Pestabola Merdeka

Pestabola Merdeka
Founded 1957 (1957)
Region International
Number of teams Varied
Current champions Malaysia Malaysia U-23 (2nd titles)
Most successful team(s)  Malaysia (10 titles)
Website pestabolamerdeka.my

Pestabola Merdeka or Merdeka Tournament is a football friendly tournament held in Malaysia to honour the Independence Day. The competition is named after the Malay word for independence.

Final match mainly held in Stadium Merdeka.

History

The winner of the second season of Merdeka Cup in 1958, Malaya football team, five years before the merger to form Malaysia. Also in the picture is Tunku Abdul Rahman (centre), the first Prime Minister of Malaya, and at that time president of Football Association of Malaya.

The Pestabola Merdeka is Asia`s oldest football tournament which invited football playing nations to compete since 1957.[1][2][3][4] While the tournament had been held annually from 1957 to 1988, it has been held only nine times from 1989 to 2013. During the late 1950s to early 1980s, it was a prestigious tournament among Asian nations because the participants sent their full senior players.[5] After the 1980s, interest in the cup waned from both football fans and football teams, because many Asian nations focused more on the qualification phases in FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup.

The first edition of the Pestabola Merdeka was held in August and September 1957 with Hong Kong emerging inaugural champions.[6] However, from then on it was purely dominated by Malaysia, South Korea, Myanmar, Indonesia and a host of other countries, including South American and European clubs.

Malaysia lifted the trophy nine times since 1958, emerged runners-up on eight occasions, and shared the winner’s rostrum twice with South Korea (1960 and 1979), while the Koreans won it seven times. Indonesia, Taiwan and Myanmar also had their fair share of the accolades. The other champions were Morocco (1980), New Zealand (2000), Uzbekistan (2001), Czechoslovakia Olympic football team (1987) and also Austria’s with their represented SK Admira Wacker (1991), German club-Hamburger SV (1988), Argentina states-Buenos Aires XI (1983) and Brazil states-Santa Catarina XI (1982). While Brazilian states – Sao Paulo XI, Minas Gerais XI, and America FC Rio de Janeiro finished runners-up together with Japan and India in the 60 years history of the tournament.

Champions

Below are the list of champions in Pestabola Merdeka competitions since 1957.[7]

YearChampionsRunners-upScore in finalNotes
1957Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1]  Indonesia(tournament in group stages)1
1958 Malaya Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1]
1959 Malaya[8]  India
1960 Malaya[9]
 South Korea[note 2]		0–0(trophy shared)1
1961 Indonesia  Malaya2–11
1962 Indonesia  Pakistan2–12
1963 Taiwan[note 1]  Japan(tournament in group stages)1
1964 Burma  India1–01
1965 South Korea
 Taiwan[note 1]		1–1(trophy shared)1
1966 South Vietnam  Burma1–01
1967 Yangzee FC
 Burma		0–0(trophy shared)1
1968 Malaysia  Burma3–0
1969 Indonesia  Malaysia3–2
1970 South Korea  Burma1–0
1971 Burma  Indonesia1–01
1972 South Korea  Malaysia2–1
1973 Malaysia  Kuwait[10]3–11
1974 Malaysia  South Korea[note 3]1–01
1975 South Korea  Malaysia[11]1–01
1976 Malaysia  Japan[note 4]2–01
1977 South Korea  Iraq1–0
1978 South Korea  Iraq2–01
1979South Korea South Korea B
 Malaysia		0–0(trophy shared)
1980 Morocco  Malaysia2–11
1981 Iraq Brazil Sao Paulo XI1–0
1982Brazil Santa Catarina XI  Ghana3–0
1983Argentina Buenos Aires XI  Algeria XI2–1
1984South Korea South Korea B Brazil Minas Gerais XI2–0
1985South Korea South Korea B Brazil America FC Rio de Janeiro7–4 (a.e.t)
1986 Malaysia  Czechoslovakia XI3–0
1987 Czechoslovakia Olympic  South Korea3–2
1988West Germany Hamburger SV (West Germany) Austria FC Tirol Innsbruck1–0
1989–1990(Not Held)
1991Austria SK Admira Wacker  China Olympic Team3–0
1992(Not Held)
1993 Malaysia South Korea South Korea B3–1
1994(Not Held)
1995 Iraq Hungary Budapesti Vasas SC2–0
1996–1999(Not Held)
2000 New Zealand  Malaysia2–0
2001 Uzbekistan  Bosnia and Herzegovina2–1
2002–2005(Not Held)
2006 Myanmar  Indonesia2–1
2007 Malaysia U-23 Myanmar3–1
2008 Vietnam U-22 Malaysia 0–0(Penalties) 6–5
2009–2012(Not Held)
2013 Malaysia U-23 Myanmar U-232–0
2014–2017(Not Held)
20182–0

