# 2018 Malaysia Super League

The 2018 Malaysia Super League (Malay: Liga Super Malaysia 2018), known as 2018 unifi Malaysia Super League (Malay: unifi Liga Super Malaysia 2018) for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia.
Johor Darul Ta'zim were the defending champions.

## Club licensing regulations

Starting this season, every team in the Liga Super Malaysia must have a FAM Club Licence to play in the league, or else they are relegated. To obtain a FAM Club Licence, teams must be financially healthy and meet certain standards of conduct as organisations. As part of privation effort for the league, all clubs compete in Liga Super Malaysia and Liga Premier Malaysia will be required to obtained FAM Club Licence.
As in other national leagues, there are significant benefits to being in the top division:
* A greater share of television broadcast licence revenues goes to Liga Super Malaysia sides.
* Greater exposure through television and higher attendance levels helps Liga Super Malaysia teams attract the most lucrative sponsorships.
* Liga Super Malaysia teams develop substantial financial muscle through the combination of television and gate revenues, sponsorships and marketing of their team brands. This allows them to attract and retain skilled players from domestic and international sources and to construct first-class stadium facilities.
Despite several reminders from FAM from the beginning of 2015, however there are few teams failed to get the approval for both AFC and FAM club licenses from First Instance Body (FIB) .
| Team(s) | AFC Club License Status | FAM Club License Status |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Passed | Passed |
| Kedah | Failed | Passed |
| Kelantan | Failed | Passed |
| Kuala Lumpur | Failed | Passed |
| Melaka United | Failed | Passed |
| Negeri Sembilan | Passed | Passed |
| Pahang | Passed | Passed |
| Perak | Failed | Passed |
| PKNP | Failed | Passed |
| PKNS | Passed | Passed |
| Selangor | Passed | Passed |
| Terengganu | Failed | Passed |
*Updated: 6 December 2017

## Team changes

The following teams have changed division.

## Teams

Sarawak and Penang were relegated to 2018 Malaysia Premier League after finished 11th and bottom place of last season league. Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu promoted to 2018 Malaysia Super League after securing place as champions and runners-up in 2017 Malaysia Premier League.
On 21 November 2017, it was announced that T-Team who finished ninth in the Super League last year, will play in the 2018 Malaysia Premier League pending approval from Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP). The suggestion then were approved on 4 December 2017, followed by an announcement stating that Felda United, who finished third last season are ineligible to compete in this year top-tier competition. They were replaced by Negeri Sembilan and PKNP.

### Venues

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Johor Bahru | Tan Sri Dato' Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium | 30,000 |
| Kedah | Alor Setar | Darul Aman Stadium | 32,387 |
| Kelantan | Kota Bharu | Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium | 30,000 |
| Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur Stadium | 18,000 |
| Melaka United | Krubong | Hang Jebat Stadium | 40,000 |
| Negeri Sembilan | Seremban | Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium | 45,000 |
| Pahang | Kuantan | Darul Makmur Stadium | 40,000 |
| Perak | Ipoh | Perak Stadium, Ipoh Naval Base Stadium, Lumut | 42,500 12,000 |
| PKNP | Ipoh | Perak Stadium, Ipoh Penang State Stadium, Batu Kawan | 42,500 40,000 |
| PKNS | Shah Alam | Shah Alam Stadium | 80,372 |
| Selangor | Kuala Lumpur | Kuala Lumpur Stadium | 18,000 |
| Terengganu | Kuala Terengganu | Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium | 15,000 |
| Source: ||||
1: ^ Perak plays at Lumut due to the upgrading of their own stadium at Perak Stadium
2: ^ PKNP plays at Batu Kawan due to the upgrading of Perak Stadium
3: ^ Kelantan plays their home games at their opponents stadium during Ramadan, due to ban of Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium usage by state government during Ramadan

### Personnel, kit and sponsoring

| Team | Head coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Main sponsor |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Raúl Longhi (caretaker) | Hariss Harun | Nike | Forest City |
| Kedah | Nidzam Adzha | Baddrol Bakhtiar | AL | ECK |
| Kelantan | Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) | Shahrizan Ismail | Lotto | BMW Raza Premium |
| Kuala Lumpur | Fábio Magrão | Indra Putra Mahayuddin | SkyHawk | JL99, Ekovest |
| Melaka United | E. Elavarasan | Khairul Fahmi Che Mat | Warrix | EDRA CGN |
| Negeri Sembilan | Mário Lemos | Kim Do-heon | AL | Matrix Concepts |
| Pahang | Dollah Salleh | Matthew Davies | FILA | Aras Kuasa |
| Perak | Mehmet Duraković | Nasir Basharudin | AL | Lembaga Air Perak, Quest International University Archived 2018-01-25 at the Wayback Machine |
| PKNP | Abu Bakar Fadzim | Hafiz Ramdan | FILA | Perak Corp Archived 2020-02-18 at the Wayback Machine, MAPS |
| PKNS | K. Rajagopal | Safee Sali | Kappa | PKNS |
| Selangor | Nazliazmi Nasir | Amri Yahyah | Lotto | redONE, CRRC |
| Terengganu | Irfan Bakti | Kipré Tchétché | Kobert | Chicken Cottage |
* Notes;
* Shahrel Fikri was the official captain of PKNP, before he was loaned to Nakhon Ratchasima, Hafiz Ramdan filled in as captain for PKNP.

