The 2018 Malaysia Super League (), known as 2018 unifi Malaysia Super League () for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia.
Johor Darul Ta'zim were the defending champions.
Club licensing regulations
Starting this season, every team in the Liga Super Malaysia must have a FAM Club Licence to play in the league, or else they are relegated. To obtain a FAM Club Licence, teams must be financially healthy and meet certain standards of conduct as organisations. As part of privation effort for the league, all clubs compete in Liga Super Malaysia and Liga Premier Malaysia will be required to obtained FAM Club Licence.
As in other national leagues, there are significant benefits to being in the top division: A greater share of television broadcast licence revenues goes to Liga Super Malaysia sides. Greater exposure through television and higher attendance levels helps Liga Super Malaysia teams attract the most lucrative sponsorships. Liga Super Malaysia teams develop substantial financial muscle through the combination of television and gate revenues, sponsorships and marketing of their team brands. This allows them to attract and retain skilled players from domestic and international sources and to construct first-class stadium facilities. Despite several reminders from FAM from the beginning of 2015, however there are few teams failed to get the approval for both AFC and FAM club licenses from First Instance Body (FIB) .
Team(s)AFC Club License StatusFAM Club License StatusJohor Darul Ta'zimPassedPassedKedahFailedPassedKelantanFailedPassedKuala LumpurFailedPassedMelaka UnitedFailedPassedNegeri SembilanPassedPassedPahangPassedPassedPerakFailedPassedPKNPFailedPassedPKNSPassedPassedSelangorPassedPassedTerengganuFailedPassed *Updated: 6 December 2017
Team changes The following teams have changed division.
To Malaysia Super League
Promoted from Premier League Kuala Lumpur Terengganu PKNP Negeri Sembilan
From Malaysia Super League
Relegated to Premier League Felda United T–Team Sarawak Penang
Teams Sarawak and Penang were relegated to 2018 Malaysia Premier League after finished 11th and bottom place of last season league. Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu promoted to 2018 Malaysia Super League after securing place as champions and runners-up in 2017 Malaysia Premier League.
On 21 November 2017, it was announced that T-Team who finished ninth in the Super League last year, will play in the 2018 Malaysia Premier League pending approval from Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP). The suggestion then were approved on 4 December 2017, followed by an announcement stating that Felda United, who finished third last season are ineligible to compete in this year top-tier competition. They were replaced by Negeri Sembilan and PKNP.
Venues Team Location Stadium Capacity Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Bahru Tan Sri Dato' Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium 30,000 Kedah Alor Setar Darul Aman Stadium 32,387 Kelantan Kota Bharu Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium 30,000 Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Stadium 18,000 Melaka United Krubong Hang Jebat Stadium 40,000 Negeri Sembilan Seremban Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium45,000 Pahang Kuantan Darul Makmur Stadium 40,000 Perak Ipoh Perak Stadium, IpohNaval Base Stadium, Lumut42,50012,000 PKNP Ipoh Perak Stadium, IpohPenang State Stadium, Batu Kawan42,50040,000 PKNS Shah Alam Shah Alam Stadium 80,372 Selangor Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Stadium 18,000 Terengganu Kuala Terengganu Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium 15,000Source: 1: Perak plays at Lumut due to the upgrading of their own stadium at Perak Stadium
2: PKNP plays at Batu Kawan due to the upgrading of Perak Stadium
3: Kelantan plays their home games at their opponents stadium during Ramadan, due to ban of Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium usage by state government during Ramadan
Personnel, kit and sponsoring
Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Main sponsor Johor Darul Ta'zim Raúl Longhi (caretaker) Hariss Harun Nike Forest City Kedah Nidzam Adzha Baddrol Bakhtiar AL ECK Kelantan Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) Shahrizan Ismail Lotto BMW Raza Premium Kuala Lumpur Fábio Magrão Indra Putra Mahayuddin SkyHawk JL99, Ekovest Melaka United E. Elavarasan Khairul Fahmi Che Mat Warrix EDRA CGN Negeri Sembilan Mário Lemos Kim Do-heon AL Matrix Concepts Pahang Dollah Salleh Matthew Davies FILA Aras Kuasa Perak Mehmet Duraković Nasir Basharudin AL Lembaga Air Perak, Quest International University PKNP Abu Bakar Fadzim Hafiz Ramdan FILA Perak Corp , MAPS PKNS K. Rajagopal Safee Sali Kappa PKNS Selangor Nazliazmi Nasir Amri Yahyah Lotto redONE, CRRC Terengganu Irfan Bakti Kipré Tchétché Kobert Chicken Cottage
Notes; Shahrel Fikri was the official captain of PKNP, before he was loaned to Nakhon Ratchasima, Hafiz Ramdan filled in as captain for PKNP.
