# 2019 Malaysia Cup group stage

The 2019 Malaysia Cup group stage began on 2 August and ended on 22 September 2019. A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage of the 2019 Malaysia Cup.

## Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 22 July 2019, 12:00 MYT (UTC+8), at the Damansara Performing Arts Centre in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The 16 teams were drawn into 4 groups. In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the knockout stage.
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season):
* Pot 1, 2 and 3 contained the 11 top teams from 2019 Super League, seeded based on their final standings or end placements in the league.
* Pot 3 and 4 contained the 5 top teams from 2019 Premier League, seeded based on their final standings or end placements in the league.
The fixtures were decided after the draw, using a computer draw not shown to public, with the following match sequence.
Note: Positions for scheduling do not use the seeding pots, e.g. Team 1 is not necessarily the team from Pot 1 in the draw.
Group stage schedule :
| Matchday | Dates |
| Matchday 1 | 2–4 August 2019 |
| Matchday 2 | 7–8 August 2019 |
| Matchday 3 | 16–18 August 2019 |
| Matchday 4 | 20–21 & 23–25 August 2019 |
| Matchday 5 | 13–14 September 2019 |
| Matchday 6 | 17–18 & 22 September 2019 |

## Teams

Below were the participating teams grouped by their seeding pot. They included:
* Final standings of 11 teams from 2019 Malaysia Super League which entered in this stage.
* Final standings of 5 teams from 2019 Malaysia Premier League which entered in this stage.
* Key to colours
* Teams from 2019 Malaysia Super League
* Teams from 2019 Malaysia Premier League
Pot 1 :
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | Johor Darul Ta'zim |
| 2 | Pahang |
| 3 | Selangor |
| 4 | Kedah |
Pot 2 :
| Rank | Team |
| 5 | Perak |
| 6 | Melaka United |
| 7 | Terengganu |
| 8 | Petaling Jaya City |
Pot 3 :
| Rank | Team |
| 9 | PKNS |
| 10 | FELDA United |
| 11 | PKNP |
| 12 | Sabah |
Pot 4 :
| Rank | Team |
| 13 | PDRM |
| 14 | UiTM |
| 15 | Negeri Sembilan |
| 16 | Penang |

## Format

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.

### Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
* Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
* If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above was reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Goals scored in all group matches;
* Away goals scored in all group matches;
* Wins in all group matches;
* Away wins in all group matches;
* Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);

## Groups

The matchdays were 2–4 August, 7–8 August, 16–18 August, 20–21 & 23–25 August, 13–14 September, and 17–18 & 22 September 2019.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kedah | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 13 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Terengganu | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 12 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Negeri Sembilan | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 6 | |
| 4 | PKNS | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 4 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Johor Darul Ta'zim | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 16 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | PKNP | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Petaling Jaya City | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 9 | |
| 4 | UiTM | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 14 | −12 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Pahang | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 15 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Perak | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Penang | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | −5 | 5 | |
| 4 | Sabah | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 4 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Selangor | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 10 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Melaka United | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 9 | +1 | 8 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | FELDA United | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 7 | |
| 4 | PDRM | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 | −2 | 6 | |