Well before professional football, top Malaysian players competed in three levels, while still having to hold a regular job.
It is now taken for granted that the Malaysian league, especially the top two tiers, is contested mostly by professional state teams and players, since football professionalisation was introduced in the early 1990's.
But until three decades ago, almost all Malaysian players were amateurs, in a peculiar three-tiered playing system.
While in most footballing countries, footballers amateur and professional alike mostly play for club sides and those who make the cut would be called up to their national team, up until the 1990's, top Malaysian players would also feature in another tier, one that sat between the two; national-level football.