Harimau Muda A was the club name for the former Malaysia Under-22 National Football Team, representing Malaysia in international football competitions such as the AFC U-22 Asian Cup, Champions Youth Cup as well as other under-22 international football tournaments. It was managed by Football Association of Malaysia. The squad was the feeder team for Malaysia U-23 and senior national football team. In 2015, Harimau Muda once again became a single team composed of former Harimau Muda A & B players.[1] On 25 November 2015, it was confirmed that the club was disbanded by FAM which meant that all the players were returned to their own state sides.[2]

Harimau Muda
Full nameHarimau Muda A
Nickname(s)Young Tigers
Founded2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Dissolved2015; 9 years ago (2015)
GroundStadium Petaling Jaya
Capacity25,000
ChairmanAfandi Hamzah
CoachOng Kim Swee

Harimau Muda A last competed in Australia's National Premier Leagues Queensland, having lastly participated in a domestic league competition is the 2012 S. League. The team was aimed at developing Malaysian youth players and does not recruit any foreign nationals in its squad. The name "Harimau Muda" means "Young Tigers" in English.

History

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On 19 October 2007, FAM decided to include Malaysia U-21 as one of the team in 2007–08 Premier League Malaysia and will be known as Harimau Muda (Young Tigers).[3] Due to international duties, the Malaysia national U-21 team were needed to participate in the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification. In local competition, they participated in the Premier League and the FA Cup.

The Harimau Muda were split into 2 teams in July 2009, Harimau Muda A and Harimau Muda B. The Harimau Muda B were sent to Zibo, China to participate in the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship qualification and Harimau Muda A was to participate in the Premier League and FA Cup.

During the 2010 season, Harimau Muda A went to a training camp in Zlaté Moravce, Slovakia for 8 months while Harimau Muda B participated in the 2010 Malaysia Premier League.

After the stint in Slovakia, Harimau Muda A joined the 2011 Super League Malaysia replacing KL PLUS FC and Harimau Muda B continued to play in the Malaysia Premier League. Harimau Muda A finished 5th while Harimau Muda B played their worst season being in the bottom 3. However, they managed to avoid relegation and will continue to play in the Malaysia Premier League.

For the 2012 season, Harimau Muda A swapped places with the Young Lions of Singapore, which is made up of the Singapore's national under-23 team. Young Lions will replace Harimau Muda A in the Super League while the Harimau Muda A will replace the Young Lions in the S. League.[4] Harimau Muda B will continue to participate in the Malaysia Premier League.

For the 2012 S. League season, Harimau Muda A will continue to use their training centre and main headquarters at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya as always, however for the league matches, Harimau Muda A will be based at the Yishun Stadium in Yishun, Singapore.[5] Like the rest of the teams that are participating in the 2012 season, Harimau Muda A will be sponsored by Yeo's H-TWO-O Original. The logo will be printed on the back of the Harimau Muda A's home and away kit.

In 2013, The Football Association of Malaysia agreed to replace Harimau Muda A with Harimau Muda B in the 2013 S.League campaign. Instead, Harimau Muda A will undergo an 8 month long training in central Europe and will be mainly based at Zlaté Moravce, Slovakia to prepare to defend their title in the 2013 Southeast Asian Games. Harimau Muda B will use aged under- 20 players for the S. League with no foreign players and will be based in the Pasir Gudang Stadium, replacing Yishun Stadium as their previous home stadium.

After a year without club competition, Harimau Muda A was competing in the Australia's National Premier Leagues Queensland, starting in the 2014 season. This follows an announcement of the agreement between FA of Malaysia and Football Queensland of Australia on 14 January 2014.[6][7] For their participation in the NPL Queensland, Harimau Muda A does not have a 'home ground' like other teams; instead, all their matches will be played as away matches at the opponent's ground. They also are not eligible for the end-of-season playoffs for the NPL championship, and also cannot participate in the FFA Cup.[8]

In 2015, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, former FAM's Deputy President has stated that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) must disband the Harimau Muda system, stating the Harimau Muda system is no longer relevant, it was not planned for the long term, and the state football associations should take the responsibility to groom potential players.[9] The new Harimau Muda participated and won the 2015 Bangabandhu Cup, their first international tournament.

