Melaka United


Melaka United Soccer Association is a professional football club based in Melaka that competes in Malaysia Super League. Founded in 1924, the club's home ground since then has been Hang Tuah Stadium before moving to Hang Jebat Stadium in Paya Rumput / Krubong. The club represents the state of Malacca in Malaysian football competitions. They currently play in the top division in Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super League after being promoted back-to-back as champion from 2015 Malaysia FAM League and 2016 Malaysia Premier League.
The club was formerly named simply as Malacca or fully as Malacca Amateur FA and then Malacca FA before being rebranded in August 2013 as Melaka United which will be used for 2014 season onwards. The club's current nickname is Hang Tuah, the name being synonymous with strength and intelligence.
Melaka United's regular kit colours are green and white for shirts, shorts and socks. The club's current crest has been used since March 2014 which based from older crest with slight modern changes in design and wording.

Club licensing regulations

2018 Season

Origins

Football has been played in Malaya for a long years. Malacca has sent a football team to play in Malaya Cup since its inaugural season in 1921. In 1924, the team has been registered and now managed by the newly formed governance body of Malacca football, the Malacca Amateur Football Association. Since then, the football team has been competing in Malaya Cup consistently.

The era of amateur football league

In 1979, the Football Association of Malaysia changed the format of Piala Malaysia when they introduced the league stage that acts as the qualifying round for the knockout stage of Piala Malaysia. When it began, it was intended primarily as a qualifying tournament for the final knock-out stages of the Piala Malaysia where teams compete in a one-round league before advanced to the knock-out stage.
The football league in Malaysia has only officially started in 1982 after the introduction of league trophy for the league winners, which the league has been known as Liga Malaysia. Malacca football team continue to compete in the league and has become the champion of the league during its second season in 1983 which has been the only time the Malacca team become a champion of the top-tier league in Malaysian football.

The era of semi-pro football league

Over the years, the league competition has gained important stature in its own right. From 1982 until 1988 the league is an amateur status continue its purpose as qualifying round for Piala Malaysia and only in 1989 it is changes to a new format as Liga Semi-Pro was introduced by FAM as a 'halfway house' towards full professional status. The inaugural season of MSPFL consisted of nine teams in Division I and eight teams in Division II with total of 17 teams participated. Malacca has been put in Division II for 1989 season. Malacca compete in 1992 season in Division II.

Era of professional football

MSPFL was the nation's top-tier league until it was succeeded by the formation of Malaysian first professional football league, the Liga Perdana in 1994 by Football Association of Malaysia. In its inaugural season 16 teams competing in a single league. The teams were based from all states in Malaysia including Malacca, Kuala Lumpur and addition of two foreign teams, Singapore and Brunei.
In 1998, Liga Perdana was divided into two divisions consist of Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2. During 1998, Liga Perdana 1 consist of 12 teams while Liga Perdana 2 had 8 teams. Malacca competes in Liga Perdana 2 from 1998 until 2000 before achieving promotion to Liga Perdana 1 for 2001 season.
At this time the league still consist of semi-pro team where each team was allowed to register 25 players where 12 players must be a professional for Liga Perdana 1 and a minimum of six professional players in Liga Perdana 2.
Malacca competes in Liga Perdana 1 from 2001 until 2003. Football Association of Malaysia decided to privatise the league for 2004 season onwards where Liga Super was formed.
Teams in Liga Perdana 1 and Liga Perdana 2 was then was put through a qualification and playoff to be promoted into Liga Super. Malacca failed to qualify and was put into now a new second-tier league Liga Premier for the 2004 season.

Playing in Malaysia Premier League

The club has been in an up and down performance in Malaysia Premier League since the league inception in 2004 where they played for three seasons and was promoted to top-tier league, Malaysia Super League.

Brief year in Malaysia Super League

After a successful season in second division, the club has been promoted to the top-tier division, the Liga Super for 2006-07 season. The club has splurged a big budget to buy players while removing majority of players and officials of previous winning season in order to create a more competitive team in the league during its first season in top league after a long years in lower division. However, the club has not been performing as expected as it has been relegated in their first season.