### Coaching changes

* Indicate the positions in the relegation zone.
| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Week | Table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment |
| PKNS | Sven Gartung | End of contract | 31 October 2017 | Pre-season | Pre-season | K. Rajagopal | 22 November 2017 |
| Kelantan | Zahasmi Ismail | End of contract | 30 November 2017 | Pre-season | Pre-season | Sathit Bensoh | 7 December 2017 |
| Kedah | Nidzam Adzha | Resigned | 30 November 2017 | Pre-season | Pre-season | Ramón Marcote | 11 December 2017 |
| Negeri Sembilan | Asri Ninggal | End of contract | 30 November 2017 | Pre-season | Pre-season | Jörg Steinebrunner | 20 December 2017 |
| Kelantan | Sathit Bensoh | Sacked | 15 February 2018 | 3 | 12 | Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) | 16 February 2018 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Ulisses Morais | Resigned | 25 February 2018 | 4 | 1 | Raúl Longhi (caretaker) | 26 February 2018 |
| Negeri Sembilan | Jörg Steinebrunner | Resigned | 28 February 2018 | 4 | 11 | Azraai Khor | 28 February 2018 |
| Selangor | P. Maniam | Rested | 14 March 2018 | 5 | 8 | Nazliazmi Nasir (caretaker) | 14 March 2018 |
| Kelantan | Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) | End of caretaker role | 19 March 2018 | 5 | 11 | Fajr Ibrahim | 21 March 2018 |
| Kedah | Ramón Marcote | Move to development coach | 28 March 2018 | 5 | 6 | Nidzam Adzha | 28 March 2018 |
| Melaka United | Eduardo Almeida | Sacked | 2 May 2018 | 8 | 7 | E. Elavarasan | 7 May 2018 |
| Negeri Sembilan | Azraai Khor | Sacked | 10 May 2018 | 10 | 12 | Mario Lemos | 10 May 2018 |
| Kelantan | Fajr Ibrahim | Resigned | 5 June 2018 | 14 | 12 | Yusri Che Lah (caretaker) | 5 June 2018 |

### Foreign players

Southeast Asia (SEA) players need to have acquired at least 30 international caps for their senior national team with no period restriction on when caps are earned and those who has less than 30 international caps will be subjected to FMLLP approval.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC Player | ASEAN Player | Former Players |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Marcos António | Fernando Elizari | Fernando Márquez | Gonzalo Cabrera | Hariss Harun | Jorge Pereyra Díaz Luciano Figueroa Harry Novillo Nicolás Fernández Jorge |
| Kedah | Liridon Krasniqi | Sandro | Paulo Rangel | Andik Vermansyah | Álvaro Silva | Pablo Pallarès |
| Kelantan | Cássio | Cristiano | Bakhtiyar Duyshobekov | | | Bruno Lopes Ferdinand Sinaga Mohammed Ghaddar Morgaro Gomis Do Dong-hyun Alaeddine Bouslimi Lazarus Kaimbi |
| Kuala Lumpur | Paulo Josué | Juninho | Guilherme de Paula | Bobirjon Akbarov | Achmad Jufriyanto | |
| Melaka United | Steven Thicot | Ifedayo Olusegun | Yahor Zubovich | Lee Chang-hoon | Shahdan Sulaiman | Tiago Gomes Jeon Woo-young |
| Negeri Sembilan | Alex Moraes | Flávio Júnior | Nicolás Vélez | Kim Do-heon | Ángel Guirado | Prak Mony Udom Renārs Rode |
| Pahang | Mohamadou Sumareh | Austin Amutu | Patrick Cruz | Issey Nakajima-Farran | Safuwan Baharudin | Sergio Unrein Alex Moraes Chan Vathanaka Francis Doe |
| Perak | Leandro | Wander Luiz | Gilmar | Jad Noureddine | | Misagh Bahadoran Robert Cornthwaite |
| PKNP | Ritus Krjauklis | Franklin Anzité | Karl Max | Kim Sang-woo | | Keo Sokpheng Yeon Gi-sung Lyuben Nikolov Alfred Okai Quaye |
| PKNS | Romel Morales | Bruno Matos | Rafael Ramazotti | Zac Anderson | Faris Ramli | Jonathan Acosta |
| Selangor | Willian Pacheco | Alfonso de la Cruz | Rufino Segovia | Evan Dimas | Ilham Armaiyn | |
| Terengganu | Igor Zonjić | Lee Tuck | Kipré Tchétché | Do Dong-hyun | Thierry Bin | Kim Hyun-woo Lee Jun-hyeob Bruno Suzuki |

