The Malaysia Football League (MFL) made a decision on Tuesday to postpone the start of both the 2021 Liga Super Malaysia and Liga Premier Malaysia seasons as well as abolishing the 2021 Malaysian FA Cup due to the Malaysian government enforcing the Movement Control Order (MCO) within the country to curb the spread of COVID-19. The 2021 Malaysian football season was initially scheduled to kick-off on February 26th with the 2021 Piala Sumbangsih between the 2020 Liga Super winners Johor Darul Ta’zim and the 2020 Liga Super runners-up Kedah Darul Aman at JDT’s Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, however said curtain-raiser will be pushed back to March 5th.
The Malaysian government has enforced the MCO until February 4th in 12 states and 3 federal territories, with the exception of Sarawak, where the MCO is being implemented in certain parts of the Borneo state instead. The restriction from leaving one state to another would surely disrupt the M-League teams’ preparations for the upcoming 2021 season, which led to the decision to postpone the start of the season until at least a month after the MCO has been lifted.
The MFL has made the season’s start-postponing decision after a special virtual meeting between the MFL board and club representatives on Tuesday, with the views and agreements of the representatives being taken into consideration during the meeting.
With the start of the season being pushed back, a decision was also made to abolish the 2021 Malaysian FA Cup to avoid fixture congestions, with M-League players having to play not only their respective leagues, but also either the Malaysia Cup or the Malaysian Challenge Cup, the AFC Champions League for JDT, the AFC Cup for Kedah and Terengganu FC, and for Malaysian players selected by the national team, the qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. And all of that with a schedule already being ravaged by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic has already severely affected the recently concluded 2020 season, with both the Liga Super and Liga Premier being cut short and the Malaysian FA Cup, the Malaysia Cup, and the Malaysian Challenge Cup being cancelled altogether.
In response to the ongoing situation, MFL chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Ghani Hassan has vowed that the MFL would prepare themselves for a safe and effective 2021 season, with standard operating procedures being set up in regards of training and quarantine-based centralized training. The MFL has also cooperated with the National Sports Council in regards of training SOPs and they will consult their proposal for the 2021 season to the National Security Council and the Health Ministry, to ensure that the upcoming season will not face any COVID-related interruptions.
Abdul Ghani also revealed that the MFL had several other contingency plans to start the 2021 Malaysian football season should the MCO is extended beyond February 4th.