Back to second division

A slump in performance has cause the club struggling and fighting for relegation in their three years season of Malaysia Premier League from 2008 until 2010 season before the dark era as the club has been relegated to the third-tier league, the Malaysia FAM League for 2011 season.

Years of struggle in Malaysia FAM League

The club has been relegated from 2010 Malaysia Premier League to the Malaysia FAM League because of poor performance despite being one of the bigger clubs within it. In 2012, the club management has concluded as some of the factor that causing the club a chances to be promoted was the poaching of its players by bigger club in higher division and the struggle to attract bigger status players to the club as they were playing in lower division. The club continue to compete and has been a consistent team in third-tier league, Malaysia FAM League for five straight season.

A comeback from lower league

The club make a comeback to second-tier league, Malaysia Premier League in 2016 after being promoted as champions of 2015 Malaysia FAM League. Before winning the FAM League, the club has experienced a 32-year trophy drought, where the last time Melaka United won the Malaysian top-tier league was in 1983 where they won the Liga Malaysia which was the league stage that served as the qualifying round for the Malaysian Cup. During that time, national footballer Soh Chin Aun was playing for Malacca
The club has achieved promotion to Liga Super after became the champion of the Malaysia Premier League in just one year time after winning the Malaysia FAM League.

Back to top division league

After received a promotion to top division, the Malaysia Super League, Melaka United management has made a number of changes including of the restructuring of the club management and the new squad selection. On 14 November 2016, Melaka United has announced the appointment of Eric Williams to replace Mat Zan Mat Aris as the new head coach for the club. Eric Williams has previously managed the Myanmar giant, Yangon United F.C. in 2014 season. The club has also only retained ten players from previous season and has recruited nine new players.
The club has set a high target for 2017 season including to be a top five in the league standing. On 18 February 2017, the club has managed to win their first match in Liga Super, almost 10 years after their last win in the top division in 2006–07 season.

Stadium

Melaka United are currently based at Hang Jebat Stadium in Krubong, Malacca. The capacity of the stadium is 40,000. In addition to the football field, the stadium also consists of a running track.
The club has previously been using the Hang Tuah Stadium as their homeground before moving to current stadium. The old stadium still be used as a training ground and as a home stadium for its development and youth squad which compete in Piala Presiden, Piala Belia and alternative stadium for senior squad.

Crest and colours

Crest

Melaka United has historically utilised one primary crest before the introduction of football league in Malaysia. The first, adopted when the club was founded, was the image of A Famosa which is a historical remains from colonial age in Malacca. It was used during the club's amateur era and remained for more than half-century.
Since the introduction of football league, the club has evolved from amateur years and has adopted a new crest which features an image of Malacca tree, where the city was named after.
Since the end of 2013 season, the club has undergoes a management changes and rebranding to Melaka United where a new crest was introduced which was a slight modern design changes from the old crest. In 2015, an image of new crest was leak which has received with negative reaction among fans which the club has decided to stick with use of the old crest.

Colours

Melaka United have always worn green and white shirts as their home kit as it is an iconic colour for the club and it is different from majority of other teams in the league.
Melaka United's away colours are usually all white with green trim or various combination colours of blue, red, yellow and white as it represent the colour of Malacca's Flag.

Colours and Kit evolution

First
Away

Supporters

Ultras Taming Sari is one of group of supporters of football in Malaysia and Malacca mainly known for their support for Melaka United. Founded on 11 January 2011 and currently being led by Lekir Hj. Ahmad. The group was one of many Ultras supporters group created under the branches of Ultras Malaya which was founded after the poor performance of national team in international football scene. It main purpose is to bring back the glory of football supports among Malaysian football fans. These group supporters always bring drums and large colourful flags to the stadiums alongside of chanting in the stadium in order to bring up the spirit of the players and other supporters during matches.
Melaka United are one of the most widely supported football clubs in Malacca. Melaka United's traditional fanbase comes from all over Central Malacca District, Alor Gajah and Jasin area. There are also numerous supporters clubs mainly in Malacca and also Malaysia.

