2023 Malaysia M3 League

The 2023 Malaysia M3 League, known as the 2023 MBSB Bank Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the third season of the MBSB Bank Championship, the second tier football league in Malaysia, since its establishment in 2019.^[1] The season lasted from March to October.

MBSB Bank Championship

Season	2023
Champions	Immigration FC
Relegated	Naga UKS
Matches played	165
Goals scored	501 (3.04 per match)
Top goalscorer	Azim Rahim (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Harini 5–1 Naga UKS (27 May)
Biggest away win	Naga UKS 1–10 Malaysia University (11 March)
Highest scoring	11 goals Naga UKS 1–10 Malaysia University (11 March)
Longest winning run	7 matches (KL Rovers)
Longest unbeaten run	17 matches (KL Rovers)
Longest winless run	19 matches (Naga UKS)
Longest losing run	19 matches (Naga UKS)
← 2022 2024–25(Liga A1) → All statistics correct as of 21 October 2023.

Establishment and format

This new season saw the format restructuring by the Amateur Football League (AFL). On 19 January 2020, the AFL has announced the format changes for the Malaysia M3 League and Malaysia M4 League in preparation for the transition of the amateur team to semi-professionals by 2021.^[2]

The league will kick-off with 14 teams into one single group of league. The top four teams will play in the play-offs to determine which teams will qualify for promotion to the Super League in the 2024 season. The bottom two teams will be relegated to the M4 League.^[3]

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2022 season.

To MBSB Bank Championship Ejected from the Super League Sarawak United New Team Melaka

From MBSB Bank Championship Relegated to Al-Ikhsan Cup FC Langkawi Kijang Rangers Langkawi City Real Chukai Tok Janggut Warriors Tun Razak City Teams withdrawn Kinabalu Jaguar Respect

Name changes

• Ultimate was renamed to Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor FC (Naga UKS).

Teams

As of 29 December 2022, 14 clubs confirmed their participation in the 2023 Malaysia M3 League.

• Armed Forces
• Bukit Tambun
• BRM
• Harini
• Immigration
• Kuala Lumpur Rovers
• Malaysian University
• Manjung City
• Melaka
• Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor
• Perlis United
• PIB Shah Alam
• SAINS
• Sarawak United

Club locations

Manjung City

Perlis United

Klang Valley

SAINS

Bukit Tambun

BRM FC

Sarawak United

Melaka

Naga UKS

Immigration,PIB

Klang Valley teams
Harini
Malaysian University
Armed Forces
Kuala Lumpur Rovers

Locations of teams in the 2022 Malaysia M3 League

Venues

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Armed Forces	Kuala Lumpur	Mindef Stadium	1,000
BRM	Kuala Kangsar	Perak Stadium	42,500
Bukit Tambun	Bukit Tambun	Penang State Stadium	40,000
Harini	Kuala Selangor	UPM Stadium	3,000
Immigration	Putrajaya	UPM Stadium	3,000
Kuala Lumpur Rovers	Kuala Lumpur	Kuala Lumpur Stadium	16,000
Malaysian University	Kuala Lumpur	UM Arena Stadium	1,000
Manjung City	Seri Manjung	Manjung Stadium	15,000
Melaka	Malacca City	Hang Jebat Stadium	40,000
Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor	Kuala Selangor	Kuala Selangor Stadium	1,000
Perlis United	Kangar	Tuanku Syed Putra Stadium	20,000
PIB Shah Alam	Shah Alam	USIM Stadium	1,000
SAINS	Seremban	Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium	45,000
Sarawak United	Kuching	Sarawak State Stadium	20,000

