# 2013 Malaysia Premier League

The 2013 Liga Premier (English: 2013 Premier League), also known as the Astro Liga Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the 10th season of the Liga Premier, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia.
The season was held from 7 January and concluded on 5 July 2013.
The Liga Premier champions for 2013 season was Sarawak. The champions and runners-up were both promoted to 2014 Liga Super.

## Team changes

Changes from last season

### Name changes

* Johor FA were merge with Johor FC and renamed to Johor (later as JDT II) and relocated to Pasir Gudang,Johor.

## Teams

A total of twelve teams will contest the league. The teams competing includes the sides finishing 3rd to 6th from the 2012 Liga Premier season, Harimau Muda B who will stay in the league regardless of league position, the champion of 2012 Malaysia FAM League, and the bottom team from the 2012 Liga Super season. The remaining 5 places in the league will be contested in the playoff round between teams from Liga Super, Liga Premier and FAM League.
FAM later decided to withdraw Harimau Muda B from the league and register them in the 2013 S.League, replacing Harimau Muda A who pulled out of the S.League to embark on a tour of friendly matches in Europe, and preparing them for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. Perlis, who originally were relegated after finishing second bottom in 2012 Liga Premier, were reinstated in the league as a result of the withdrawal.
Kuala Lumpur were relegated from 2012 Liga Super after finishing the season in the last place of the 14-team league table. Sarawak, Kedah and Sabah were also relegated after losing in the play-offs.
2012 Malaysia FAM League champions SPA secured direct promotion to this season Liga Premier. Meanwhile UiTM, the 3rd-place team in FAM League, were invited to replace USM FC, who were withdrawing from Liga Premier due to financial difficulties.

### Team summaries
#### Stadium

| Team | Team Based | Stadium Location | Stadium | Stadium Capacity |
| Betaria | Tampin | Paya Rumput | Hang Jebat Stadium | 40,000 |
| Johor | Johor Bahru | Pasir Gudang | Pasir Gudang Corporation Stadium | 15,000 |
| Kedah | Alor Star | Alor Star | Darulaman Stadium | 32,387 |
| Perlis | Kangar | Kangar | Utama Negeri Stadium | 20,000 |
| Sabah | Kota Kinabalu | Kota Kinabalu | Likas Stadium | 30,000 |
| Sarawak | Kuching | Kuching | Sarawak Stadium | 40,000 |
| Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur | KLFA Stadium | 18,000 |
| PDRM | Kuala Lumpur | Paya Rumput | Hang Jebat Stadium | 40,000 |
| Pos Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur | Selayang | Majlis Perbandaran Selayang Stadium | 25,000 |
| Sime Darby | Kuala Lumpur | Selayang | Majlis Perbandaran Selayang Stadium | 25,000 |
| SPA | Putrajaya | Bangi | Petronas Mini Stadium | 3,000 |
| UiTM | Selangor | Shah Alam | UiTM Stadium | 10,000 |

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Betaria | Azuan Zain | Muhd Shahrul Nizam Abdul Hamid | Adidas | |
| Johor | Azmi Mohamed | Mohd Farid Ramli | Kappa | Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) |
| Kedah | Marijo Tot | Baddrol Bakhtiar | Line 7 | PKNK |
| Kuala Lumpur | Stanislav Lievkosky | Azizon Abdul Kadir | Kronos | Rising Sun Travel & Tours |
| Perlis | Yunus Alif | Emmanuel Okine | Warriors | |
| PDRM | R. Nalathamby | Mohd Afif Amiruddin | Line 7 | |
| Pos Malaysia | G. Torairaju | Abdullah Yusoff | Kappa | Pos Malaysia |
| Sabah | David McCreery | Rhys Weston | Adidas | Grace One |
| Sarawak | Robert Alberts | Mohd Shahrol Saperi | Starsports | NAIM Holdings Berhad |
| Sime Darby | Ismail Zakaria | | Kappa | Sime Darby |
| SPA | Mohd Nizam Jamil | Sazali Suwandi | Kappa | |
| UiTM | Azman Eusoff | | Umbro | Ministry of Higher Education |

