[9] During its stay, the crew competed in friendly matches in football, rugby, hockey, sailing, and golf against local clubs.

[9] A Malaya Cup committee was set up and it was decided to run the football competition in northern and southern sections.

[9] The first ever Malaya Cup match was played on 20 August 1921, with Selangor defeating Penang 5–1 in front of an estimated crowd of 5,000 in Kuala Lumpur.

Singapore also maintained a record of appearing in every Malaya Cup final from the first in 1921 to 1941, when the competition was disrupted by World War II.

[9] The MFA was based in Kuala Lumpur, with John Sime of Singapore as its first president, and was represented on the Malaya Cup committee which organised the competition.

[9] The same year, the British Services were allowed to enter their own teams, joining Kedah and Johor which were both in the competition by 1930.

[9] The Malaya Cup resumed in 1948, and the post-war era saw Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis enter the competition.

[9] In 1959, the Malaya Cup departed from the traditional one round tournament to a two-round home and away format in three zones, East, South and North.

[9] New entries were Federal Territory (later renamed Kuala Lumpur), the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the independent sultanate of Brunei.

However, after their last win in 1994, Singapore withdrew from the competition following a dispute with the Football Association of Malaysia over gate receipts and have not been involved since.

[18] On 5 December 2011, Football Association of Singapore had unveiled the new squad list and line up planned for the 2012 edition of Piala Malaysia where LIONSXII was sent to compete.