Personnel, kits and sponsoring

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
Armed Forces	Kevin Lee Cooper	Venice Elphi	AL Sports	MBSB Bank
BRM	Mohd Ali Khan Abdullah	Kamarul Effandi Abdul Rahim	AL Sports	Raudhah Islamic School Jasmin7
Bukit Tambun	Mahamud Harun	Hafidz Romly	AL Sports	GIMmedia
Harini	P. Maniam	Norshahrul Idlan Talaha	Ma7ch	Harini MBSB Bank
Immigration	Mat Zan Mat Aris	Mohd Nasriq Baharom	Let's Play Performance	redONE MBSB Bank
Kuala Lumpur Rovers	Wan Mustaffa Wan Ismail	Firdaus Fauzi	Ma7ch	MBSB Bank
Malaysian University	Ridzuan Abu Shah	Amirul Fazly Zamri	Ma7ch
Manjung City	Rafae Isa	Faizzzwan Dorahim	Cheetah	Majlis Perbandaran Manjung ANE Group
Melaka	Pedro Hipólito	Idris Ahmad	Puma
Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor	Dusan Momcilovic	Mohamad Firdaus Yusof	AL Sports
Perlis United	Azhar Abdul Rahman	Azizi Matt Rose	Ma7ch	SGT Power
PIB Shah Alam	Yusrizal Yusoff	Adam Syafiq Fuad	AL Sports	MBSB Bank
SAINS	Hamizar Hamzah	Alif Samsudin	Kaki Jersi	MBI Negeri Sembilan
Sarawak United	S. Balachandran	Nor Azizi Ramlee	AL Sports	Punggor Wibawa

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Immigration (C)	24	17	4	3	53	15	+38	55
2	Kuala Lumpur Rovers	24	16	6	2	48	14	+34	54	Qualified to the 2023 Malaysia Cup
3	Harini	24	15	6	3	56	21	+35	51
4	Bukit Tambun	24	14	3	7	36	27	+9	45
5	SAINS	24	11	5	8	34	30	+4	38	Withdrawn from A1 Semi-Pro League and dissolved.[a]
6	Malaysian University	24	11	3	10	43	28	+15	36
7	Manjung City	24	9	7	8	35	31	+4	34
8	Perlis United	24	9	5	10	35	31	+4	32	Withdrawn from A1 Semi-Pro League and dissolved.[a]
9	PIB Shah Alam	24	9	4	11	32	31	+1	31
10	Melaka	24	8	7	9	38	38	0	31
11	Armed Forces	24	7	5	12	34	30	+4	26
12	Sarawak United	24	1	1	22	18	80	−62	4	Withdrawn from A1 Semi-Pro League and dissolved.[a]
13	Naga UKS (R)	24	1	0	23	14	100	−86	3	Relegated to the 2024 Al - Ikhsan Cup
14	BRM FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew.[b]

Source: FAM-CMS
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored.
(C) League Champion; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. SAINS, Perlis United & Sarawak United withdrew from Liga M3 before the start of 2024 season.^[4]
2. On 20 Jun 2023 AFL announced they accepted the withdrawal of BRM FC, based on the letter citing financial problems. AFL also announced all matches involving BRM FC were annulled.^[5][6]

Position 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	23	24
Immigration	5	5	4	6	5	3	3	3	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	1	2	1
Kuala Lumpur Rovers	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2
Harini	1	4	3	3	4	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3
Bukit Tambun	4	3	6	5	2	4	5	4	3	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
SAINS	3	2	2	1	3	5	4	5	4	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5
Malaysian University	10	11	5	4	6	7	7	6	9	11	11	10	11	9	10	10	6	6	6	6	7	6	6	6
Manjung City	8	9	9	11	10	10	10	10	8	6	7	8	9	10	6	6	8	9	9	7	6	6	9	7
Perlis United	7	10	10	8	8	6	6	7	6	7	6	6	6	6	8	9	7	7	7	8	8	8	7	8
PIB Shah Alam	9	11	11	12	12	11	11	11	10	8	9	7	7	7	9	8	10	10	10	11	11	11	10	9
Melaka	12	12	7	7	7	8	8	9	7	10	10	11	10	11	7	7	9	8	8	9	9	9	8	10
Armed Forces	6	8	8	9	11	9	9	8	11	9	8	9	8	8	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	11	11
Sarawak United	13	12	12	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13

	League Leader
	Qualified to 2023 Malaysia Cup
	Qualified to 2023 Malaysia Cup
	Relegation to Al-Ikhsan Cup

