The British introduced football to Malaya, and the locals quickly embraced the game, making it the country's leading sport.

By the late 19th century, football had become a central activity in most sports clubs across Malaya, though it lacked proper structure.

The establishment of the Selangor Amateur Football League in 1905 brought some administration and organization, but the competition remained limited to clubs in Kuala Lumpur.

After competing in football and rugby matches with local teams, the officers and crew decided to commemorate the games by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both sports.

Known initially as the Malaya Cup—later renamed the Malaysia Cup in 1963—the competition has been held continuously, except during the war years.

The MFA was created to assemble a Malayan team to compete against an Australian side visiting Singapore that year.

As Europe entered full-scale war with Germany, FAM operations moved from Singapore to Malaya, and A.R.

[2] Tunku Abdul Rahman's passion for football played a pivotal role in the construction of the Merdeka Stadium, which in 1957 became a historic site as the venue for Malaysia's independence declaration from Britain.

Tunku Abdul Rahman continued to promote football development, particularly through youth competitions, until his resignation in 1974.

[2] His successor, Malaysia's second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, held the post for one year before Hamzah Abu Samah took over in 1976.

[2] The FAM entered a new phase when the Sultan of Pahang, Haji Ahmad Shah, assumed leadership.

During the early amateur era of Malaysian football, most of the state FAs was made up of small organisation with only some bigger states have an active football league while the smaller FAs will send a team to compete in the Malaysia Cup.