Coaching changes
TeamOutgoing coachManner of departureDate of vacancyWeekTableIncoming coachDate ofappointment PKNS Sven Gartung End of contract Pre-season K. Rajagopal Kelantan Zahasmi Ismail End of contract Sathit Bensoh Kedah Nidzam Adzha Resigned 30 November 2017 Ramón Marcote 11 December 2017 Asri Ninggal End of contract Jörg Steinebrunner Kelantan Sathit Bensoh Sacked 15 February 2018 3 12 16 February 2018 Ulisses Morais Resigned 4 1 Raúl Longhi (caretaker) 26 February 2018 Negeri Sembilan Resigned 28 February 2018 4 11 Azraai Khor 28 February 2018 Selangor P. Maniam Rested 14 March 2018 5 8 14 March 2018 Kelantan End of caretaker role 19 March 2018 5 11 Fajr Ibrahim 21 March 2018 Kedah Ramón Marcote 28 March 2018 5 6 Nidzam Adzha 28 March 2018 Melaka United Eduardo Almeida Sacked 2 May 2018 8 7 E. Elavarasan 7 May 2018 Negeri Sembilan Azraai Khor Sacked 10 May 2018 10 12 Mario Lemos 10 May 2018 Kelantan Fajr Ibrahim Resigned 5 June 2018 14 12 Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) 5 June 2018
Foreign players Southeast Asia (SEA) players need to have acquired at least 30 international caps for their senior national team with no period restriction on when caps are earned and those who has less than 30 international caps will be subjected to FMLLP approval.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window. ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3AFC PlayerASEAN PlayerFormer Players Johor Darul Ta'zim Marcos António Fernando Elizari Fernando Márquez Gonzalo Cabrera Hariss Harun Jorge Pereyra Díaz Luciano Figueroa Harry Novillo Nicolás Fernández Jorge Kedah Liridon Krasniqi Sandro Paulo Rangel Andik Vermansyah Álvaro Silva Pablo Pallarès Kelantan Cássio Cristiano Bakhtiyar Duyshobekov Bruno Lopes Ferdinand Sinaga Mohammed Ghaddar Morgaro Gomis Do Dong-hyun Alaeddine Bouslimi Lazarus Kaimbi Kuala Lumpur Paulo Josué Juninho Guilherme de Paula Bobirjon Akbarov Achmad Jufriyanto Melaka United Steven Thicot Ifedayo Olusegun Yahor Zubovich Lee Chang-hoon Shahdan Sulaiman Tiago Gomes Jeon Woo-young Negeri Sembilan Alex Moraes Flávio Júnior Nicolás Vélez Kim Do-heon Ángel Guirado Prak Mony Udom Renārs Rode Pahang Mohamadou Sumareh Austin Amutu Patrick Cruz Issey Nakajima-Farran Safuwan Baharudin Sergio Unrein Alex Moraes Chan Vathanaka Francis Doe Perak Leandro Wander Luiz Gilmar Jad Noureddine Misagh Bahadoran Robert Cornthwaite PKNP Ritus Krjauklis Franklin Anzité Karl Max Kim Sang-woo Keo Sokpheng Yeon Gi-sung Lyuben Nikolov Alfred Okai Quaye PKNS Romel Morales Bruno Matos Rafael Ramazotti Zac Anderson Faris Ramli Jonathan Acosta Selangor Willian Pacheco Alfonso de la Cruz Rufino Segovia Evan Dimas Ilham Armaiyn Terengganu Igor Zonjić Lee Tuck Kipré Tchétché Do Dong-hyun Thierry Bin Kim Hyun-woo Lee Jun-hyeob Bruno Suzuki
Naturalisation players ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5 Johor Darul Ta'zim Darren Lok Natxo Insa Kiko Insa Melaka United Khair Jones Nicholas Swirad Negeri Sembilan David Rowley Pahang Matthew Davies Perak Brendan Gan PKNS Daniel Ting Notes: Carrying Malaysian heritage. Participated in the Malaysia national team squad.
