Kedah v Johor Darul Ta'zim, Malaysia Cup final, 2 Nov 2019Sports Regime

JDT's defence of Malaysia Cup to be delayed after MFL announce reschedule

Johor Darul Ta'zim is the current holders of the Malaysia Cup having defeated Kedah in the final last year and will now start the defence of their cup a week later than scheduled.

This comes after Malaysian Football League (MFL) announced that the first match will begin on 25 October rather than 16 October it had planned when football was given the go-ahead for resumption.

Because of Covid-19, MFL had already made one big change to the competition, doing away with the group stages and making it a direct knockout between 16 teams who qualified for the Malaysia Cup.

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Now with spikes in the number of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, MFL had to readjust the tournament schedule as a reactionary precaution should matter deteriorate even further.

The extra week is likely to give MFL the option to assess the situation even clearer and make a concise decision should the Malaysian government decide to call into place a second Movement Control Order (MCO).

Based on the latest standings in the Super and Premier League after the 10th round of matches were played at the weekend, 14 out of the 16 spots had already been filled.

From the Super League the qualified teams are Johor Darul Ta'zim, Kedah, Perak, Terengganu FC, Selangor, Pahang, UiTM FC, Melaka, PJ City FC, Sabah and Felda United.

Meanwhile Premier League will be represented by Pulau Pinang, Kuala Lumpur and Kuching FA with Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan United and UKM FC still in contention for the remaining two slots.

With the revised schedule, the new date for the 2020 Malaysia Cup draw will now be held on 19 October.

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