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MALAYSIAN
FOOTBALL LEAGUE
INDEX
Page
1 HISTORY AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION 4
2 WHO CAN JOIN? 4
3 ABSENCE AND REPLACEMENT OF MANAGERS 4
4 NEW MANAGERS 4
5 LEAGUE STRUCTURE 5
Premier One 5
Premier Two 6
The National Cup 6
The Charity Cup 7
OTHER COMPETITIONS 8
Academy League 8
All Star Match 10
International Friendly 10
Preseason Tournament 10
6 STRUCTURE OF A SEASON 10
Preseason 10
Regular Season 10
Post Season 11
7 FINANCES 10
INCOME
Sponsorships 11
Gate Collection/Ticket Sales 14
Live Matches/TV Rights 16
Outlet Sales/Club Shop Profits 17
Players' Sale 18
Bonuses/Awards 18
EXPENSES
Players Bought 19
Stadium Development and Maintenance Costs 19
Government Tax 19
Administration Costs 20
Bidding Costs 20
Fines 20
8 CLUB FEATURES 21
Club Name 21
Stadium Name 21
Club Logo 21
9 PLAYERS 22
Player's Name 22
Player's Age 22
Foot 22
Player's Skills 23
Speed 23
Training Players 23
Fitness 24
Injury 24
Player's wage 24
Club Captain 25
10 TRANSFERS 26
Signing Players from Free Lists 26
Signing Players from other teams 27
11 CONTRACTS 27
12 STADIUM 27
Stands 28
Facilities/Services 28
The First Season 30
Building 30
13 MATCH 30
Match Lineups 31
Picking your players 31
Picking the tactics 31
Tips on Selecting tactics 32
Training 33
Making Lineups 33
Club Orders 36
14 ROGUE MANAGERS 38
15 LEAGUE OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS 38
16 POST SEASON AWARDS 38
17 INTERIM MANAGERS 39
18 MANAGERS' RATINGS 39
19 LEAGUE WEEKLY MAGAZINE 40
20 SUGGESTIONS 41
21 SOME IMPORTANT PAGES 42
Roster Page 42
Match Report 44
Team Page 47
22 FAQS 49
23 FINAL
WORDS 52
HISTORY AND A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The Liga Bolasepak Malaysia or Malaysian Football League was created in March 2003. One of its purposes was to expose Malaysians into the world of play by email soccer. The main purpose of this league is to create friendship and goodwill among managers, and winning is secondary. So don’t forget, it is just a game. Be passionate about it, but not up to the mark when dissatisfaction or misunderstanding occurs.
The software used in this league is the one designed by Mr Robert Felipe of Portugal. Currently there are many other leagues using this software, but I think this is the first time it is used in Malaysia.
Robert had designed the software to be simple, user-friendly and easy to use, but for this League, I have added some extra features, not only to make it situable for us Malaysians, but also to make it a bit more interesting.
WHO CAN JOIN?
Anyone can join, as long as you have enough knowledge of Malaysian Football. But that doesn’t mean you have to be Malaysian. And the good news is playing in this League is free of charge.
ABSENTEES AND REPLACEMENT OF MANAGERS
If a manager fails to send his lineups for more than four times in a season or three times in a row, he will be given a chance to reply to the commissioners within one week. Failing to do so, he will be removed from the league and his team declared free, and any new manager in the waiting list will be contacted to replace him.
In the case of absent managers in a match, that is failing to send in the lineups, and subsequently failing to appeal to the commissioners, he will be declared absent for that match and his team will be fined RM250, 000.00. This money will be paid to his opponents for the match, providing they are not absent.
Sending lineups is very important, as this is the basic requirement for the league. If there is any problem, please contact one of the League officers so that they can make lineups for you. Preferably, you should send your lineups as early as possible.
I hope you will take this league this seriously and should you in any reason decide to leave the league, please tell so to me.
But I do hope you can enjoy the league and stay.
NEW MANAGERS
Managers can also take teams during the season, if the team is managerless and if the new manager is ready to take the team, and not in the pre-season. But I advise new managers to take managerless teams rather than waiting for the pre-season as at that time chances are perhaps few, as you will have to fight for teams with other new managers. New managers will be allocated team according to the time the team was declared free. For reference, free teams are marked with Free No 1, Free No 2 and so on.