Ownership and finances

The Malacca football team has been founded since 1921 and the management of the club has been taken over by the foundation of Malacca Amateur Football Association in 1924 before later on the management drop the amateur status from its name when the Liga Malaysia went semi-pro in 1989 and later on as professional in 1994. The club has been thriving with the financial backing from the state government and sponsors.
In 2014 the management went a restructuring process to become the Melaka United Soccer Association and later on as part of its further privatisation plan, the club will have its own management separating itself from the association as Melaka United Football Club from 2017 season onwards in order to comply with the club licensing regulation.

Sponsorship

Melaka United's kit has been manufactured by Al-Ikhsan start 2020 season.
Melaka United's current main shirt sponsor is Red ONE.
SeasonKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
1979Admiral-
1980Umbro -
1981Schwarzenbach-
1982–84SchwarzenbachSchwarzenbach
1985SchwarzenbachGold Flake
1986Topper
1987CW-
1988Diadora -
1989asicsDunhill / EON
1990Lotto Dunhill / EON
1991–92CheetahDunhill / EON
1993Cheetah & UmbroDunhill / EON
1994–97Dunhill
1998Dunhill / Gibca Holdings
1999–2000J-KingDunhill
2001MikasaDunhill / Mikasa
2002–03KronosDunhill / Kronos
2004admiralDunhill / Admiral
2005HitechTMNet
2005/06TM Net / Creative
2006/07FigosTM / Cubic
2006/07Joma
2007/08AmbrosCelcom / Metaforce
2009Kika & ShemsyStreamyx
2010Shemsy
2011KappaInterpacific
2012AmbrosAmbros
2013Arora
2014KronosMamee / KAJ
2015KronosMamee
2016KronosEdra / Mamee
2017KronosEdra CGN / Tag Marine
2018WarrixEDRA CGN
2019WarrixEDRA CGN / KLIP
2020Al-IkhsanOlympex

Players

First-team squad

Development squad

Under-21s

Under-19s

Head coaches

CoachYearsHonours
Marco Bilic1992
Mahathir Taha1997
Mohd Shah Alias Norbit1998
G. Torairaju1999
Remeli Junit2000–01Runner up 2000 Liga Perdana 2
Ong Kim Swee2005
E. Elavarasan2005–06Runner up 2005–06 Liga Premier
K. Devan2007
Ramli Junit2007–08
Mohd Nick Sham Abdullah2008–09
Abdul Rahim Abdullah2009–10
Mahathir Taha2010
Manja Man2011
G. Selvamohan2012
Mohd Asri NinggalJan 2013 – April 2013
Hashim AbdullahApril 2013
Ladislav TotkovičNov 2013 – Apr 2014
Mat Zan Mat ArisSept 2014 – Oct 2016Winner 2015 Liga FAM
Winner 2016 Liga Premier
Eric WilliamsNovember 2016 – June 2017
Eduardo AlmeidaJune 2017 – May 2018
E. ElavarasanMay 2018 – November 2018
Zainal Abidin Hassan14 November 2018 – present

Records

Team managers

YearManager
1999-02Datuk Ibrahim Durum
2005Datuk Chua Peng Song
2006–08Karim Yaacob
2008–Mohd Yazid Khamis
2009–2010Abdul Malik Kassim
2011–2013Datuk Mohd Yunos Husin
April 2013– November 2013Datuk Wira Idris Haron
November 2013 – presentDatuk Mohd Yusoff Bin Hj Mahadi

Management team

''

Club personnel

Honours

Domestic competitions

League

Updated on 17 March 2018.
Note:
Source:

Individual player awards

[Malaysian League] Golden boot winners

SeasonPlayerGoals
2016 Ilija Spasojević24

Malaysian League top goalscorers

SeasonPlayerGoals
1995 Norizam Ali Hassan11
2003 Sufian Shamsubari8
2004 Emir Dzafic10
2009 Fauzzi Kassim7
2015 Nurshamil Abd Ghani15
2016 Ilija Spasojević24
2017 Marko Šimić12
2018 Yahor Zubovich12
2019 Patrick Reichelt11

Affiliated clubs