on the football field for the national team was not forthcoming.
Among the high points in Malaysian football was the hosting of the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, as well as the organisation of the Premier League, which has been called the Malaysia League (M-League) since 2004. Among the low points the National teams suffered defeats never seen before at international stage.
On 13 September 2018, the FAM had been awarded AFC Dream Asia Awards in Developing Category.[5] In 2019, the FAM also been awarded AFC Dream Asia Awards (Bronze) in Inspiring Category.[6]
There are 20 Football Associations affiliated to the FAM. Besides the 14 FAs with regional location, six others are affiliated units.[7] [8]
The State Associations have their own constitutions and structure. During the early amateur era of Malaysian football, most of the state FAs was made up of small organisation with only some bigger states have an active football league while the smaller FAs will send a team to compete in the Malaysia Cup.[9] [10] [11]
Depending on the size of the state, the State Associations have district associations affiliated to them. Clubs are directly affiliated to the State Football Association alongside the District Football Association.
Each State conducts its own competitions. Competitions are at state level where the winners will have a chances to be nominated by their state FAs for promotion to Malaysia FAM League.[12] There are also inter-district competitions such as Liga Bolasepak Rakyat.
The Football Association of Malaysia had run all top football competitions in Malaysia until 2015, when the Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP), which is now known as the Malaysian Football League (MFL) was formed as part of the privatisation of the Malaysian football league system. The MFL took over all the top professional football competition previously managed by the FAM. The list below are the competitions which are managed by the Malaysia Football League since it inception in 2015:[13]
FAM now focuses on youth development football, women football and futsal leagues and tournaments in Malaysia:[14]
AFL is a subsidiary of MFL that is responsible to organize and manage lower football leagues in Malaysia.
See main article: article and FAM Football Awards.
| President | Sir Andrew Caldecott | 1933 |
| M.B. Shelley | ||
| J.S. Webster | ||
| S.D. Scott | ||
| R. Williamson | ||
| J.E. King | 1927 | |
| Adrian Clark | ????−1940 | |
| H.P. Byson | 1948 | |
| C. Rawson | ||
| Tunku Abdul Rahman | 1958–1974 | |
| Abdul Razak Hussein | 1975–1976 | |
| Hamzah Abu Samah | 1976–1983 | |
| Ahmad Shah of Pahang | 1984–2014 | |
| Abdullah of Pahang | 2014–2017 | |
| Tunku Ismail Idris | 2017–2018 | |
| Hamidin Mohd Amin | 2018– | |
| General Secretary | A.R. Singham | 1941 |
| Kwok Kin Keng | 1948–1979 | |
| T.P. Murugasu | 1980–1987 | |
| Paul Mony Samuel | 1988–2000 | |
| Dell Akbar Khan | 2000-2005 | |
| Ibrahim Saad | 2005–2007 | |
| Azzuddin Ahmad | 2007–2013 | |
| Hamidin Mohd Amin | 2013–2018 | |
| Stuart Ramalingam | 2018–2021 | |
| Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar | 1 September 2021– | |
| Name | Position | Source |
|---|---|---|
 Hamidin Mohd Amin | President | [16] [17] |
| Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub | Vice President | |
| Ab Ghani Hassan | 2nd Vice President | |
| S Sivasundaram | 3rd Vice President | |
| Rosmadi Ismail | 4th Vice President | |
| Subahan Kamal | 5th Vice President | |
| Mohd Yusoff Mahadi | 6th Vice President | |
| Stuart Ramalingam | General Secretary | |
| Ismail Karim | Treasurer | |
 Scott O'Donell | Advisor & Agent | |
 Yusuke Adashi | Vice Advisor & Agent | |
| Scott O'Donnell | Technical Director | |
| Kim Pan-gon | Team Coach (Men's) | |
| Jacob Joseph | Team Coach (Women's) | |
| Wan Fakhrul Bakar | Media/Communications Manager | |
| P Sentikumar | Futsal Coordinator | |
| Kassim Kadir Bacha | Referee Coordinator | |