# 2018 Malaysia Premier League

The 2018 Malaysia Premier League, known as 2018 100Plus Malaysia Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th season of the Malaysia Premier League, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia since its establishment in 2004.

## Team changes

A total of 12 teams contested the league, including 6 sides from the 2017 season, four relegated from the 2017 Malaysia Super League and four promoted from the 2017 Malaysia FAM League.
Notes:
    ^1 Originally Sime Darby were promoted along with UKM as finalists of the 2017 Malaysia FAM League final, but after Sime Darby announced their withdrawal from the Premier League participation, Felcra, the next highest team in the FAM League table, were invited as replacement.
    ^2 FELDA United were relegated to Premier League after failing to receive the FAM License to compete in the Super League; while T-Team were relegated to Premier League after their absorption to Terengganu, rebranding as Terengganu II and change of their status as reserve team to Terengganu. Negeri Sembilan and PKNP, 2 highest teams in the Premier League with FAM License, were promoted to Super League in their place.

## Disbandment of Kuantan FA

After failing to settle bad debt with former players for last season campaign, 4 months failing to pay current team wages. and unable to turn up for a league fixture against PDRM, FMLLP decided to disqualify Kuantan from the rest of the campaign. Because of their disqualification, all points that were won by other teams against Kuantan will not count and the league was left with 11 teams out of initial 12 with teams that were due to play Kuantan were given a bye week. It is the first time this has ever occurred in the professional level of Malaysian football where a team is disallowed to compete after breaking the rules and regulations with the season on-going.
Kuantan stated that Marcerra (the team that bought their license) wanted to take over the bad debts amounted to RM 3.5 million and clear all the overdue payment from last season. But it seemed fruitless as after 4 months into the league campaign, the problem was still unsettled as the current squad players decided to leave the team and opted to join teams in the FAM league. Kuantan were awarded RM 500,000 annual grant but minus RM 200,000 for fined after failing to complete their registration papers.

## Stadium and locations

    Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Felcra | Shah Alam | Shah Alam Stadium | 80,372 |
| Felda United | Jengka | Tun Abdul Razak Stadium | 25,000 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Pasir Gudang | Pasir Gudang Corporation Stadium | 15,000 |
| MIFA | Petaling Jaya | Petaling Jaya Stadium | 25,000 |
| PDRM | Shah Alam | Shah Alam Stadium | 80,372 |
| Penang | Batu Kawan | Penang State Stadium | 40,000 |
| Sabah | Kota Kinabalu | Likas Stadium | 35,000 |
| Sarawak | Kuching | Sarawak State Stadium | 26,000 |
| Terengganu II | Kuala Terengganu | Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium | 15,000 |
| UiTM | Shah Alam | UiTM Stadium | 10,000 |
| UKM | Selayang | Selayang Stadium | 11,098 |

### Personnel and sponsoring

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor(s) |
| Felcra | Tarcísio Pugliese | Shahrom Kalam | Uhlsport | FELCRA, HeMAT |
| Felda United | B. Sathianathan | Shukor Adan | FBT | FELDA, Hotel Tenera |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Benjamin Mora | Shakir Shaari | Nike | Forest City |
| MIFA | K. Devan | Kpah Sherman | Puma | MIFA, MAHSA University |
| PDRM | Zulhamizan Zakaria | Fauzi Majid | Line 7 | ODR Lubricants |
| Penang | Zainal Abidin | Azrul Ahmad | Puma | |
| Sabah | Jelius Ating | Rawilson Batuil | Carino | Sawit Kinabalu, Sabah Energy Corp, Asian Supply Base |
| Sarawak | Ian Gillan | Hairol Mokhtar | Starsport | |
| Terengganu II | Mustaffa Kamal | Hasbullah Awang | Kobert | Chicken Cottage |
| UiTM | Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail | Afif Asyraf | Puma | Soaring Upwards, UiTM Holdings |
| UKM | Sulaiman Husin | Asnan Ahmad | SkyHawk | Kopi Pak Belalang, Fusionex |

### Coaching changes

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| Terengganu II | Rahmad Darmawan | Resigned | 23 November 2017 | Pre-season | Mustaffa Kamal | 27 November 2017 |
| PDRM | Fauzi Pilus | End of contract | 31 October 2017 | Pre-season | Zulhamizan Zakaria | 28 November 2017 |
| Sarawak | Pengiran Bala | End of caretaker role | 1 December 2017 | Pre-season | Ian Gillan | 2 December 2017 |
| MIFA | Jacob Joseph | End of contract | 31 October 2017 | Pre-season | K. Devan | 3 December 2017 |
| Felcra | Rosle Md. Derus | Reassigned as assistant coach | 22 December 2017 | Pre-season | Tarcísio Pugliese | 22 December 2017 |
| Kuantan | Zulhamizan Zakaria | Resigned | 28 November 2017 | Pre-season | Ismail Zakaria | 1 December 2017 |
| PDRM | Zulhamizan Zakaria | End of contract | 31 July 2018 | 5th | Fauzi Pilus | 1 August 2018 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Benjamin Mora | Promoted to JDT I | 10 August 2018 | 4th | Ervin Boban | 11 August 2018 |

### Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to four each team including at least one player from the AFC country.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC player | Former player |
| Felcra | Léo Carioca | Endrick | Casagrande | David Laly | |
| Felda United | Thiago Junio | Gilberto Fortunato | Thiago Fernandes | Iain Ramsay | |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Bruno Soares | Nicolás Fernández | Harry Novillo | | Hafiz Sujad Murilo Damasceno Lucas Ontivero |
| MIFA | Elizeu | Kpah Sherman | L'Imam Seydi | Bae Beom-geun | |
| PDRM | Argzim Redžović | Shim Un-seob | Petrisor Voinea | Shunsuke Nakatake | |
| Penang | Ugo Ukah | Sanna Nyassi | Chidi Edeh | Kang Seung-jo | Ken Ilsø |
| Sabah | Francis Kasonde | Rodoljub Paunović | Pito Ramos | Keisuke Ogawa | Heo Jae-nyeong Lee Kil-Hoon |
| Sarawak | Nebojsa Marinkovic | Mateo Roskam | Miloš Raičković | Kim Chi-gon | |
| Terengganu II | Andrew Jean-Baptiste | Sébastien Thurière | Akanni-Sunday Wasiu | Bruno Suzuki | Lee Jun-hyeob |
| UiTM | Mamadou Danso | Venyamin Shumeyko | Okereke Timothy | Noh Sang-min | Kota Kawase Lucas Pugh Dechi Marcel Dao Bakary |
| UKM | Waheed Oseni | Redouane Zerzouri | Michael Ijezie | Nam Se-in | Atuheire Kipson |
* Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
* ^3 Foreign players who left their clubs or were de-registered from playing squad due to medical issues or other matters.

### Naturalisation

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 |
| Felda United | Stuart Wark | Curran Singh Ferns |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Samuel Somerville | Ernest Wong |
| Sarawak | Shazalee Ramlee | |
Notes:
    ^3 Carrying Malaysian heritage.
    ^4 Participated in the Malaysia national team squad.

## Results
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Felda United (C, P) | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 44 | 24 | +20 | 43 | Promotion to 2019 Malaysia Super League |
| 2 | Felcra | 20 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 34 | Withdraw from league for next season |
| 3 | MIFA (P) | 20 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 36 | 26 | +10 | 32 | Promotion to 2019 Malaysia Super League |
| 4 | Johor Darul Ta'zim II | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 30 | |
| 5 | PDRM | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 28 | 31 | −3 | 29 | |
| 6 | Sabah | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 35 | 26 | +9 | 28 | |
| 7 | UKM | 20 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 22 | |
| 8 | Sarawak | 20 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 27 | 35 | −8 | 22 | |
| 9 | UiTM | 20 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 23 | 36 | −13 | 22 | |
| 10 | Penang | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 30 | −10 | 21 | |
| 11 | Terengganu II | 20 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 34 | −12 | 17 | |

### Result table

| Home \ Away | FCR | FEL | JDTII | MIF | PDRM | PEN | SAB | SWK | TRGII | UIT | UKM |
| Felcra | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Felda United | 1–1 | — | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | 1–2 | 1–4 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| MIFA | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 |
| PDRM | 1–3 | 2–6 | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| Pulau Pinang | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | — | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Sabah | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 |
| Sarawak | 2–3 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | — | 5–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Terengganu II | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | 1–0 |
| UiTM | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 2–3 | — | 2–0 |
| UKM | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | — |

### Positions by round

| Leader | Relegation to 2019 Malaysia FAM League | Disqualified | Qualified to 2018 Malaysia Cup |
| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Felda United | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Felcra | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| MIFA | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim II | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| PDRM | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| Sabah | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| UKM | 10 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| Sarawak | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 |
| UiTM | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| Penang | 11 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 |
| Terengganu II | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Kuantan | 9 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ | DQ |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of matches played on 27 July 2018.
Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Casagrande | Felcra | 19 |
| 2 | Bobby Gonzales | Sarawak | 14 |
| 2 | Hector Ramos | Sabah | 14 |
| 2 | Kpah Sherman | MIFA | 14 |
| 2 | Thiago Fernandes | Felda United | 14 |
| 6 | Akanni-Sunday Wasiu | Terengganu II | 12 |
| 7 | Gilberto Fortunato | Felda United | 10 |
| 8 | Mateo Roskam | Sarawak | 9 |

### Top assists

Players sorted first by assists, then by last name.
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
| 1 | Endrick | Felcra | 10 |
| 1 | Nicolás Fernández | Johor Darul Ta'zim II | 10 |
| 3 | Iain Ramsay | Felda United | 9 |
| 4 | Bae Beom-geun | MIFA | 8 |
| 5 | Maxsius Musa | Sabah | 7 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Gilberto Fortunato | Felda United | PDRM | 6–2 (A) | 6 February 2018 |
| Casagrande | Felcra | Sarawak | 3–2 (A) | 10 February 2018 |
| Žarko Korać | Kuantan | UKM | 4–0 (H) | 23 February 2018 |
| Casagrande | Felcra | Terengganu II | 3–1 (H) | 21 May 2018 |
Notes: (H) – Home; (A) – Away

### Own goals

| Rank | Player | For | Against | Date | Goals |
| 1 | Daudsu Jamaluddin | Kuantan | UiTM | 10 February 2018 | 1 |
| 1 | Fazly Mazlan | Johor Darul Ta'zim II | Terengganu II | 16 April 2018 | 1 |
| 1 | Andrew Jean-Baptiste | Terengganu II | Sarawak | 21 July 2018 | 1 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Farizal Harun | Felda United | 5 |
| 1 | Muhaimin Mohamad | MIFA | 5 |
| 1 | Sheril Anuar | PDRM | 5 |
| 4 | Soffuan Tawil | UiTM | 4 |
| 5 | Suhaimi Husin | Terengganu II | 3 |
| 5 | Rozaimie Rohim | Sabah | 3 |
| 7 | Robson Rendy Rining | Sabah | 2 |
| 8 | Iqbal Suhaimi | Sarawak | 1 |
| 8 | Abdul Gafur Samsudin | UKM | 1 |