# 2023 MFL Challenge Cup

The 2023 MFL Challenge Cup is the third edition of Malaysia Challenge Cup tournament organised by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Malaysian Football League (MFL). The tournament began on 18 September and ended on 3 December 2023. The qualified teams will compete on the knockout stage to compete in a two-legged single-elimination tournament beginning with the quarterfinals followed by semi-finals and the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.
A total of 8 teams competed in the knockout phase, which the eight losers of the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will participate into the tournament. This was the first Challenge Cup to be held since the 2019 edition, after the previous 3 years saw the tournament not held due to various circumstances. This was also the first tournament under its new name, the MFL Challenge Cup.
PDRM defeated Kuching City in the final, with 4–1 on aggregate, thus winning the competition for the first time in club history.

## Teams

All 8 teams eliminated from the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will enter the tournament:
* Key to colours
* Losers of round of 16 enter 2023 MFL Challenge Cup
Malaysia Cup Round of 16 :
* Team
* Harini Selangor
* Kedah Darul Aman
* Kelantan
* Kelantan United
* Kuala Lumpur Rovers
* Kuching City
* PDRM
* Penang

## Format

Each tie in the knockout phase was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, then 30 minutes of extra time was played (the away goals rule was not applied). If the score was still level at the end of extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
* In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).

## Schedule

The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the Malaysian Football League headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor).
| Round | First leg | Second leg |
| Quarter-finals | 18–19 September 2023 | 4–6 October 2023 |
| Semi-finals | 21–22 October 2023 | 4–5 November 2023 |
| Final | 29 November 2023 | 3 December 2023 |

## Knockout-stage
### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| Penang | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| Harini Selangor (a.e.t.) | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | | | | | |
| Harini Selangor (a.e.t.) | 1 | 2 | 3 | Penang | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| | | | | PDRM | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | |
| Kuala Lumpur Rovers | 1 | 1 | 2 | PDRM | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | |
| PDRM | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | | | | |
| PDRM | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | | | PDRM | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | Kuching City | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kuching City | 1 | 3 | 4 | | | | | | | | | Kuching City | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kedah Darul Aman | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |
| Kedah Darul Aman | 0 | 0 | 0 | Kuching City | 1 | 2 | 3 | | | | |
| | | | | Kelantan United | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| Kelantan United | 7 | 4 | 11 | Kelantan United | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| Kelantan | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | | |

### Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 18 and 19 September 2023, and the second legs were played on 4, 5 and 6 October 2023.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Kelantan United | 11–0 | Kelantan | 7–0 | 4–0 |
| Kuala Lumpur Rovers | 2–5 | PDRM | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Kuching City | 4–0 | Kedah Darul Aman | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Penang | 5–3 | Harini Selangor | 2–1 | 3–2 (a.e.t.) |

### Matches
#### Second leg

Kelantan United won 11–0 on aggregate.

#### Second leg

PDRM won 5–2 on aggregate.

#### Second leg

Kuching City won 4–0 on aggregate.

#### Second leg

Penang won 5–3 on aggregate.

### Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 21 and 22 October 2023, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 November 2023.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Penang | 1–4 | PDRM | 1–2 | 0–2 |
| Kuching City | 3–1 | Kelantan United | 1–1 | 2–0 |

### Matches
#### Second leg

PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.

#### Second leg

Kuching City won 3–1 on aggregate.

### Final

The first leg was played on 29 November 2023, and the second leg was played on 3 December 2023.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| PDRM | 4–1 | Kuching City | 3–0 | 1–1 |

### Matches
#### Second leg

PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.

### Winner

* 2023 MFL Challenge Cup
* PDRM 1st title

## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Uche Agba | PDRM | 5 |
| 2 | Royizzat Daud | Kelantan United | 3 |
| 2 | Abu Kamara | Kuching City | 3 |
| 4 | S. Sharvin | Kelantan United | 2 |
| 4 | Bruno Dybal | Kuching City | 2 |
| 4 | Pedro Henrique | Kuching City | 2 |
| 4 | Amir Saiful | PDRM | 2 |
| 4 | Fakhrul Azim | PDRM | 2 |
| 4 | Nabil Latpi | PDRM | 2 |
| 4 | Soony Saad | Penang | 2 |
| 11 | 19 players | 6 clubs | 1 |