1957 Merdeka Tournament

The first edition of the Merdeka Tournament was held in August and September 1957 in Malaya (now Malaysia). It was won by Hong Kong League XI.[nb 1] Singapore won a consolation tournament for teams that did not qualify for the final round.

1957 Merdeka Tournament

Tournament details
Host country	Federation of Malaya
Dates	31 August – 7 September
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Hong Kong (1st title)
Runners-up	Indonesia
Third place	South Vietnam
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Goals scored	28 (4.67 per match)

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.

31 August

Hong Kong League XI	6 – 2	Cambodia
Law Kwok Tai  28' Chow Man Chi (鄒文治)  32' Lau Yee  35' (pen) Kwok Yau (郭有)  64' Mok Chun Wah  64' Ho Ying Fan  69'		Nguon Ban  22' Cham Rong  71'

Merdeka Stadium

31 August

South Vietnam	5–5 (a.e.t.)	Singapore
Duc  5'  8'  31'  92' Ho  29'		Peter Corthine  13'  17' Hatch  57'  61' Arthur Koh  95'

Merdeka Stadium

31 August

Indonesia	4 – 0	Thailand
Omo S.  5'  12'  33'  68'

Merdeka Stadium

1 September

Malaya	5 – 2	Burma
Kong Leong  19' Abdul Ghani Minhat  23' Govindarajoo  25' Wai Hong  37' Rahim Omar  47'		Yaui Do  33' Vernon Styles  42'

Merdeka Stadium

First Round Replay

1 September

South Vietnam	2 – 1	Singapore
Tu  48' Don  51'		Peter Corthine  85'

Merdeka Stadium

Second round

The winning teams from the first round played a series of matches against one another. The team finishing top of the group was the tournament winner.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Hong Kong League XI	5	3	2	1	0	8	5	+3
Indonesia	4	3	2	0	1	8	5	+3
South Vietnam	2	3	1	0	2	6	7	−1
Malaya	1	3	0	1	2	6	11	−5

2 September

Hong Kong League XI	2 – 1	Indonesia
Law Kwok Tai  42' Szeto Man  53'		Aang Witarsa  20'

Merdeka Stadium

Attendance: 15.000

3 September

Malaya	1 – 4	South Vietnam
Abdul Ghani Minhat  12'		Kane  2'  55' Duc  54'  62'

Merdeka Stadium

4 September

Malaya	3 – 3	Hong Kong League XI
Abdul Ghani Minhat  26'  33' Cheok Foo  79' (pen)		Law Kwok Tai  10'  23' Szeto Man  30'

Merdeka Stadium

5 September

Indonesia	3 – 1	South Vietnam
Tee San Liong  10' Omo Suratmo  17' Saari  50'		Don  78'

Merdeka Stadium

7 September

Malaya	2 – 4	Indonesia
Abdul Ghani Minhat  18'  40'		Jasrin Jusron  32'  70' Saari  55'  63'

Merdeka Stadium

7 September

Hong Kong League XI	3 – 1	South Vietnam
Lau Yee  16' Szeto Man (司徒文)[nb 2]  37' Law Kwok Tai  58'	[3]	own goal  85'

Merdeka Stadium

Consolation Tournament

The losing teams from the first round played a series of matches against one another as a consolation tournament. The team finishing top of the group was the winner of this tournament.

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Singapore	5	3	2	1	0	10	3	+7
Burma	4	3	2	0	1	9	5	+4
Thailand	2	3	1	0	2	5	11	−6
Cambodia	1	3	0	1	2	1	6	−5

1 September

Thailand	3 – 0	Cambodia
Sophon  13' Prasun  47'  57'

Merdeka Stadium

3 September

Singapore	6 – 0	Thailand
Peter Corthine  12'  60' Arthur Koh  61'  68' Ibrahim Mansoor  65' Hatch  70'

Merdeka Stadium

3 September

Burma	2 – 0	Cambodia
Maung Maung  65' Pe-khin  75'

Merdeka Stadium

5 September

Singapore	1 – 1	Cambodia
Corthine  61'		Tuy  66'

Merdeka Stadium

5 September

Burma	5 – 2	Thailand
Samuel Gordon  27' Vernon Styles  32' Tun Kyi  40'  72' own goal  49'		Santan  10'  50'

Merdeka Stadium

7 September

Singapore	3 – 2	Burma
Peter Corthine  9' Hatch  22' Ibrahim Hassan  34'		Suk Bahadur  42'  66'

Merdeka Stadium

Goalscorers

7 goals Peter Corthine 6 goals Abdul Ghani Minhat Duc 5 goals Omo Suratmo Law Kwok Tai Notes Most of the members of Hong Kong team, except Mok Chun Wa, were actually from Eastern Sports Club, which the football club was playing friendly matches in the Asia-Pacific. Most of the players of the teams (9 out of 14) such as Mok, Ho Ying Fun, Law Kwok Tai, were in fact ineligible to Hong Kong, as they were the representatives of Republic of China (Taiwan) in official competition, despite all either born or based in Hong Kong.[1] HKFA invited Eastern and other players to form a scratch team for the competition.[2] AFP credited to Szeto Man, while Wah Kiu Yat Po credited to Ho Ying Fun 1. One source (P.S.S.I, "Kenang-Kenangan P.S.S.I. 50th 19 April 1930 - 19 April 1980", 1980.) report this match as a 4-2 victory to Malaya. References Lee, John C.W. (2015). 足球王國：戰後初期的香港足球 (in Chinese). Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 9789620437823. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via Google Book preview. 足總首次執委會議　渣甸東華均獲陞甲組　足聯抗議另開會研討　參加馬來亞獨立賽擬請東方代表. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese). 14 August 1957. p. 8. 默迪卡國際足球賽結束　聯合邦元首嚴端　以總理杯贈港球隊. Wah Kiu Yat Po (in Chinese). Agence France-Presse. 9 September 1957. p. 8.