### Naturalisation players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | Junior Eldstål | Darren Lok | Natxo Insa | La'Vere Corbin-Ong | Kiko Insa |
| Melaka United | Khair Jones | Nicholas Swirad | | | |
| Negeri Sembilan | David Rowley | | | | |
| Pahang | Matthew Davies | | | | |
| Perak | Brendan Gan | | | | |
| PKNS | Daniel Ting | | | | |
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 | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Johor Darul Ta'zim (C) | 22 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 47 | 9 | +38 | 59 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Perak | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 35 | 27 | +8 | 36 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League second preliminary round |
| 3 | PKNS | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 37 | 29 | +8 | 35 | |
| 4 | Pahang | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 35 | 21 | +14 | 34 | |
| 5 | Terengganu | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 34 | |
| 6 | Kedah | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 37 | 36 | +1 | 32 | |
| 7 | Melaka United | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 33 | 38 | −5 | 31 | |
| 8 | Selangor | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 35 | 39 | −4 | 27 | |
| 9 | PKNP | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 25 | 31 | −6 | 25 | |
| 10 | Kuala Lumpur | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 39 | 51 | −12 | 24 | |
| 11 | Kelantan (R) | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 20 | 43 | −23 | 18 | Relegation to the Premier League |
| 12 | Negeri Sembilan (R) | 22 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 27 | 47 | −20 | 15 | Relegation to the Premier League |

### Result table

| Home \ Away | JDT | KED | KEL | KLU | MEL | NSE | PAH | PRK | PKP | PKN | SEL | TRG |
| Johor DT | — | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Kedah | 1–2 | — | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Kelantan | 1–2 | 0–1 | — | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 1–0 | 4–3 | 5–1 | — | 3–4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 |
| Melaka United | 0–4 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–4 | — | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 0–4 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | — | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 |
| Pahang | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Perak | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 4–3 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 |
| PKNP | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| PKNS | 0–0 | 3–4 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 5–3 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–2 | 4–0 |
| Selangor | 2–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 3–3 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 |
| Terengganu | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | — |

### Positions by round

| Team \ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Johor Darul Ta'zim | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Perak | 8 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Pahang | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| PKNS | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| Terengganu | 6 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Kedah | 9 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| PKNP | 4 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 9 |
| Selangor | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Kuala Lumpur | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Melaka United | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Kelantan | 10 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| Negeri Sembilan | 11 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Rufino Segovia | Selangor | 19 |
| 2 | Kipré Tchétché | Terengganu | 14 |
| 3 | Guilherme de Paula | Kuala Lumpur | 13 |
| 4 | Yahor Zubovich | Melaka United | 12 |
| 5 | Gilmar | Perak | 11 |
| 6 | Gonzalo Cabrera | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 9 |
| 7 | Flávio Júnior | Negeri Sembilan | 8 |
| 7 | Ifedayo Olusegun | Melaka United | 8 |
| 7 | Nicolás Vélez | Negeri Sembilan | 8 |
| 7 | Sandro | Kedah | 8 |

### Top assists

Players sorted first by assists, then by last name.
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
| 1 | Paulo Josué | Kuala Lumpur | 9 |
| 2 | Gonzalo Cabrera | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 7 |
| 3 | Akhyar Rashid | Kedah | 6 |
| 3 | Bruno Matos | PKNS | 6 |
| 3 | Hafiz Ramdan | PKNP | 6 |
| 3 | Safuwan Baharudin | Pahang | 6 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Do Dong-hyun | Kelantan | Perak | 3–2 (H) | 24 February 2018 |
| Rufino Segovia | Selangor | Kelantan | 4–0 (H) | 1 June 2018 |
| Kipré Tchétché | Terengganu | Negeri Sembilan | 3–2 (H) | 27 June 2018 |
| Rufino Segovia | Selangor | Kuala Lumpur | 3–3 (H) | 15 July 2018 |
Notes: (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Own goals
As of 28 July 2018
Rank
Player
For
Against
Date
Goals
1
K. Reuben
PKNS
Kedah
25 February 2018
1
Ganiesh Gunasegaran
PKNP
Kuala Lumpur
25 February 2018
Saifulnizam Miswan
Kuala Lumpur
PKNP
27 June 2018
Nasriq Baharom
Negeri Sembilan
Melaka United
28 July 2018 :

### Clean sheets

    As of matches played on 28 July 2018.
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Farizal Marlias | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 13 |
| 2 | Helmi Eliza Elias | Pahang | 7 |
| 3 | Hafizul Hakim | Perak | 6 |
| 4 | Shahril Saa'ri | PKNS | 5 |
| 5 | Wan Azraie | Terengganu | 3 |
| 5 | Ramadhan Hamid | Kedah | 3 |