[1] Piala Malaysia was played from the quarter-final stage, scheduled for November after the league was finished.

The Piala Malaysia quarter-final and semi-final matches will be played on a home and away basis.

In 1967 the Malaya Cup was replaced by the Piala Malaysia but the essentially amateur ethos continued until the semi-pro football league was introduced by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) in 1979 as a 'halfway house' towards full professional status.

When it began, it was intended primarily as a qualifying tournament for the final knock-out stages of the Piala Malaysia.

[1] The formation of Liga Semi-Pro in 1989 has introduced a two-tier division of football league in Malaysia.

Initially the only teams allowed to participate in the league were the state FA's sides, teams representing the Armed Forces and the Police, and teams representing the neighbouring countries of Singapore and Brunei (though the Football Association of Singapore pulled out of the Malaysian League after the 1994 season following a dispute with the Football Association of Malaysia over gate receipts, and has not been involved since).