Results League table
Result table
Positions by round
Team \ Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Johor Darul Ta'zim 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Perak 8 3 7 9 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2Pahang 7 10 6 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 4 5 3 4 3 4PKNS 5 4 1 4 3 5 5 6 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 3 5 3Terengganu 6 8 5 2 5 3 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 3 5 6 4 5Kedah 9 11 8 6 7 6 6 5 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 5 6 6PKNP 4 7 11 8 10 9 9 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 10 10 10 8 8 10 9Selangor 1 1 3 5 8 10 8 10 9 8 9 9 9 9 8 8 7 8 9 9 8 8Kuala Lumpur 12 12 10 12 9 8 10 8 8 9 8 8 7 7 7 9 8 9 10 10 9 10Melaka United 3 6 4 7 4 7 7 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 7 9 7 7 7 7 7Kelantan 10 9 12 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 12 12 11 Negeri Sembilan 11 5 9 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 11 11 12
Season statistics
Top scorers
Players sorted first by goals, then by last name. RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Rufino SegoviaSelangor 19 2 Kipré TchétchéTerengganu143 Guilherme de PaulaKuala Lumpur134 Yahor ZubovichMelaka United125 GilmarPerak 11 6 Gonzalo CabreraJohor Darul Ta'zim 97 Flávio JúniorNegeri Sembilan8 Ifedayo OlusegunMelaka United Nicolás VélezNegeri Sembilan SandroKedah
Top assists Players sorted first by assists, then by last name. Rank Player Club Assists1 Paulo JosuéKuala Lumpur92 Gonzalo CabreraJohor Darul Ta'zim73 Akhyar RashidKedah6 Bruno MatosPKNS Hafiz RamdanPKNP Safuwan BaharudinPahang
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Do Dong-hyun Kelantan Perak 3–2 (H) 24 February 2018 Rufino Segovia Selangor Kelantan 4–0 (H) 1 June 2018 Kipré Tchétché Terengganu Negeri Sembilan 3–2 (H) 27 June 2018 Rufino Segovia Selangor Kuala Lumpur 3–3 (H) 15 July 2018
Notes: (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Own goals As of 28 July 2018
RankPlayerForAgainstDateGoals1 K. Reuben PKNS Kedah 25 February 20181 PKNP Saifulnizam Miswan PKNP 27 June 2018 Nasriq Baharom
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Farizal MarliasJohor Darul Ta'zim132 Helmi Eliza EliasPahang73 Hafizul HakimPerak64 Shahril Saa'riPKNS55 Wan AzraieTerengganu3 Ramadhan HamidKedah
See also 2018 Malaysia Premier League 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup 2018 Malaysia FA Cup 2018 Malaysia Cup 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup 2018 Piala Presiden 2018 Piala Belia List of Malaysian football transfers 2018
References
External links Football Association of Malaysia website Football Malaysia LLP website