1959 Merdeka Tournament

1959 Merdeka Tournament

Tournament details
Host country	Federation of Malaya
Dates	30 August – 6 September
Teams	7
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Malaya (2nd title)
Runners-up	India
Third place	South Vietnam
Fourth place	Hong Kong
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	52 (3.71 per match)
← 1958 1960 →

The 1959 Merdeka Tournament was the third edition of the Merdeka Tournament which was an annual tournament hosted in Malaya. It took place from August 30 to September 6 with seven participating nations.

First round

A series of knockout ties was held to determine which teams would compete in the second round. The match between South Vietnam and Singapore required a replay as the score was level at the end of the first match.

30 August 1959

South Vietnam	3–2	South Korea

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

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31 August 1959

India	2–0	Singapore
Rahmatullah 52' Balaram 61'	Report

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 20,000

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31 August 1959

Hong Kong	1–1	Japan

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Replay

2 September 1959

Japan	2–4	Hong Kong

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Second round

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Result
Malaya	3	2	1	0	7	5	+2	5	Champions
India	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	4
South Vietnam	3	1	1	1	9	7	+2	3
Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	2	8	−6	0

2 September 1959 (1959-09-02)

Malaya	4–3	South Vietnam

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3 September 1959 (1959-09-03)

India	2–0	Hong Kong
Zulfiqaruddin 8' Kannan 79'	Report

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 11,000

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4 September 1959 (1959-09-04)

Malaya	1–1	India
Robert Choe 60' (pen.)	Report	Kannan 63'

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Attendance: 18,000

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5 September 1959 (1959-09-05)

South Vietnam	4–1	Hong Kong

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6 September 1959 (1959-09-06)

Malaya	2–1	Hong Kong

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6 September 1959 (1959-09-06)

South Vietnam	2–2	India
Do Thoi Vinh 20', 53'	Report	Zulfiqaruddin 8' Kannan 56'

Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Consolation round

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	2	1	1	0	4	1	+3	3
South Korea	2	1	1	0	4	1	+3	3
Singapore	2	0	0	2	2	8	−6	0

2 September 1959 (1959-09-02)

South Korea	4–1	Singapore

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3 September 1959 (1959-09-03)

Japan	4–1	Singapore

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5 September 1959 (1959-09-05)

South Korea	0–0	Japan

Play-off

6 September 1959 (1959-09-06)

South Korea	3–1	Japan

References

• 1959 Merdeka Tournament at RSSSF
• Chaudhuri, Arunava (1999). "The Indian Senior Team at the 1959 Merdeka Cup". www.indianfootball.de. IndianFootball. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018. (information given by Jaydeep Basu, Sunil Warrier, and Gautam Roy).