2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup

The 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup or Challenge Cup (Malay: Piala Cabaran Malaysia 2018) is the first edition of Malaysia Challenge Cup tournament organised by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Football Malaysia LLP (FMLLP).^[1][2]

2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup

Piala Cabaran 2018
Tournament details
Country	Malaysia
Date	7 August – 15 October 2018
Teams	8
Final positions
Champions	Terengganu II (1st title)
Runner-up	UKM
Tournament statistics
Matches played	30
Goals scored	77 (2.57 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Michael Ijezie (13 goals)
2019 → All statistics correct as of 15 October 2018.

The 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup will start with a preliminary round. A total of 8 teams took part in the competition. The teams were divided into two groups, each containing four teams. The group leaders and runners-up teams in the groups after six matches qualified to the semi-finals.

Format

The competition will be one involving eight teams-one team from Malaysia Super League (12th placed team), seven teams from Malaysia Premier League (6th to 12th placed teams). However because Kuantan were thrown out of the league, another team will be invited into the Challenge Cup to replaced them.^[3]

Round and draw dates

The draw for the 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup was held on 1 August 2018.^[4]

Phase	Round	Draw date	First leg	Second leg
Group stage	Matchday 1	1 August 2018 15:30 UTC+8	7–8 August 2018
	Matchday 2		14–15 August 2018
	Matchday 3		28–29 August 2018
	Matchday 4		4–5 September 2018
	Matchday 5		11–12 September 2018
	Matchday 6		18–19 September 2018
Knockout stage	Semi-finals		24 September 2018	1 October 2018
	Final		8 October 2018	15 October 2018

Group stage

Main article: 2018 Malaysia Challenge Cup group stage

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TER	UKM	NSE	SAR
1	Terengganu II	6	3	3	0	10	6	+4	12	Advance to Semi-finals		—	3–3	1–1	1–0
2	UKM	6	3	1	2	14	10	+4	10			1–3	—	2–1	5–1
3	Negeri Sembilan	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	10			0–1	2–1	—	3–1
4	Sarawak	6	0	1	5	3	14	−11	1			1–1	0–2	0–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 17 September 2018. Source: FAM FMLLP

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		JDT	ATM	UiTM	PEN
1	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	6	4	1	1	15	4	+11	13	Advance to Semi-finals		—	2–0	0–0	4–0
2	ATM	6	3	1	2	5	5	0	10			2–1	—	1–0	0–0
3	UiTM	6	1	2	3	4	6	−2	5			2–3	2–0	—	0–0
4	Penang	6	1	2	3	3	11	−8	5			1–5	0–2	2–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 18 September 2018. Source: FAM FMLLP

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals							Finals
	A2	UKM	1	1	2
	B1	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	1	0	1
								UKM		2	0	2
								Terengganu II		2	2	4
	B2	ATM	0	0	0
	A1	Terengganu II	2	3	5

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UKM	2-1	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	1−1	1-0
ATM	0-5	Terengganu II	0−2	0-3

Semi-finals

First Leg

UKM	1−1	Johor Darul Ta'zim II
Michael Ijezie 82' (pen.)		S. Kumaahran 12'

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

20:15 UTC+8

KLFA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Referee: Tuan Mohd Yassin

Second Leg

Johor Darul Ta'zim II	0-1	UKM
		Faiz Hanif 52'

1 October 2018 (2018-10-01)

20:15 UTC+8

Pasir Gudang Stadium, Pasir Gudang

UKM won 2−1 on aggregate.

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First Leg

ATM	0−2	Terengganu II
		Andrew Jean-Baptiste 5' Bruno Suzuki 9'

24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)

20:15 UTC+8

Selayang Stadium, Selayang

Second Leg

Terengganu II	3−0	ATM
Zuasyraf Zulkiefle 15' Akanni-Sunday Wasiu 27' 83' (pen.)

1 October 2018 (2018-10-01)

20:15 UTC+8

Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, Kuala Terengganu

Terengganu II won 5−0 on aggregate.

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Final

The first legs will be played on 8 October 2018, and the second legs will be played on 15 October 2018

UKM	2−2	Terengganu II

8 October 2018

20:15 UTC+8

Shah Alam Stadium, Shah Alam

Terengganu II	2−0	UKM
Akanni-Sunday Wasiu 22', 53'

15 October 2018

20:15 UTC+8

Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, Kuala Terengganu

Terengganu II won 4−2 on aggregate.

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Statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 15 October 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Michael Ijezie	UKM	13
2	Akanni Sunday	Terengganu II	8
3	Nicholas Fernàndez	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	3
	Bruno Suzuki	Terengganu II
5	Amirul Hadi	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	2
	D. Saarvindran	Johor Darul Ta'zim II
	S. Kumaahran	Johor Darul Ta'zim II
	Faizal Abu Bakar	Negeri Sembilan
	Fakrul Aiman Sidid	Negeri Sembilan
	Flavio Beck	Negeri Sembilan
	Dzulazlan Ibrahim	Sarawak
	Haidhir Suhaini	Terengganu II
	Faiz Hanif	UKM

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Michael Ijezie5	UKM	Sarawak	5–1	7 August 2018

⁵ Player scored five goals

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 15 October 2018

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Shamirza Yusoff	Terengganu II	4
2	Hafizuddin Azuhar	ATM	3
	Haziq Nadzli	Johor Darul Ta'zim II
	Azam Jais	UiTM
5	Al- Hafiz Hamzah	Penang	2
	Haziq Aris	UKM
7	Ernest Wong	Johor Darul Ta'zim II	1
	Saiful Amar Sudar	Negeri Sembilan
	Hazrul Hafiz	Penang
	Suhaimi Husin	Terengganu II

See also

• 2018 Malaysia Premier League
• 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup
• 2018 Malaysia FA Cup
• 2018 Malaysia Cup
• 2018 Piala Presiden
• 2018 Piala Belia