Malaysia FA Cup (Piala FA): Format & Winners

The Malaysia FA Cup — Piala FA — is the young sibling among Malaysian football’s three big trophies: a straight knockout, open beyond the elite, and the competition most likely to produce a shock. Here’s how it works and who has won it.

What the Piala FA is

Founded in 1990, the FA Cup was Malaysia’s answer to the classic open-knockout format: a competition where lower-division clubs can draw a Super League giant, and where a season otherwise going nowhere can end in silver. It runs alongside the league in the August–May calendar, reaching its final months before the Piala Malaysia closes the season.

Where the Malaysia Cup carries a century of history, the FA Cup earns its keep through structure: single-tie rounds (with select stages two-legged in some editions), open entry, and the constant possibility that a semi-pro side ends a giant’s treble in ninety minutes.

The current holders: JDT, emphatically

The most recent final, on 14 December 2025 at Bukit Jalil, was one-way traffic: Johor Darul Ta’zim 5–0 Sabah, the widest margin in a Piala FA final in years and JDT’s fifth FA Cup title. It slotted into a season in which JDT swept every domestic trophy — the anatomy of that dominance is dissected in our JDT explainer.

Winners and eras

The FA Cup’s honours list reads like a rotation of Malaysian football’s powers, each era leaving its stamp:

• The 1990s: early editions dominated by the great state sides — Selangor and Kedah among the first multiple winners.
• The 2000s: Kedah’s famous “double treble” seasons of 2006/07 and 2007/08 ran through the FA Cup.
• The 2010s: Kelantan’s golden generation won it during their 2012 treble; LionsXII of Singapore took the 2015 edition in the brief cross-border experiment.
• The 2020s: JDT’s era — the 2025/26 win made it five, and they start every edition as favourites.

Selangor’s five FA Cups sit alongside their record 33 Malaysia Cups in the honours ledger; for clubs like Negeri Sembilan, a 2010-era Piala FA remains a treasured entry.

Why the FA Cup matters more than it looks

It would be easy to dismiss the Piala FA as the “third trophy”. Three reasons not to:

1. It’s the giant-killing stage. Open entry means Super League clubs must visit semi-pro grounds — small pitches, hostile crowds, cup football at its purest. Most of Malaysia’s modern shock results happen here.
2. It shapes continental qualification. Cup outcomes feed into Malaysia’s AFC Champions League Two allocation. In seasons where JDT win everything, the calculation cascades down the league table — which is exactly how second place became so valuable in 2025/26.
3. It’s a trophy a season can be saved with. For everyone who isn’t JDT, the knockout formats are the realistic silverware. Sabah’s run to the 2025/26 final, even ending 5–0, was the club’s biggest occasion in years.

Anatomy of a giant-killing

The Piala FA’s shocks follow a pattern worth understanding. Early rounds are drawn regionally and played at the lower-ranked club’s ground — small pitches, uneven surfaces, tight stands, evening heat. A Super League side arrives mid-week between league fixtures, rotates six players, concedes early to a team that has prepared for this match for a month, and spends an hour discovering that individual quality doesn’t organise itself. Most escape; every season one or two don’t. The lesson repeats across football, but Malaysia’s version has a particular flavour: semi-pro clubs here are often ex-league sides with professional memory — fallen state teams whose players know exactly what beating the elite means.

Piala FA, Piala Malaysia, Sumbangsih: keeping them straight

New followers meet three cups fast. The mnemonic: Sumbangsih opens the season (one match, explained here), the FA Cup runs through it as the open knockout, and the Malaysia Cup closes it as the historic climax. Win all three plus the league and Malaysian media reaches for the word “quadruple” — a word that, in the current era, has JDT’s name pre-attached.

Following the current edition

Draws, fixtures and results for the ongoing Piala FA are on the official MFL site (sources below), and our watching guide covers where matches are broadcast. This page is updated after each final.