2023 MFL Challenge Cup


The 2023 MFL Challenge Cup is the third edition of Malaysia Challenge Cup tournament organised by Football Association of Malaysia and Malaysian Football League. The tournament began on 18 September and ended on 3 December 2023. The qualified teams will compete on the knockout stage to compete in a two-legged single-elimination tournament beginning with the quarterfinals followed by semi-finals and the final. Each tie is played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. The away goals rule, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.
A total of 8 teams competed in the knockout phase, which the eight losers of the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will participate into the tournament. This was the first Challenge Cup to be held since the 2019 edition, after the previous 3 years saw the tournament not held due to various circumstances. This was also the first tournament under its new name, the MFL Challenge Cup.
PDRM defeated Kuching City in the final, with 4–1 on aggregate, thus winning the competition for the first time in club history.

Teams

All 8 teams eliminated from the Malaysia Cup round of 16 will enter the tournament:
Key to colours
Losers of round of 16 enter 2023 MFL Challenge Cup

Format

Each tie in the knockout phase was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, then 30 minutes of extra time was played. If the score was still level at the end of extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.

The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
  • In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner would be designated as the "home" team for the final.

Schedule

The schedule was as follows.
RoundFirst legSecond leg
Quarter-finals18–19 September 20234–6 October 2023
Semi-finals21–22 October 20234–5 November 2023
Final29 November 20233 December 2023

Knockout-stage

Bracket



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Quarter-finals


The first legs were played on 18 and 19 September 2023, and the second legs were played on 4, 5 and 6 October 2023.

Matches

;First leg
;Second leg
Kelantan United won 11–0 on aggregate.
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;First leg
;Second leg
PDRM won 5–2 on aggregate.
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;First leg
;Second leg
Kuching City won 4–0 on aggregate.
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;First leg
;Second leg
Penang won 5–3 on aggregate.
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Semi-finals


The first legs were played on 21 and 22 October 2023, and the second legs were played on 4 and 5 November 2023.

Matches

;First leg
;Second leg
PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.
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;First leg
;Second leg
Kuching City won 3–1 on aggregate.
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Final


The first leg was played on 29 November 2023, and the second leg was played on 3 December 2023.


Matches

;First leg
;Second leg
PDRM won 4–1 on aggregate.
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Winner

2023 MFL Challenge Cup

PDRM
1st title

Statistics

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1