# 2012 Malaysia Super League

The 2012 Liga Super (English: 2012 Super League) also known as the Astro Liga Super for sponsorship reasons is the ninth season of the Liga Super, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia.
The season was held from 10 January and concluded on 14 July 2012.
The Liga Super champions for 2012 was Kelantan.

## Team changes

The following teams have changed division.

## Teams

A total of fourteen teams will contest the league, including eleven sides from the 2011 season and two promoted teams from the 2011 Liga Premier. Singapore Lions of Singapore will also participate in the 2012 season, replacing Harimau Muda A.
Perlis and Pahang were relegated at the end of the 2011 Liga Super after finishing the season in the bottom two places of the league table.
2011 Liga Premier champions PKNS and runners-up Sarawak secured direct promotion to the Liga Super.
Following an agreement between the Football Association of Singapore and the Football Association of Malaysia, Young Lions, with most of the members of the squad are players from Singapore's national under-23 team, will replace Harimau Muda A, which represent the Malaysian Under-23 national football team. While the Singapore Lions will compete at the Liga Super, Harimau Muda A will take the Young Lions position in the S. League. Young Lions was later replaced by a new team, named LionsXII that will replace the former under-23 football team.
* Felda United
* Johor FC
* Kedah
* Kelantan (2011 Liga Super champions)
* Kuala Lumpur
* Negeri Sembilan
* Perak
* PKNS¹
* Sabah
* Sarawak¹
* Selangor
* LionsXII*
* T-Team
* Terengganu
* – LionsXII (Originally to participate was Young Lions of Singapore and will replace Harimau Muda A as Harimau Muda A will replace Young Lions in the S. League.)
¹ – promoted from Liga Premier

## Team summaries
### Stadium

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Felda United | Kuala Lumpur | Hang Jebat Stadium | 35,000 |
| Johor FC | Pasir Gudang | Pasir Gudang Corporation Stadium | 15,000 |
| Kedah | Alor Setar | Darul Aman Stadium | 32,387 |
| Kelantan | Kota Bharu | Sultan Mohammad IV Stadium | 25,000 |
| Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur | Hang Jebat Stadium | 35,000 |
| Negeri Sembilan | Paroi | Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium | 40,000 |
| T-Team | Kuala Terengganu | Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium | 15,000 |
| Perak | Ipoh | Perak Stadium | 42,500 |
| PKNS | Petaling Jaya | Petaling Jaya Stadium | 25,000 |
| Sabah | Kota Kinabalu | Likas Stadium | 35,000 |
| Sarawak | Kuching | Sarawak State Stadium | 26,000 |
| Selangor | Shah Alam | Shah Alam Stadium | 80,372 |
| LionsXII | Jalan Besar | Jalan Besar Stadium | 8,000 |
| Terengganu | Kuala Terengganu | Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium | 15,000 |

### Stadium changes

* Selangor home stadium was originally the Shah Alam Stadium, but Selangor changed it into the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil after the Shah Alam stadium was being repaired and renovated.
** The KLFA Stadium was closed down for repairs, meaning both Felda United and Kuala Lumpur were forced to move their home stadiums to the Hang Jebat Stadium which is located in Malacca. The stadium will also be the only venue that will be played at daylight, rather than playing in the night.
* Terengganu had shared stadiums with fellow team neighbours, T-Team since 2011 after the roof collapse of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium. However, on 19 December 2011, The Terengganu Menteri Besar, Ahmad Said announced that the stadium will undergo repairs and maybe will be usable for Terengganu halfway through the league.

