Football arrived in Malaya with the British. Towards the end of the 19th century, football was one of the central pillars of most sports clubs in Malaya. But it was not structured. Even when the Selangor Amateur Football League took shape in 1905 – which ensured proper administration and organization – the competition was confined only to clubs in the Kuala Lumpur area.

In 1926, the Selangor Amateur Football League was established, and in 1936, the Football Association of Selangor was formed. While Selangor was moving towards organized football, and inspiring other states in Malaya to follow suit, the battleship HMS Malaya visited the country in 1920. After engaging local opposition in football and rugby, the officers and men of HMS Malaya decided to commemorate the matches by presenting trophies for annual competitions in both rugby and football in Malaya.

The annual Malaya Cup competition – played along inter-state lines – was a huge success. The predecessor to The Football Association Malaya was the Malaya Football Association. Initially, the Football Association of Malaya was housed in Singapore. It was chiefly responsible for the running of the Malaya Cup competition.

In 1940, control of the Football Association of Malaya moved from Singapore to Malaya, with A.R.Singham becoming the first Asian secretary in 1941.

When Malaya attained its independence in 1957, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and his fellow FAM officials organized an international football tournament that was to all intents and purposes the centre-piece of the Independence celebrations. The inaugural tournament – then the premier football competition in Asia – was won by Hongkong.

However, Malaya won the title three years in a row, in 1958 and in 1959 and sharing it with South Korea in 1960. The country qualified for the 1972 and the 1980 Olympics.

The Malaysian League became semi-professional in 1989 before going fully professional a few years later.