Note: 1 All teams participant fielded their strongest side and their match are regarded as full internationals for their association. 2 South Korea was represented by a reserve team with some senior players.

Teams' achievements

Below are the record of teams in Pestabola Merdeka competitions (1957–present).

#TeamsChampionsRunners-upTrophy sharedTotal
1 Malaysia (including Malaya) 88218
2 South Korea53412
3 Myanmar/Burma3414
4 Indonesia34-3
5 Iraq22-2
6 Korea Republic U-2322-2
7 Vietnam (including  South Vietnam)2--2
8 Malaysia U-232--2
9 Czechoslovakia11-1
10 Taiwan[note 1]1-12
11Austria SK Admira Wacker1--1
11ArgentinaBuenos Aires Buenos Aires XI1--1
11West Germany Hamburger SV1--1
11Hong Kong Hong Kong League XI[note 1]1--1
11 Morocco1--1
11 New Zealand1--1
11BrazilSanta Catarina (state) Santa Catarina XI1--1
11 Uzbekistan1--1
12 India-2-(2)
12 Japan-2-(2)
13 Pakistan-1-(1)
13 Kuwait-1-(1)
13BrazilSão Paulo (state) Sao Paulo XI-1-(1)
13 Ghana-1-(1)
13 Algeria-1-(1)
13BrazilMinas Gerais Minas Gerais XI-1-(1)
13BrazilRio de Janeiro (state) América FC Rio de Janeiro-1-(1)
13Austria FC Tirol Innsbruck-1-(1)
13China China Olympic Team-1-(1)
13Hungary Budapesti Vasas SC-1-(1)
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina-1-(1)
13 Myanmar U-23-1-(1)

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hong Kong sent team that consisted of players that represented Republic of China (Taiwan) or Hong Kong from 1957 to 1961; in 1963 to 1968 editions, the team officially represented Republic of China (Taiwan), despite composed of entirely Hong Kong based Republic of China international footballers; Hong Kong national team also formally joined since the 1965 edition in parallel with Republic of China national team.
  2. ↑ See South Korea national football team results (1960–69).
  3. ↑ See South Korea national football team results (1970–79).
  4. ↑ See Japan national football team results (1970–79).

References

  1. ↑ Ajitpal Singh (7 September 2013). "Glory beckons Malaysia". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Ted Gim (2 September 2008). ""Hari Merdeka" Observed in Seoul". The Seoul Times. malaysia.or.kr. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Asiaweek. Asiaweek Limited. 1990.
  4. ↑ Hephaestus Books (28 August 2011). Articles on Merdeka Cup, Including: Merdeka Tournament, 2007 Merdeka Tournament, 2000 Merdeka Tournament, 2001 Merdeka Tournament, 2006 Merdeka Tourna. Hephaestus Books. ISBN 978-1-242-93095-9.
  5. ↑ Eric Samuel (31 August 2017). "Halcyon days of Malaysian football". The Star. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  6. ↑ T. Avineshwaran (13 May 2004). "Sporting landmarks through the years". The Star. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Neil Morrison (10 September 2015). "Merdeka Tournament (Malaysia)". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. ↑ "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1959-60 season]". 11v11. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1960-61 season]". 11v11. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "Kuwait national football team 'A' international record: [1973-74 season]". 11v11. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  11. ↑ "Malaysia national football team 'A' international record: [1975-76 season]". 11v11. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
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