### Coaching changes
#### Pre-season

| Club | Outgoing Head Coach | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Incoming Head Coach | Date of appointment |
| Kuala Lumpur | Razip Ismail | 13 November 2012 | Signed by Harimau Muda B | Stanislav Lievkosky | 4 December 2012 |

## Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Asian Players |
| Betaria | Tomáš Chovanec | Hillary Echesa | None |
| Johor | Muriel Orlando | Ezaquiel Gallegos | None |
| Kedah | Nelson San Martín | Alen Guć | None |
| Kuala Lumpur | Kalle Sone | | None |
| Perlis | Denny Antwi | Emmanuel Okine | None |
| PDRM | Edrisar Kaye | Mohamadou Sumareh | None |
| Pos Malaysia | None | None | None |
| Sabah | Abdulfatah Safi | Koh Traore | None |
| Sarawak | Guy Bwele | Muamer Salibasic | None |
| Sime Darby | Karlo Primorac | Togaba Kontiwa Komlan | None |
| SPA | Joël Tchami | Eddy Viator | None |
| UiTM | Koforowola Hameed Adewumi | None | None |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Sarawak (C, P) | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 49 | 12 | +37 | 58 | Promotion to 2014 Liga Super |
| 2 | Sime Darby (P) | 22 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 51 | 12 | +39 | 54 | Promotion to 2014 Liga Super |
| 3 | Johor | 22 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 58 | 23 | +35 | 45 | |
| 4 | Kedah | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 38 | 19 | +19 | 42 | |
| 5 | Sabah | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 42 | 46 | −4 | 30 | |
| 6 | Pos Malaysia | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 24 | 28 | −4 | 27 | |
| 7 | PDRM | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 41 | 39 | +2 | 25 | |
| 8 | SPA | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 29 | 38 | −9 | 23 | |
| 9 | UiTM | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 35 | −13 | 23 | |
| 10 | Perlis | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 27 | 42 | −15 | 22 | |
| 11 | Kuala Lumpur (R) | 22 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 21 | 58 | −37 | 14 | Relegation to 2014 Malaysia FAM League |
| 12 | Betaria (R) | 22 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 63 | −50 | 10 | Relegation to 2014 Malaysia FAM League |

## Results

| Home \ Away | BET | JHR | KED | KLU | PDRM | PER | POS | SAB | SWK | SDA | SPA | UIT |
| Betaria | | 0–2 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0–6 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Johor | 43–2 | | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 |
| Kedah | 36–4 | 2–1 | | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 12–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| PDRM | 15–4 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–11 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 0–0 |
| Perlis | 17–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Pos Malaysia | 14–0 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Sabah | 46–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 5–3 | 3–2 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | 1–5 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| SWK | 61–0 | 8–2 | 4–0 | 8–0 | 7–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 6–0 | 7–1 | 10–0 |
| Sime Darby | 53–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Putrajaya SPA | 10–3 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 0–1 |
| UiTM | 13–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–5 | 0–2 | 1–2 | |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 22 May 2013
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Bobby Gonzales | Sarawak | 20 |
| 2 | Muriel Orlando | Johor | 17 |
| 3 | Koh Traore | Sabah | 15 |
| 4 | Mohd Saufi Ibrahim | Pos Malaysia | 12 |
| 5 | Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri | Kedah | 9 |
| 5 | Mohd Farid Ideris | Johor | 9 |
| 6 | Khairul Izuan Abdullah | PDRM | 8 |
| 7 | Muhd Khairul Akhyar Hussain | PDRM | 7 |
| 8 | Alen Guć | Kedah | 6 |

### Own goals

| Rank | Player | For | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Marlon Alex james | SPA | PDRM | |

### Clean sheets

* Most clean sheets:
* Fewest clean sheets: