Get ready for the big return of MSL2020 in August with our comprehensive guide to what has happened in the season thus far and what's to come!
The 2020 MSL season kicked off when Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) welcomed Kedah in the brand new Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in a match that also doubled up as the Charity Shield. A solitary Mauricio dos Santos header was enough to give JDT the cup as well as three valuable points.
But just as the season was heating up, trouble hit when the Covid-19 pandemic began to enveloped the world. Malaysia started seeing signs of the virus spreading fast and wide in the country with Malaysian Footbal League (MFL) ordering the fourth round of the matches to be played behind closed doors even before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced by the Malaysian government.
It was on March 16 that Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) ordered all football activities in the country to be stopped and that included the Super League.
Good news for Malaysian football fans after MFL announced on Jul 17 that the domestic competition will return in August with the first full set of matches to be played on Aug 26. The league was stopped after only four rounds of matches back in March with teams allowed to return for individual training back on Jun 15 with contact training allowed beginning of Jul 15.
MFL has also put out directive for the teams to plan for friendly matches only beginning Aug 2, a full two weeks after the first contact training.
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Due to the loss of four months without any matches, the resumption of MSL will see a shortened version of it with only 11 rounds of matches to be completed instead of the usual 22 rounds of matches to be played among the 12 teams in the division – precisely seeing the season cut into half.
A decision that MFL also made because of the desire not to impinge onto the 2021 season as well as the need to fulfill one of the cup competitions, which is the Malaysia Cup after the FA Cup has been cancelled. The national team taking precendence from November onwards is also another reason why the remainder of the season will stay within the confines of the original calendar.
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While the full set of fixtures will only be played on Aug 26, the first match of the return will actually be the postponed match between PJ City FC and Terengganu FC that was the only MD4 match that was not played because of a lack of venue.
Subsequently MFL have revised the fixtures after the joint World Cup 2022 and Asian Cup 2023 qualification matches scheduled for October and November has been postponed by the Asian Football Confederation which allowed MFL to widen the Super League period from September 23 to October 10, thus giving teams more recovery time in between matches.
The change also saw the final day fixtures moved to a single date of October 10 instead of the previous schedule of being played over two days, thus making it more fair for any potential championship or relegation fight that could happen on the last day.
The full fixtures are as follows:
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JDT has picked up where they left off and has been impressive since the restart, gathering maximum points from the two matches played thus far including a headline-grabbing 7-nil spanking of Perak. The Bos Gaurus has thus far struggled, unlike what they showed at the initial start of the league.
Kedah and Terengganu are heading in the right direction with both moving up into the top four spots but it is UiTM who are making everyone sit up and take notice of them. The Super League newcomers have won two on the bounce and are in the heady heights of fourth spot.
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When the games came to a halt, it is no surprise that reigning champions JDT are leading the way with 16 points, six better than a trio of team on 10 points and they are the only unbeaten team left in the competition this season after six rounds of matches played thus far.
Down at the bottom, it is looking like PDRM will be the standout candidate for one of the relegation spot while Sabah has been dropping down since the restart.
*Melaka and PDRM have been docked points because of salary arrears.
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It's a import players only zone thus far for the top scorer chart with Terengganu's Dominique da Sylva leading the charge but Selangor's hitman in Ifedayo Olusegun only two goals behind.
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