This season saw a revamp of the competition's format by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). Announced earlier on 24 November 2018 by FAM deputy president Yusoff Mahadi,[1] the format of the new season was outlined in a meeting by FAM's Local Competition Committee and were announced in a media statement on 19 December 2018.[2]
The format will be reverted to a straight knock-out tournament format (a format used before 2008), as opposed to the league format used since 2008. 64 teams competed for the FAM Cup, including 6 teams confirmed earlier to participate in the Malaysia FAM Cup, and teams promoted to the 2019 Malaysia Premier League. The rest of the teams included were 19 teams nominated by FAM's associate members, and teams from the newly created Malaysia M4 League, whose selection was subject to methods decided by the Malaysian Football League. The champions of the 2019 Malaysia FAM Cup then competed with the last-placed 2019 Malaysia Premier League team in a play-off match for a slot to participate in the 2020 Malaysia Premier League.[2]
Earlier, there was speculation that the league organization might be taken over by the Malaysian Football League, organizers of the Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League, having been held by the FAM since 1951,[3] but this was clarified in an FAM media statement that the FAM will cooperate with the MFL for the organization of the tournament, with the FAM still holding major responsibilities and ownership of the tournament and the rights of it. MFL covered the cost of the teams participating from the first round up until the quarter-finals, while the FAM covered the cost of the teams participating from that point onwards.[2][4]
Teams
As of 11 February 2019, 14 teams confirmed their participation in the 2019 Malaysia M3 League.[1]
^1 Promoted by the finalist of the 2018 FAM Cup.[5]
^2 Originally Terengganu II were relegated from 2018 Malaysia Premier League and Terengganu City F.C. were promoted by winning the 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup; however the Malaysian Football League blocked Terengganu City's promotion due to financial issues, granted Terengganu II's to stay in the Malaysia Premier League, and accepted Perlis FA's application to be promoted to the Malaysia Premier League, replacing the expelled Kuantan FA[6]
^3 Originally KL Cops from the 2018 DD Social M5 League, and Uptown F.C. from the 2018 Sunarize Soccer M5 League were promoted to the 2019 Malaysia M3 League by winning their respective leagues; however the teams were not registered to the 2019 Malaysia M3 League due to unknown reasons.
Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2019. Source: AFL Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored. (C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated Notes:
^Two teams from runners-up of M3 and last placed team from Premier League play-offs for promotion to the 2020 Malaysia Premier League.
Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2019. Source: AFL Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
The runner-up of the Malaysia M3 League will play a one-legged play-off against the last-placed Malaysia Premier League team to decide the second team to be promoted to the 2020 Malaysia Premier League.