PETALING JAYA (3 Feb 2016) – ‘Harimau Malaysia’ will be the new name of the Malaysian football team – following the announcement by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) yesterday.
The team was previously known as Harimau Malaya, which was initially coined by then Indonesian President Sukarno to describe the devastating skills of the late Malaysian striker Abdullah Mohd Don in a match in 1953.
The name had since stuck on the Malaysian team till now.
FAM president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah felt that it is no longer appropriate to use the terminology since the word Malaya is no longer in use since 1963. Furthermore, the new name of Harimau Malaysia is more encompassing as it includes also Sabah and Sarawak – territories under Malaysia.
“To make a new start to Malaysian football in 2016, FAM feel that using the term Harimau Malaya is no longer appropriate,” said Tengku Abdullah.
“It is for that reason, we are now calling the team officially as Harimau Malaysia. This shows that the team belongs to the whole of Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak.”
At the same time, it was announced that the Malaysian national team has four sponsors on board and they are Telekom Malaysia (TM), Bank Islam, Nike and 100PLUS.
