The 2021 Malaysia Cup group stage began on 25 September and ended on 10 November 2021. A total of 16 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 8 places in the knockout stage of the 2021 Malaysia Cup.[1]
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles.
Pot 1 contained the Super League winners, and another three teams at the top four based on league positions. Pot 1 includes the top 4 teams from the Super League.
Pot 2 with those place 5th to 8th from the Super League.
Pot 3 with those placed 9th to 11th from Super League, together with the 1st placed team from the Premier League.
Pot 4 with those placed 2th to 5th from Premier League.
The schedule of each matchday is as follows:
Group stage schedule
Matchday
Dates
1
26–27 September 2021
2
29 September– 1 October 2021
3
29–30 October 2021
4
1–3 November 2021
5
6–7 November 2021
6
9–10 November 2021
Teams
Below are the participating teams grouped by their seeding pot. They include:
Top 11 teams from the Super League and Top 5 teams from Premier League which enter in this stage.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the quarter-finals.
Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above was reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Groups
The matchdays were 26–27 September, 29 September– 1 October, 29–30 October, 1–3 November, 6–7 November, and 9–10 November 2021. All times are on Malaysia Standard Time (UTC+8).
^ abcdeNegeri Sembilan withdrew from the tournament on 22 October 2021, after 20 players and 4 staff members had caught the Coronavirus, this prompted them to withdraw for the safety of all parties and were advised by the team's medical doctor. As according to MFL's rule book, all of Negeri Sembilan's remaining matches will be awarded a 3–0 win to the opposing team.[27]
^ abOriginally the matches, Kelantan United vs Negeri Sembilan which was supposed to be held on 30 October, and Kelantan United vs Melaka United on 2 November were moved to new date due to Kelantan United and Kelantan FC sharing the same venue, Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, and some of their matches are to be held on the same date. So, the matches Kelantan United vs Negeri Sembilan was moved to 1 October and Kelantan United vs Melaka United on 1 November.[31]
^ abcdNegeri Sembilan were unable to play the final four matches of the group stage due to several team members and officials testing positive for COVID-19. They were considered to have withdrawn from the competition, and the last four remaining matches played by them shall be considered "awarded" a 3–0 win to the opposing team, based on Malaysian Football League's rule book.[34][35]
^ abcdThe original Matchday 5 matches: Negeri Sembilan vs Kelantan United and Melaka United vs Kedah Darul Aman, and the Matchday 6 matches: Kelantan United vs Kedah Darul Aman and Negeri Sembilan vs Melaka, were switched around so matches from Matchday 5 were moved to Matchday 6 and Matchday 6 to Matchday 5 to avoid the clash of Kelantan United and Kelantan FC venues, where they share the same stadium as their venue for Matchday 6 .[31]