Competition records

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Year League Position League Competitions Cup Competitions
2007–08 8/13 Malaysia Premier League Malaysia FA Cup – Round 1
2009 1/13 Champions Malaysia Premier League Malaysia FA Cup – Quarter Final
2010
2011 5/14 Malaysia Super League Malaysia FA Cup – Round 2
2012 4/13 S.League Singapore League Cup – Did not enter
2013 Slovakia Centralised Training Camp N/A
2014 9/13[10] National Premier Leagues Queensland

Honours

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Domestic

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International

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Others

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International records

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FIFA World Youth Championship record

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AFC Youth Championship record

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AFC Youth Championship Record
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
  1959 Runners-up 2/4 3 2 0 1 14 2
  1960 - - - - - - -
  1961 Round 1 5/10 4 2 1 1 15 7
  1962 Fourth Place 4/10 5 2 2 1 11 6
  1963 Round 1 5/12 5 3 0 2 10 6
  1964 Unknown
  1965 Third Place 3/10 5 3 0 2 6 7
  1966 Quarter Final 5/12 4 2 1 1 8 3
  1967 Round 1 14/14 2 0 0 2 1 10
  1968 Runners-up 2/12 7 4 0 3 9 15
  1969 Quarter Final 5/15 4 1 1 2 4 8
  1970 Unknown
  1971 Quarter Final 5/16 4 2 0 2 3 6
  1972 to
  1974
Unknown
  1975 Round 1 15/19 4 0 2 2 3 7
  1976 14/15 3 0 0 3 0 9
  1977 8/13 3 0 2 1 1 4
  1978 14/18 3 1 0 2 3 9
  1980 to
  2002
Did not qualify
  2004 Quarter Final 8/16 4 2 0 2 4 6
  2006 Round 1 15/16 3 0 0 3 1 7
  2008 Did not qualify
  2010
  2012
  2014
Total - 3 Runners-up - - - - - -
**Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

AFF Youth Championship record

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AFF U-20 Youth Championship Record
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
  2005 Runners-up 2/10 5 3 1 2 21 8
  2006 2/4 3 1 1 1 4 4
  2007 2/8 5 3 0 2 13 7
Total 3/3 3 Runners-up 13 7 2 5 38 19
**Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy Record

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  Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy  
Year Round GP W D L GS GA
2002 Third Place 5 2 0 3 13 9
2005 Group Stage 4 2 0 2 3 7
2007 Third Place 4 1 1 2 4 7
Total Best: Third Place 13 5 1 7 20 23

Coaches

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Year Head coach
1992–1994   M. Karathu
1994–1995   N. Raju
1995–1998   Hatem Souissi
1999–2000   Allan Harris
2000–2004   Jorvan Vieira
2004–2009   K. Rajagopal
2009–2010   Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah
2009–2014   Ong Kim Swee

Affiliated clubs

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Aysha Ridzuan (23 January 2015). "Thanks for the memories, Harimau Muda A". The Malaysian Insider. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Skuad Harimau Muda dibubar". Utusan Malaysia (in Malay). 26 November 2015. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ Eric Samuel (20 October 2007). "Brunei DPMM get to play in FA Cup, not Malaysia Cup". The Star. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Harimau Muda to play in S-League, Young Lions In Malaysia's Super League". Bernama. 12 July 2011. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2011. (subscription required)
  5. ^ "Malaysia U-23 to be based in Singapore for 2012 S.League". Goal.com. 6 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  6. ^ Michael Flynn (5 January 2015). "Malaysia Announcement Strengthens Partnership". Sports TG. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  7. ^ "Malaysia Under 23 To Compete In NPL Queensland". Sports TG. 12 January 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  8. ^ "An insight into Harimau Muda". Queensland Soccer News. 14 January 2014. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  9. ^ Nik Afiq (22 January 2015). "Khairy Jamaluddin reveals Harimau Muda system was not made for long term". Goal.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  10. ^ Harimau Muda A - Football Queensland - NPL
  11. ^ "Hazwan Header Gives Malaysia Thanh Nien Crown". ASEAN Football Federation. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
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