New managers will be given new funds from the league to compensate for the possible mismanagement by the previous manager. This funds will be decided individually by the members of the League Board of Directors with each members giving either RM200, 000, RM400,000 or RM600,000, depending on their own valuation of the new manager’s team, with consideration of the current bank balance, stadium ratings and players’ quality. In case there is not enough League Directors, a new manager will be given RM2.8 million, as the full number of the Board is seven, therefore seven times RM400, 000 (the average amount of fund can be given by one director) equals RM2.8 million. Also there will be a 50 questions quiz to be answered by the new manager, and should he pass the quiz (42 correct answers and above) will get him RM100, 000.00.
New managers also will need to register for the LBM Elite Forum. You can go to the forum from the website.
And of course, new managers will receive support and guide in managing their teams from the commissioners and LBM managers.
LEAGUE STRUCTURE
There are four major competitions to be played for in the league season.
There are 16 teams in Premier One, with each team playing each other twice, home and away for a total of 30 matches. The League Championship and standings will be decided by the following: -
- Points (The normal system, 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw)
- Goals Scored
- Goal Difference
- Wins
- Random Draw
At the end of the season, bottom four teams will be relegated to Premier Two
There are 16 teams in Premier Two, with each team playing each other twice, home and away for a total of 30 matches. The League Championship and standings will be decided by the following: -
- Points
- Goals Scored
- Goal Difference
- Wins
- Random Draw
At the end of the season, top four teams will be promoted to Premier One.
All Premier One and Two matches will be played on Sundays, with the games simulated in the afternoon.
All 32 teams in Premier One and Two will be playing in the National Cup. There will be five rounds of cup matches, from the first round to the final. The National Cup will be a sort of a bonus competition for the teams, with revenue essential for the teams, but will have no effect to the players, that is no fitness points loss, no injury and no skill level increment due to training.
In deciding the home team for any Cup match, the lower ranked teams (according to divisional standings, i.e. a Premier Two team will play at home against a Premier One team) at the time of the draw will be playing at home. In neutral venue matches as in the semi-finals and finals, lower ranked teams will take the role of the “home team”.
The draw for the National Cup is always random.
All Cup-ties will be decided on the same day that is if the score is tied after 90 minutes, the match will go into extra-time. One sudden-death goal will be enough to decide the match and the match will go on until a goal is scored. There will be no penalty shootout.
All cup games will be played at the home of the lower placed team, except for the semi-finals and final that will be played in the National Stadium with the capacity of 80,000 seats.
If your team go
all the way in the cup, you are almost sure of very big profits as all the
matches will be of sold-out crowd. The match revenue of the semi-finals and
final will be divided 50-50 by the participating teams.
Starting from Season 2007, clubs’ grounds will have the chance to be a
neutral venue for the Cup semi-finals. The only criterion is the seating
capacity must be more than 80,000. The ground owners will be entitled to get 25
percent of the match revenues (tickets, refreshment and merchandise sales, but
not TV rights). In the case of there are only two stadiums with the criterion,
and both stadium owners play in the semi-finals, both will play away from their
stadium, or if they play each other, they will play at the National Stadium. In
the case of only one stadium fulfilling the requirements, and its owner is
involved in the semi-finals, then the club will play their semi-final at the
National Stadium as well.
Apart from the 1st round and the final, all Cup games will be played on Wednesday nights.
Managers could be offered interim posts with managerless teams still in the Cup, provided the own team will not meet the interim team. If their interim team go through to the next round, the manager will get RM50, 000.
The Charity Cup will be played between the Premier One champions and the National Cup winners. In the case of a double winner, the Premier One runners-up will play the double winners.
Again, the Charity Cup will be a bonus tournament, with no effects on the players involved, but the clubs will receive some big payouts, as the match will be played in a full-house National Stadium and live on television. The match revenue will be divided 50-50 by the participating teams.
The Champions' Cup was originally participated by teams from the FSL and JSL, and in season 2004-05, LBM teams were invited for the first time. The tournament is run by Robert Felipe, the commissioner of FSL, who also is the inventor of the FSL software.
The Champions' Cup (CC) is a bonus tournament that is where the matches do not affect fitness, etc, just like in a Cup match.