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Felda United | E. Elavarasan | Mohd Hamsani Ahmad | Kappa | FELDA Holdings |
| Johor FC | Sazali Saidon | Khairul Ismail | Promade | Kulim (Malaysia) Berhad |
| Kedah | Marijo Tot | Baddrol Bakhtiar | Line 7 | PKNK |
| Kelantan | Bojan Hodak | Mohd Badri Mohd Radzi | Umbro | Happy Prepaid |
| Kuala Lumpur | Razip Ismail | Mohd Aslam Haja Najmudeen | Kronos | Kronos |
| Negeri Sembilan | Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah | Muhammad Shukor Adan | Lotto | Negeri Roadstone Sdn Bhd |
| T-Team | Yunus Alif | Rosdi Talib | Admiral | Admiral |
| Perak | Jang Jung | Shahrulnizam Mustapa | Kika | Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh |
| PKNS | Abdul Rahman Ibrahim | Mohd Fadhil Mohd Hashim | Lotto | PKNS Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine |
| Sabah | David McCreery | Hendrik Helmke | Adidas | Grace One |
| Sarawak | Robert Alberts | Guy Bwele | StarSport | Naim |
| Selangor | Irfan Bakti Abu Salim | Mohd Amri Yahyah | Kappa | Menteri Besar Incorporated |
| LionsXII | V. Sundramoorthy | Shahril Ishak | Nike | StarHub |
| Terengganu | Peter James Butler | Mohd Marzuki Yusof | SPECS | Top IT |

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

| Club | Outgoing Head Coach | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Incoming Head Coach | Date of appointment |
| Kelantan | Maruthaiah Karathu | 16 October 2011 | Resigned | Peter James Butler | 20 October 2011 |
| Johor FC | Azuan Zain | 3 November 2011 | Resigned | K. Devan | 3 November 2011 |
| Terengganu | Irfan Bakti Abu Salim | 2 November 2011 | End of Contract | Mat Zan Mat Aris | 4 November 2011 |
| Selangor | P. Maniam (caretaker) | 4 November 2011 | End of caretaker role | Irfan Bakti Abu Salim | 4 November 2011 |

#### In season

| Club | Outgoing Head Coach | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Incoming Head Coach | Date of appointment |
| Kelantan | Peter James Butler | 28 February 2012 | Mutual Agreement | Bojan Hodak | 2 March 2012 |
| Johor FC | K. Devan | 15 April 2012 | Resigned | Sazali Saidon | 15 April 2012 |
| Terengganu | Mat Zan Mat Aris | 7 May 2012 | Resigned | Khalid Mohd Dahan (caretaker) | 7 May 2012 |
| Terengganu | Khalid Mohd Dahan (caretaker) | 14 May 2012 | End of caretaker role | Peter James Butler | 14 May 2012 |
| Sabah | Justin Ganai | 20 June 2012 | Sacked | Andrew Majanggim (caretaker) | 20 June 2012 |
| Sabah | Andrew Majanggim (caretaker) | 5 July 2012 | End of caretaker role | David McCreery | 5 July 2012 |
| Perak | Norizan Bakar | 10 July 2012 | Leave of Absence | Jang Jung | 23 July 2012 |
| Kedah | Wan Jamak Wan Hassan | 10 August 2012 | Leave of Absence | Marijo Tot | 10 August 2012 |

### Sponsorship changes

| Club | New sponsor | Date |
| Sabah | Grace One | 22 December 2011 |
| LionsXII | StarHub | 5 January 2012 |
| Kuala Lumpur | Kronos | 9 January 2012 |

