2023 MFL Challenge Cup

The 2023 MFL Challenge Cup is the third edition of Malaysia Challenge Cup tournament organised by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Malaysian Football League (MFL). The tournament began on 18 September and ended on 3 December 2023. The qualified teams will compete on the knockout stage to compete in a two-legged single-elimination tournament beginning with the quarterfinals followed by semi-finals and the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

2023 MFL Challenge Cup

Piala Cabaran MFL 2023
Tournament details
Country	Malaysia
Date	18 September – 3 December 2023
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	PDRM
Runner-up	Kuching City
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	44 (3.14 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	(5 goals) Uche Agba
← 2019 2024–25 →

A total of 8 teams competed in the knockout phase, which the eight losers of the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will participate into the tournament.^[1] This was the first Challenge Cup to be held since the 2019 edition, after the previous 3 years saw the tournament not held due to various circumstances. This was also the first tournament under its new name, the MFL Challenge Cup.

PDRM defeated Kuching City in the final, with 4–1 on aggregate, thus winning the competition for the first time in club history.^[2]

Teams

All 8 teams eliminated from the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will enter the tournament:

Key to colours
Losers of round of 16 enter 2023 MFL Challenge Cup

Malaysia Cup Round of 16

Team
Harini Selangor
Kedah Darul Aman
Kelantan
Kelantan United
Kuala Lumpur Rovers
Kuching City
PDRM
Penang

Format

Each tie in the knockout phase was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, then 30 minutes of extra time was played (the away goals rule was not applied). If the score was still level at the end of extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.

The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:

• In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).

Schedule

The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the Malaysian Football League headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor).

Round	First leg	Second leg
Quarter-finals	18–19 September 2023	4–6 October 2023
Semi-finals	21–22 October 2023	4–5 November 2023
Final	29 November 2023	3 December 2023

Knockout-stage

Bracket

	Quarter-finals						Semi-finals						Final
	Penang	2	3	5
	Harini Selangor (a.e.t.)	1	2	3
							Penang	1	0	1
							PDRM	2	2	4
	Kuala Lumpur Rovers	1	1	2
	PDRM	2	3	5
													PDRM	3	1	4
													Kuching City	0	1	1
	Kuching City	1	3	4
	Kedah Darul Aman	0	0	0
							Kuching City	1	2	3
							Kelantan United	1	0	1
	Kelantan United	7	4	11
	Kelantan	0	0	0

---

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 18 and 19 September 2023, and the second legs were played on 4, 5 and 6 October 2023.^[3][4]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kelantan United	11–0	Kelantan	7–0	4–0
Kuala Lumpur Rovers	2–5	PDRM	1–2	1–3
Kuching City	4–0	Kedah Darul Aman	1–0	3–0
Penang	5–3	Harini Selangor	2–1	3–2 (a.e.t.)

Matches

First leg

18 September 2023 (2023-09-18)

21:00

Kelantan United	7–0	Kelantan
Balić   9' Akinade   18' Indra   59' Faiz   74' Sharvin   79' Royizzat   88', 90'	Report

Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, Kota Bharu

Attendance: 710^[5]

Referee: Munir Izam

Second leg

4 October 2023 (2023-10-04)

20:15^[a]

Kelantan	0–4	Kelantan United
	Report	Syazwan   24' Gomis   60' Royizzat   69' Sharvin   72'

Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, Kota Bharu

Attendance: 275^[6]

Referee: Faisal Ridzuan

Kelantan United won 11–0 on aggregate.

---

First leg

18 September 2023 (2023-09-18)

21:00

Kuala Lumpur Rovers	1–2	PDRM
Ikmal   37'	Report	Suzuki   13' Nabil   25'

Kuala Lumpur Stadium, Cheras

Attendance: 123^[7]

Referee: Shahmi Ismail

Second leg

5 October 2023 (2023-10-05)

20:15

PDRM	3–1	Kuala Lumpur Rovers
Agba   34' Fakhrul   37' Okwuosa   59'	Report	Rafie   61'

MBPJ Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 73^[8]

Referee: Khirulazuan Kidam

PDRM won 5–2 on aggregate.

---

First leg

19 September 2023 (2023-09-19)

20:15

Kuching City	1–0	Kedah Darul Aman
Kamara   85'	Report

Sarawak State Stadium, Kuching

Attendance: 278^[9]

Referee: Faizudin Ismail

Second leg

4 October 2023 (2023-10-04)

21:00

Kedah Darul Aman	0–3	Kuching City
	Report	Kamara   9' Pedro   73', 89'

Darulaman Stadium, Alor Setar

Attendance: 2,520^[10]

Referee: Kamal Ikhwan Yaacob

Kuching City won 4–0 on aggregate.

---

First leg

19 September 2023 (2023-09-19)

21:00

Penang	2–1	Harini Selangor
Hadin   85' Soony   90+4'	Report	Fikri   83'

City Stadium, George Town

Attendance: 435^[11]

Referee: Fairuzi Mat Desa

Second leg

6 October 2023 (2023-10-06)^{[note 1]}

21:00

Harini Selangor	2–3 (a.e.t.)	Penang
Badrul   4' Khyril   90+4'	Report	Vitor   50' Alif   101' Soony   118'

Selayang Stadium, Selayang

Attendance: 350^[12]

Referee: Amiruddin Lantji

Penang won 5–3 on aggregate.