Source: MFL

Results table

Home \ Away	ARM	BKT	BRM	HAR	IFC	KLR	MAU	MCT	MEL	NAG	PLU	PIB	KSR	SWU
Armed Forces		1–2	3–1	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–3	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	4–2
Bukit Tambun	2–1		NIL	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	2–0
BRM	NIL	0–4		NIL	0–1	NIL	3–0	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL	0–5	NIL	NIL
Harini Selangor	3–1	3–1	3–1		1–2	1–1	3–1	0–0	3–3	5–1	2–3	1–1	2–1	3–0
Immigration	1–1	1–1	NIL	1–0		1–1	3–0	2–1	1–2	3–1	3–2	3–0	3–0	5–0
Kuala Lumpur Rovers	0–0	1–2	NIL	1–1	1–0		1–0	3–0	3–1	4–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	6–1
Malaysian University	2–1	3–1	NIL	1–2	2–3	0–3		1–2	1–1	4–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	5–1
Manjung City	2–0	2–3	0–2	0–4	0–3	2–0	0–2		3–3	3–0	3–2	0–0	2–0	4–0
Melaka	0–2	1–0	NIL	1–3	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1		1–0	1–2	1–2	1–3	2–0
Naga Ultimate Kuala Selangor	0–6	1–2	NIL	0–8	0–6	0–5	1–10	1–3	1–7		0–8	2–6	0–3	3–2
Perlis United	0–2	1–3	2–1	0–3	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–1		0–0	2–1	1–0
PIB Shah Alam	1–0	1–0	NIL	1–2	0–4	0–2	0–2	0–0	3–4	2–0	1–2		0–1	6–1
SAINS	2–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–2	2–1	1–1	2–3	2–0	1–1	1–0		3–2
Sarawak United	0–4	1–3	NIL	0–2	0–4	1–4	0–2	0–4	1–1	4–1	0–4	0–3	2–4

Source: FAM
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 21 October 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[7]
1	Azim Rahim	Immigration	24
2	Afeeq Iqmal	Manjung City	13
	Zulkiffli Zakaria	Harini
4	Amer Saidin	KL Rovers	12
5	Khyril Muhymeen	Harini	11
6	Firdaus Azizul	Sains	10
	Sadam Hashim	Perlis United
8	Ikhmal Ibrahim	Perlis United	9
9	Fakhrul Aiman Sidid	Melaka	8
	Rafie Mat Yaccob	KL Rovers

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Alief Najmi Radzi	Malaysian University	Naga UKS FC	1-10 (A)[8]	11 March 2023
Syukur Saidin	Bukit Tambum	BRM Kuala Kangsar	0-4 (A)[9]	6 May 2023
Ikhmal Ibrahim	Perlis United	Naga UKS	0-8 (A)[10]	20 May 2023
Sadam Hashim	Perlis United	Naga UKS	0-8 (A)[10]	20 May 2023
Afeeq Iqmal	Manjung City	Sarawak United	0-4 (A)[11]	10 June 2023
Azim Rahim4	Immigration	Naga UKS	0-6 (A)[12]	24 June 2023
Fauzi Kadar	Bukit Tambun	Manjung City	2-3 (A)[13]	8 July 2023
Khyril Muhymeen	Harini	Armed Forces	3-1 (H)[14]	15 August 2023
Azim Rahim	Immigration	PIB Shah Alam	3-0 (H)[15]	2 September 2023
Zulkiffli Zakaria	Harini	Naga UKS	0-8 (A)[16]	4 September 2023
Amirul Nizam	PIB	Naga UKS	2-6 (A)[17]	14 October 2023

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
⁵ Player scored 5 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

As of 21 October 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Ameerul Eqwan Fauzi	KL Rovers	14
2	Firdaus Suhaimi	Manjung	8
3	Hafizul Hakim	Harini	7
	Izarul Adli	Immigration
4	Ashraf Fadhil	Malaysian University	6
	Kaharuddin Rahman	Sains
7	Solehin Mamat	Immigration	5
	Shahrizan Shafiq	Armed Forces
9	Hafidz Romly	Bukit Tambun	4
	Hafiz Abu Bakar	Perlis
	Izzat Abdul Rahim	PIB Shah Alam
	Wan Azraie	PIB Shah Alam
13	Asri Muhamad	Perlis United	2
	Nasrullah Aziz	Melaka
15	Amar Haziq	Malaysian University	1
	Asfa Abiddin	Bukit Tambun
	Hafizudin Azuhar	Armed Forces
	Daniel Wafiuddin	Melaka
	Izzat Hakimi	Sains

See also

• 2023 Piala Sumbangsih
• 2023 Malaysia Super League
• 2023 Malaysia M4 League
• 2023 Malaysia M5 League
• 2023 Malaysia FA Cup
• 2023 Malaysia Cup
• 2023 MFL Challenge Cup
• 2023 MFL Cup
• 2023 Piala Presiden