## Foreign players

| Club | Visa 1 | Visa 2 | Visa 3 | Visa 4 | Former Player(s) |
| Felda United | Mickaël Antoine-Curier | Eddy Viator | None | None | Makadji Boukar Pape Ciré Dia |
| Johor FC | Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt | Fernando de Abreu Ferreira | None | None | Tiago Azulão Pascal Ochieng |
| Kedah | Abdulfatah Safi | Vedran Gerc | None | None | Danilo Vivaldo Daniel Baroni Hamidan Mohammed |
| Kelantan | Obinna Nwaneri | Mohammed Ghaddar | Mijo Dadic | Keita Mandjou | Denny Antwi Emmanuel Okine Onyekachi Nwoha |
| Kuala Lumpur | Zakaria Charara (on loan from Kelantan) | Emmanuel Okine (on loan from Kelantan) | None | None | None |
| Negeri Sembilan | Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona | Marian Farbák | None | None | None |
| T-Team | Bojan Petrić | Marco Tulio | None | None | None |
| Perak | Michal Kubala | Albert Dominique Ebossé Bodjongo Dika | None | None | Lazar Popović |
| PKNS | Michaël Niçoise | Helmi Loussaief | None | None | Paulo Sérgio |
| Sabah | Brendan Gan | Hendrik Helmke | None | None | Rhys Weston Michael Baird |
| Sarawak | Guy Bwele | Joël Epalle | None | None | Vedran Muratović |
| Selangor | Ramez Dayoub | Boško Balaban | None | None | None |
| LionsXII | None | None | None | None | None |
| Terengganu | Erison da Silva Santos | Francis Doe | None | None | None |
Note:
* Teams participating in AFC Cup 2012, (Kelantan and Terengganu) can employ two extra foreign players, as the AFC allows 4 foreign players, making it a total of four foreign players, but the third and fourth foreign player is only allowed to play for the AFC Cup 2012 Tournament.
* LionsXII will not be permitted to have any foreign players as it is an all Singaporean team.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Kelantan (C, Q) | 26 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 53 | 18 | +35 | 60 | 2013 AFC Cup group stage |
| 2 | LionsXII | 26 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 48 | 23 | +25 | 50 | |
| 3 | Selangor (Q) | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 40 | 26 | +14 | 43 | 2013 AFC Cup group stage |
| 4 | Perak | 26 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 40 | 43 | −3 | 42 | |
| 5 | Terengganu | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 41 | 33 | +8 | 41 | |
| 6 | Negeri Sembilan | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 37 | |
| 7 | PKNS | 26 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 35 | |
| 8 | T-Team | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 35 | 36 | −1 | 35 | |
| 9 | Johor FC | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 35 | |
| 10 | Felda United | 26 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 25 | 31 | −6 | 35 | |
| 11 | Sarawak (R) | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 30 | Relegation play-offs |
| 12 | Kedah (R) | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 38 | −11 | 28 | Relegation play-offs |
| 13 | Sabah (R) | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 33 | 52 | −19 | 28 | Relegation play-offs |
| 14 | Kuala Lumpur (R) | 26 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 14 | 53 | −39 | 5 | Relegation to 2013 Liga Premier |
* ↑ LionsXII are not eligible for any AFC competition spots
* ↑ Qualified as the next highest-placed local team behind Liga Super and 2012 Piala FA winners Kelantan.

## Results

Fixtures and Results of the Liga Super 2012 season.

### Week 19

* $^1$ The venue was changed from Kuala Lumpur FA original venue at Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka to Kelantan FA venue at Kota Bharu at the request of Kuala Lumpur FA.

### Week 22

* $^1$ The venue was changed from Kuala Lumpur FA original venue at Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka to Sabah FA venue at Kota Kinabalu at the request of Kuala Lumpur FA.

### Week 24

* $^1$ The venue was changed from Kuala Lumpur FA original venue at Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka to Selangor FA venue at Shah Alam at the request of Kuala Lumpur FA.

### Week 26

* $^1$ The venue was changed from Kuala Lumpur FA original venue at Hang Jebat Stadium, Melaka to Perak FA venue at Ipoh at the request of Kuala Lumpur FA.

## Round table

| Home \ Away | FEL | JFC | KED | KEL | KLU | NSE | T-T | PRK | PKN | SAB | SWK | SEL | LNS | TRG |
| Felda United | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Johor FC | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| Kedah | 1–2 | 1–3 | | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Kelantan | 5–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 6–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Kuala Lumpur FA | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 2–4 | 1–1 |
| T–Team | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| Perak | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| PKNS | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| Sabah | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–4 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| Sarawak | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Selangor | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 6–1 |
| LionsXII | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 9–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 0–1 |
| Terengganu | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 6–3 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | |

## Play-offs
### Promotion/Relegation

The play-off matches to determine promotion and relegation will be held at Hang Tuah Stadium and Hang Jebat Stadium, Malacca from 17 to 19 July 2012, as next season Liga Super will be reduced to 12 teams from 14 teams this season. Team that finished 11th in the Liga Super, Sarawak will meet second placed team in Liga Premier, Pahang while team that finished 12th in the Liga Super, Kedah will meet team that finished 13th in the Liga Super, Sabah. The winner of both semi-final match will meet in the final to determine who will stay in the 2013 Liga Super. The winner will stay in the Liga Super; the other 3 teams will be relegated to 2013 Liga Premier.