In season 2004-05, five LBM teams were invited to take part, but in future tournaments that will involve more leagues, the allocation might decrease. However, the following will be the order of priority in CC qualification: -
1. Premier One Champions
2. National Cup Champions
3. Premier One runners-up
4. Premier One third-place
5. Premier One fourth-place and so on
However, if the National Cup champions also qualified through the league, the Cup runners-up will qualify for the CC.
Should the manager who manages a team that achieved CC place and at the same time has a team in FSL or JSL or other leagues that also qualified for the CC, he will have to give up the CC place won in LBM, and his place will be taken by the team next in order of priority.
The following is the CC payouts for LBM teams competing in the tournament: -
Qualifying for Champions Cup - RM0.5 million
Qualifying for the quarterfinals - another RM0.75 million
Qualifying for semifinals - another RM1.0 million
Qualifying for final - another RM1.5 million
Champions - another RM2.5 million
So if an LBM team wins the tournament, they will get RM6.25 million tax free, paid at the end of the tournament.
OTHER
COMPETITIONS
This is a league created for young players between the ages of 18 to 20. The most active managers will be invited to coach the Academy League teams in the first season, and they will be allowed to keep their teams for the next season. In case of coaches leaving the league or simply giving up control of the youth teams, a new manager will be invited to coach the free Academy teams
This league has two main purposes, one is to give extra money to selected managers and the main thing is to nurture more and good players into LBM. At the beginning of the season, all youth teams will start with zero bank balance.
Profits from the youth team can be credited into their coach’s senior team come the end of the season. Exception is for managers who want to give up control of the youth team in the middle of the season but still have a team in the senior league. In this case, they can ask to withdraw the profits, and the next manager will start all over again with a zero balance. There are only three sources of income in the Academy League (different from the senior league): - the RM100, 000.00 per win bonus, the end-of-season prize money and the 25% of the promotion fee if another manager is promoting your youth player.
To promote a youth player, you simply send to the orders to the commissioner concern mentioning: -
- The player(s) you want to promote and the player's code
- Their teams
- The division where the team plays
- Your own player that you want to release to make way for the youth player in your senior team
- The promotional fee which is the bid amount plus the youth player’s want. The bid amount will decide whether you will get the youth player in case of same player bidding.
Example:
Promote Fandi Ahmad 134 JKR East RM500000 (bid) +RM280000 (wage) =RM780000
Release 211 Ahmed Juren
If a manager is promoting the player of a team that he is also coaching, he will be entitled of 25% discount of the promotion fee. Let’s say he won a bid to promote a player for RM1 million, and then he will only have to pay RM750, 000.00 for the player. If he is promoting a player that is coached by another manager, then he will have to pay in full. 25% of the fee will go to the youth team. In the above example, he will have to pay RM1 million, while RM250, 000 will go to the player’s youth team.
Players from Academy League teams without
managers, the minimum bid is RM100, 000 plus the player's Want while for the
youth players of the Academy League teams with managers, the minimum promotion
bid amount should be calculated based on the
following formula: -
(Kp + Tk + Ps + Sh +Sp)/5 x [(20-Age) x 0.3) + 1]
x RM25000 (The skill levels are after 10% reduction for the two best ones)
For example:
Mohd Razimi (RTM) Kp=45, Tk=58, Ps=36, Sh=51 Sp=
93 Age=19
Minimum Promotion Bid Amount = (45+53+36+46+93)/5
x [(20-19) x 0.3) + 1] x RM25000 = RM1774500
There are 16 teams in the Academy League. These teams will be divided into two divisions: - West and East Divisions. All teams will each play 28 matches, that is playing each other four times. At the end of the regular season, the winners and the runners-up of each division will play each other in one-off crossover semifinals. The winners of each division will always play at home. The winners of each semi-final will in turn play in the final. In the final, the teams with the better record (more points, better goal difference, etc.) will be the "home team".
All Academy league matches will be played on Wednesday nights and run by the Academy League commissioners.
The Champions of the Academy League will receive RM1 million, the runners-up will get RM500, 000 while each losing semifinalist will get RM300, 000.
As mentioned above, each Academy League teams have 18 players of ages between 18 and 20. No transfer is allowed in the Academy League, as well as new players signing.
- players that are 18 years old will have a 3 year contracts, wage of 0.20 and want of 0.28
- players that are 19 years old will have a 2 year contracts, wage of 0.40 and want of 0.56
- players that are 20 years old will have a 1 year contracts, wage of 0.60 and want of 0.84.