---

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 21 and 22 October 2023, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 November 2023.^[13]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Penang	1–4	PDRM	1–2	0–2
Kuching City	3–1	Kelantan United	1–1	2–0

Matches

First leg

21 October 2023

17:15

Penang	1–2	PDRM
Adriano   61'	Report	Amir   19' Fakhrul   76'

City Stadium, George Town

Attendance: 212^[14]

Referee: Abang Azharudin Abdullah

Second leg

5 November 2023

21:00

PDRM	2–0	Penang
Agba   59', 82'	Report

MBPJ Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 474^[15]

Referee: Usaid Jamal

PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.

---

First leg

22 October 2023

20:15

Kuching City	1–1	Kelantan United
Bruno   10'	Report	Asraff   42'

Sarawak State Stadium, Kuching

Attendance: 655^[16]

Referee: Nafeez Abd Wahab

Second leg

4 November 2023

16:45

Kelantan United	0–2	Kuching City
	Report	Kamara   40' Bruno   63'

Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, Kota Bharu

Attendance: 862^[17]

Referee: Suhaizi Shukri

Kuching City won 3–1 on aggregate.

---

Final

The first leg was played on 29 November 2023, and the second leg was played on 3 December 2023.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
PDRM	4–1	Kuching City	3–0	1–1

Matches

First leg

29 November 2023

20:15

PDRM	3–0	Kuching City
Nabil   54' Agba   69' Amir   78'	Report

MBPJ Stadium, Petaling Jaya

Attendance: 955^[18]

Referee: Shukor Zulkiflee

Second leg

3 December 2023

20:15

Kuching City	1–1	PDRM
Shitembi   33'	Report	Agba   56'

Sarawak State Stadium, Kuching

Attendance: 2,000^[19]

Referee: Zamzaidi Katimin

PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.

---

Winner

2023 MFL Challenge Cup
PDRM 1st title

Statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals^[20]
1	Uche Agba	PDRM	5
2	Royizzat Daud	Kelantan United	3
	Abu Kamara	Kuching City
4	S. Sharvin	Kelantan United	2
	Bruno Dybal	Kuching City
	Pedro Henrique	Kuching City
	Amir Saiful	PDRM
	Fakhrul Azim	PDRM
	Nabil Latpi	PDRM
	Soony Saad	Penang
11	19 players	6 clubs	1

See also

• 2023 Piala Sumbangsih
• 2023 Malaysia FA Cup
• 2023 Malaysia Cup
• 2023 Malaysia Super League
• 2023 Malaysia M3 League
• 2023 Malaysia M4 League
• 2023 Malaysia M5 League
• 2023 MFL Cup
• 2023 Piala Presiden
• 2023 Piala Belia
• 2023 Piala Tun Sharifah Rodziah

Notes

1. The Harini Selangor v Penang match, originally scheduled on 5 October 2023 were changed to 6 October 2023, and the original venue (Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium) has been changed to the new venue (Selayang Stadium).^[4]

1. The match has been delayed 2 hours due to rain.

References

1. Haziq, Azri (26 January 2023). "MFL Challenge Cup Kembali Warnai Arena Bola Sepak Tempatan". makanbola.com. Makan Bola. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
2. Suhaimi, Muhamad Ardie Putra (3 December 2023). "PDRM FC juara Piala Cabaran 2023". kosmo.com.my. Kosmo. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
3. "Jadual Pertandingan MFL Challenge Cup 2023" (PDF). malaysianfootballleague.com. Malaysian Football League. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
4. "Kemaskini Jadual MFL Challenge Cup 2023" (PDF). malaysianfootballleague.com. Malaysian Football League. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
5. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st leg – Kelantan United v Kelantan". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 18 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
6. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd leg – Kelantan v Kelantan United". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
7. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st leg – Kuala Lumpur Rovers v PDRM". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 18 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
8. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd leg – PDRM v Kuala Lumpur Rovers". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
9. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st leg – Kuching City v Kedah Darul Aman". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
10. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd leg – Kedah Darul Aman v Kuching City". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
11. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st leg – Penang v Harini Selangor". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 19 September 2023. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
12. "Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd leg – Harini Selangor v Penang". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
13. "Jadual Pertandingan MFL Challenge Cup 2023" (PDF). malaysianfootballleague.com. Malaysian Football League. 12 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
14. "Full Time Summary Semi-finals 1st leg – Penang v PDRM". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 21 October 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2023.
15. "Full Time Summary Semi-finals 2nd leg - PDRM v Penang". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 5 November 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
16. "Full Time Summary Semi-finals 1st leg – Kuching City v Kelantan United". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 22 October 2023. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
17. "Full Time Summary Semi-finals 2nd leg - Kelantan United v Kuching City". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
18. "Full Time Summary Final 1st leg - PDRM v Kuching City". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 29 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
19. "Full Time Summary Final 2nd leg - Kuching City v PDRM". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
20. "LIST TOP SCORERS MFL CHALLENGE CUP 2023". fam.org.my. Football Association of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 October 2023.

External links

• Official website