#### Final
## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona | Negeri Sembilan | 15 |
| 2 | Francis Doe Forkey | Terengganu | 14 |
| 3 | Michal Kubala | Perak | 13 |
| 4 | Boško Balaban | Selangor | 12 |
| 5 | Shahril Ishak | LionsXII | 10 |
| 5 | Ahmad Shakir Mohd Ali | Negeri Sembilan | 10 |
| 5 | Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri | Kedah | 10 |
| 8 | Mohammed Ghaddar | Kelantan | 9 |
| 8 | Zairo Anuar Zalani | T-Team | 9 |
| 8 | Mohd Faiz Subri | T-Team | 9 |
| 11 | Shahdan Sulaiman | LionsXII | 8 |
| 11 | Mohd Badri Mohd Radzi | Kelantan | 8 |

### Own goals

| Player | For | Club |
| Aiman Syazwan Abdullah | LionsXII | Kuala Lumpur |
| Mohd Helmi Remeli | Sabah | PKNS |
| Khairan Ezuan Razali | Perak | Felda United |
| Mohd Sabre Mat Abu | Sabah | Kedah |
| Mohd Syazwan Mohd Roslan | Kedah | Perak |
| Mohd Fadzli Saari | PKNS | T-Team |
| Mafry Balang | Perak | Sabah |
| S. Kunanlan | Terengganu | Negeri Sembilan |
| Shahrul Azhar Ture | LionsXII | Sabah |
| Mohd Fazliata Taib | Kelantan | Kedah |
| Ahmad Jihad Ismail | Sabah | Kuala Lumpur |
| Mohd Reithaudin Awang Emran | Terengganu | Sabah |
| Bojan Petrić | LionsXII | T-Team |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Francis Doe Forkey | Terengganu | Sabah | 6–3 | 17 March 2012 |
| Mohd Nizad Ayub | Felda United | Kuala Lumpur | 4–0 | 13 April 2012 |
| Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt | Johor FC | PKNS | 3–2 | 8 May 2012 |
| Hariss Harun | LionsXII | Sabah | 9–0 | 16 June 2012 |
| Indra Putra Mahayuddin | Kelantan | Perak | 6–0 | 7 July 2012 |

### Scoring

* First goal of the season: Mohd Raimi Mohd Nor for Felda United against Sabah (10 January 2012)
* Last goal of the season: Bobby Gonzales for Sabah against Negeri Sembilan (14 July 2012)
* Fastest goal of the season: 33 Seconds – Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt for Johor FC against T-Team (17 March 2012)
* First own goal of the season: 41 Minutes – Aiman Syazwan Abdullah of Kuala Lumpur for LionsXII (17 January 2012)
* Widest winning margin: 9 goals
** LionsXII 9–0 Sabah (16 June 2012)
* Highest scoring game: 9 goals
** Terengganu 6–3 Sabah (17 March 2012)
** LionsXII 9–0 Sabah (16 June 2012)
* Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 9 goals
** LionsXII 9–0 Sabah (16 June 2012)
* Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals
** Terengganu 6–3 Sabah (17 March 2012)
* Widest away winning margin: 4 goals
** Kuala Lumpur 0–4 Felda United (13 April 2012)
** Sabah 0–4 PKNS (19 June 2012)
** Kuala Lumpur 2 – 4 Sabah (30 June 2012)
* Most goals scored by an away team: 4 goals
** PKNS 1–4 Sarawak (31 March 2012)
** T-Team 1–4 PKNS (6 April 2012)
** Kuala Lumpur 0–4 Felda United (13 April 2012)
** Sabah 0–4 PKNS (19 June 2012)

### Clean sheets

* Most clean sheets: 11
** Kelantan
* Fewest clean sheets: 1
** Kuala Lumpur