At the end of the season, all 20-year-old players will be out of contract. Those who are considered as making the grade by the commissioners will be put in the free players lists, while the unlucky ones will be removed from the league.
During season 2007, it was decided that age 20 players having the highest skill rating of 80 and speed of 85 would be graduated into the LBM free lists.
Upon promoting a youth player of an Academy League or if a 20-year-old player graduating, a new 18-year-old player will be added to the team’s roster. He will have a three-year contract, a wage of 0.20 and want of 0.28, and with the two best skill levels of one, between 50 and 54 and two, 56-60. He will also have a minimum speed of 90.
Upon promotion,
two of the promoted player’s best skill levels will be decrease by 10%. Also
all promoted players will have 3-year contracts for their new teams (except in the last Academy Promotion deadline of the
season, when promoted players will have a 4-year contract). On graduation from the Academy League however, a youth
player will maintain his skill levels, but will have a normal Want, that is an
expected wage based on LBM standards, not the youth wage system.
All managers can promote any youth player, except an interim manager will not be allowed to promote a player from his own youth team, though he can promote the player for his own senior team.
One last note, all
youth players are the employees of the league. So there should be no problem of
the youth players being the managers’. The actual fact is the manager is only
coaching the youth players with the tasks of selecting the tactics and lineups
for the matches, and also training the players. In return, the manager (coach)
will get the youth team’s profit. Isn’t that fair enough?
“Prime
Player” Rule
It was decided in
Season 2007 that the “Prime Player” Rule is introduced to protect some of the
youth players for the benefit of managers. This will hopefully keep the
interests high for them to compete in the Academy league, as well as making
them very keen in developing young players.
"Prime
Players" are players exclusively for the manager, which means those
players are protected from being promoted by other managers, unless the manager
of the player agrees. "Prime Players" wages however, are twice as
high as normal youth players.
The respective youth team
manager, in a process different from the normal Youth player promotion, can
promote “Prime Players”. No bidding is needed, and all the managers have to do
is pay RM1 million, plus the player's want. The amount must be paid in full. No
discount will be offered as in normal promotion.
However, a "Prime
Player" can be promoted by a manager other than the player's Academy
League manager, with the latter's consent. The process requires both managers'
confirmation for the deal to go through. The promotion fee will depend on both
managers' agreement, and just like the normal promotion procedures, 25 percent
of the fee will go to the players' Youth team.
All "Prime
Players" will remain with their teams at the end of a season, except those
who are 20. They should be promoted into their manager's team during the last
youth players' promotion deadline of the season, with the fee of RM2 million
plus the player's want.
If the manager does not
promote the players, at the end of the season the players could graduate from
the Academy League with other selected 20-year-olds and goes into the Free
Players' Lists, with a want adjusted base on his skill levels.
When a "Prime
Players" is promoted, another player in his team can be made a "Prime
Player". No "Prime Players" can be made "unPrime".
Academy League managers
will be classed into "Most Active" and "Normal". "Most
Active" managers can have FIVE "Prime Players", while Normal
ones TWO. The classification of the Academy League managers is to encourage
managers' dedication towards to League. Managerless Academy League teams will
not have any Protected Players.
For the 2008 season,
Academy League managers will be rated based on their lineup submission
frequency by the Academy League Commissioner and me. A dedicated Academy League
manager should be those who not only send their lineups every week, but makes
sure at least FOUR of his players are trained, "Prime" or non-Prime.
For such lineup, the manager will get one point, while for a lineup with less
than four trained players; he will get half a point. None will be given for
missing a lineup or for a lineup with no player trained.
For a complete season
rating, the total points accumulated for the season will be divided by 28 (the
total number of games for the season) and the percentage will be obtained.
Managers who get 90% and above will be rated "Most Active”
At a season's end,
every Academy League manager rating will be reviewed, and if necessary, the
number of protected players can be adjusted for the respective teams.
Any Academy League
manager who missed sending lineups will be fined RM100000, and the lineups for
the previous game will be used. To ensure development of players in the League,
especially for the other managerless teams, lineups for those teams will be
created, concentrating on the training of their highest skilled players. Three
players will be trained based on those lineups every week.
