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The Malaysian team had participated in four editions of AFC Asian Cups in their history, the 1976, 1980, 2007 (where Malaysia co-hosted with Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam) and the latest in 2023.

Malaysia first appearance in AFC Asian Cup were in the 1976 edition when they first qualified as Group 4 winner of the qualifying round. Malaysia again qualified for 1980 edition, however failed to qualify for the next 6 consecutive editions before being selected as host in 2007 together with Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. However, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was Malaysia worst performance ever and, as a host nation in the AFC Asian Cup history. After the disastrous poor performance in 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Malaysia failed to qualify again for the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions.

After 43 years since the 1980 AFC Asian Cup and for the first time since co-hosting the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Malaysia finally returned and qualified on merit for the 2023 edition that were held in Qatar.

Overall record

AFC Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1956	See Malaya national football team									See Malaya national football team
1960
1964	Did not qualify									Group stage	3	1	0	2	9	10
1968										Group stage	4	1	1	2	4	5
1972										Group stage	5	4	0	1	15	3
1976	Group stage	5th of 6	2	0	1	1	1	3		Group stage	4	3	1	0	6	1
1980	Group stage	6th of 10	4	1	2	1	5	5		Group stage	5	2	2	1	8	4
1984	Did not qualify									Group stage	4	2	1	1	10	3
1988										Group stage	4	1	1	2	4	6
1992										Group stage	3	0	2	1	2	6
1996										Group stage	2	1	1	0	5	2
2000										Group stage	6	2	1	3	12	13
2004										Group stage	6	1	2	3	9	12
2007	Group stage	16th of 16	3	0	0	3	1	12		Qualified as co-hosts
2011	Did not qualify									Group stage	4	0	0	4	2	12
2015										Group stage	6	2	1	3	5	7
2019										Third round	14	1	2	11	8	45
2023	Group stage	21st of 24	3	0	1	2	3	8		Third round	13	8	0	5	30	18
2027	To be determined									To be determined
Total	Appearances: 4	Best: 5th	12	1	4	7	10	28		Best: Third round	82	29	15	38	129	147

Iran 1976

v t e Malaysia squad – 1976 AFC Asian Cup
GK Arumugam GK Hamid DF Zainuddin DF Abdullah DF Santokh DF Yahya DF Radzi DF Shukor MF Khor MF Dharmalingam MF Vithilinggam FW Umaparam FW Ali FW Isa FW Mohktar FW Irfan Coach: Kuppan

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kuwait	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	4	Advance to Knockout stage
2	China	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1
3	Malaysia	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1

Kuwait	2–0	Malaysia
Al-Anberi 10' Al-Dakhil 42'

China	1–1	Malaysia
Wang Jilian 58'		Mokhtar Dahari 50'

Malaysia's inaugural performance at the 1976 Asian Cup is still considered a hard pill to swallow as the Chinese advanced to the last four via on goal difference.

Kuwait 1980

v t e Malaysia squad – 1980 AFC Asian Cup
GK Yu Tiang GK Peter DF Jamal DF Wan Jamak DF Davendran DF Yahya DF Kamaruddin DF Nik Fauzi DF Chin Ann DF Bakri DF Shukor MF Pusphanathan MF Torairaju MF Abdah FW Ramli FW Tukamin FW Zulkifli Coach: Che Su

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	4	3	1	0	10	2	+8	7	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Kuwait (H)	4	2	1	1	8	5	+3	5
3	Malaysia	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	4
4	Qatar	4	1	1	2	3	8	−5	3
5	United Arab Emirates	4	0	1	3	3	9	−6	1

South Korea	1–1	Malaysia
Choi Soon-ho 69'		Zulkifli 90'

Kuwait	3–1	Malaysia
Kameel 20' Yaqoub 53' (pen.), 77' (pen.)		Zulkifli 44'

Malaysia	2–0	United Arab Emirates
Abdah 32' Tukamin 89'

Malaysia	1–1	Qatar
Tukamin

Malaysia's performance at 1980 Asian Cup is still considered today as the finest performance ever of Malaysia despite not advancing to Knockout stage when Soh Chin Ann named into the Team of the Tournament by the AFC, the first Southeast Asian player to receive such honour, a record which would stand until the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. since then, Malaysia did not qualify for the Asian Cup until 2007.

Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/Vietnam 2007

v t e Malaysia squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup
1 Azizon 2 Hamzani 3 Fauzi N. 4 Nazrul Erwan 5 Nor Hafiz 6 Thirumurugan 7 Kaironnisam (c) 8 Safee 9 Eddy 10 Hardi 11 Nor Farhan 12 Shukor 13 Indra Putra 14 Akmal 15 Shahrul Nizam 16 Fauzi S. 17 Nanthakumar 18 Fadzli 19 Rosdi 20 Hairuddin 21 Suffian 22 Ivan 23 Aidil Coach: Norizan

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Advance to Knockout stage
2	Uzbekistan	3	2	0	1	9	2	+7	6
3	China	3	1	1	1	7	6	+1	4
4	Malaysia (H)	3	0	0	3	1	12	−11	0

All times are UTC+8.

Malaysia	1–5	China
Indra Putra 74'	Report	Han Peng 15', 55' Shao Jiayi 36' Wang Dong 51', 90+3'

Uzbekistan	5–0	Malaysia
Shatskikh 10', 89' Kapadze 30' Bakayev 45+2' (pen.) Ibrahimov 85'	Report

Malaysia	0–2	Iran
	Report	Nekounam 29' (pen.) Teymourian 77'

Malaysia's performance in 2007 Asian Cup is still remembered as the worst performance ever for a host nation in the Asian Cup when the team did not manage to collect any single point with conceded the most goals. After the tournament, criticisms run high with the defeat of the Malay Tigers, even in the foreign press.

Qatar 2023

v t e Malaysia squad – 2023 AFC Asian Cup
1 Azri 2 Davies (c) 3 Shahrul 4 Daniel Ting 5 Syahmi 6 Dominic 7 Faisal 8 Wilkin 9 Darren Lok 10 Endrick 11 Safawi 12 Arif 13 Sumareh 14 Syamer 15 Eldstål 16 Syihan 17 Josué 18 Brendan Gan 19 Akhyar 20 Afiq 21 Cools 22 Corbin-Ong 23 Sikh Izhan 24 Insa 25 Khuzaimi 26 Morales Coach: Kim Pan-gon

Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	3	2	0	1	3	3	0	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	1	2	0	8	6	+2	5
3	Jordan	3	1	1	1	6	3	+3	4
4	Malaysia	3	0	1	2	3	8	−5	1

Malaysia	0–4	Jordan
	Report	Al-Mardi 12', 32' Al-Taamari 18' (pen.), 85'

Bahrain	1–0	Malaysia
Madan 90+5'	Report

South Korea	3–3	Malaysia
Jeong Woo-yeong 21' Lee Kang-in 83' Son Heung-min 90+4' (pen.)	Report	Faisal 51' Arif 62' (pen.) Morales 90+15'

Malaysia's performance in 2023 Asian Cup is currently remembered as the better performance than previous 2007 Asian Cup edition when the team managed to collect one point through the monumental 3−3 drawn against the powerhouse South Korea and Faisal Halim first goal has been picked by fans as the 2023 Asian Cup best goal.

Goalscorers

References

1. "Moments and Milestones: The 1976 AFC Asian Cup". AFC. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
2. "Vote for your best ever AFC Asian Cup defender". AFC. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
3. "Soh Chin Ann: The unforgettable Malaysian football icon". FIFA. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
4. "Asian Cup 2007 Results [Malaysia 0–2 Iran]". SportStats.com. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
5. "Malaysian malaise in Group C". Agence France-Presse. ABC News. 13 July 2007. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
6. "Malaysia save their best for last to claim monumental draw against powerhouses South Korea". Gabriel Tan. ESPN. 24 January 2024. Archived from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
7. "Faisal beats Asian rivals by a mile for Best Goal award". NST. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.

• Countries at the AFC Asian Cup