JDT 3 points away from highest MSL total for 12-team league

The top tier of Malaysian league football was rebranded into the Super League back in 2004 with a league that comprised of eight teams. It has since evolved to a 14-team format to the now 12-team format.

Pahang, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Lions XII, Kelantan, Selangor, Kedah and Johor Darul Ta'zim are the only teams thus far to be able to claim as past and present winners of the Super League title in the 12-year history of the competition.

After their win over PKNP FC on Monday night, JDT have 56 points in the 2018 Super League season and could potentially reach 59 points should they beat Kuala Lumpur at home in this weekend's final fixture of the season.

In the league iteration with 12 teams which is only since 2013, JDT are the team that holds the record for highest tally of amassed points. That is 58 points, a tally they achieved in their run to win the title back in 2016. 

Incredibly enough, 2016 was the only season which saw a team breaking the 50 points barrier, something that was not achieved by Lions XII (2013 season) nor JDT (2014, 2015 and 2017).

Even as a relative comparison with the previous league iteration with 14 teams, JDT's record this season is still a remarkable achievement as they would have beaten past champions who have more matches to play in the league.

Despite playing 26 matches in total, four more than JDT would have done, only champions from three seasons would have a better points tally than JDT, even then not by much. Kelantan hit 60 points in 2012 with Selangor twice in 2009 and 2010 getting 63 points.

Kedah's double treble trophy winning side from the 2006-07 season and the 2007-08 season were an incredible team but even them with two more matches played than JDT, could only get 55 and 56 points respectively.

This year, The Southern Tigers have blew all before them and the consistency in their performance is why they are champions once again. And it's not only the home matches (where they have won every single one) but as well the difficult away fixtures.

Pahang, Perak, Terengganu and Kedah are the closest challenger to JDT, yet they all suffered home defeats when JDT came to town for the Super League. A truly remarkable season that could yet see JDT set new heights come this weekend.