Any unprotected players
in the Academy League meanwhile, in teams with manager or not, can be promoted
without the knowledge of the player's manager.
All-Star matches will be played after match 15 of the league that is the halfway mark of the season. The managers of the leaders of both Premier One and Two at that time will be given a chance to select players from their own divisions to play in this match.
This match will be played at the National Stadium in a full house and in a live-telecast match. So with RM1, 600,000.00 gate collection divided 50-50 and a TV rights of RM200, 000.00 each, both managers will get RM1, 000,000.00 each. To add to that, the winning manager will get RM500, 000.00.
Every season there will be a few international dates for the national team of Malaysia against some of the world top teams. Most active managers will have the chance to take control of the national team in a rotation system, starting with the most active manager at the beginning of the month the friendly will be held. Looking at two factors will do this: - managers' ratings and the league table (see manager's rating). Of course, no manager can take over the national team twice in a season. The selected manager will have to select 11 players for the friendly from the players in both divisions of LBM (but only one captain) and also the tactics for the match. For their troubles, the manager will be paid a bonus of RM250, 000.00.
This tournament will be held in between the seasons, with all teams taking part. During this tournament, managers can train their players. Profits from this tournament will also be carried forward into their teams in the next season. However, the format of this tournament is up to the commissioners.
For the first two
seasons (2003-4 and 2004-5), a pre-season tournament, the LBM Cup was held for
all 32 clubs. The teams are divided into four groups of eight and teams in each
group will play each other once with normal league rules (three points for a
win, one for a draw). Draw will be done according to ranking based on league
finishes, to be
decided by the LBM Commissioner. Top two teams will
proceed to the quarterfinals stages and then to the semifinals and final. The group tournament
will be organised according to the League format, that is managers can train
players, but at the same time, players are also vulnerable to fitness points
loss and injuries.
The knockout stages however, will be in ‘bonus’ format, that is, players will
not experience loss of fitness or injuries.
Since Season 2006, in determining the home team in the semi-finals and final of the LBM Cup, teams will be seeded
according to how they performed in the group stages, based on number of points
won, then goals scored and goal difference. The team with the higher rankings will
always be playing as a ‘home’ team.
Tournament
Payouts
In group stages teams will be rewarded with RM100, 000 per win and RM50, 000 per point won, Qualifying into the quarterfinals will add RM500, 000 for teams, RM750, 000 for a semifinal spot, going into the final will mean RM1, 000, 000 for the last two teams and RM1, 500, 000 will be won by the champions.
Managers could be invited to interim manage a managerless teams in the knockout stages. For their efforts, the interim manager will be given 50% of the winning payouts starting from the semifinals. If their interim team lose in the quarterfinal, a manager will get an RM100, 000 bonus for the trouble to do the lineups.
STRUCTURE OF A SEASON
The season is divided into three parts: -
Pre-season
During this time, clubs will have the opportunity to:-
- re-signing out-of-contract players.
- Sponsor bidding and payment
- Staging friendly games.
- Buying/signing new players
- Season tickets payout
- Appointment of captains
- Pre-season tournament (LBM Cup)
Regular Season
This is the time of the season when matches are played. Teams will play a minimum of 31 matches and a maximum of 36 (30 league games, five cup matches and the Charity Cup).
During the season you can:-
- Buying/signing/promoting new players
- Develop your stadium
- Extending your players’ contracts.
- Others
Post-season
1. Payouts: -
- League prize money - RM50000 per point
- League and cup awards money
- Youth team profits
- League Staff salary
- Golden/Silver boot awards
- Managers' bonus - all managers with more than 80% rating will be given RM2000000.00
2. Payment of offseason Stadium maintenance, Government tax and admin costs. Calculated by 14 times the figures of the last week of the season.
3. Payment of offseason sponsorships. Total League, secondary and primary Sponsors time 14 weeks.
4. Payouts of the 14 weeks offseason Outlets and Club Shops profits (minimum weekly profits).
Clubs will be allowed to go in debt at this moment.
FINANCES
INCOME
In the first season, teams will have RM10, 000,000.00 to start with. However, there will be some other ways for your club to generate income.
Sponsorships
There are two types of sponsors: -
i.
League Sponsor
ii.
Club Sponsor
LEAGUE
SPONSORS
League Sponsors are some corporations that will provide some sponsorships for all the League Clubs:-
