The Malaysian Football League (MFL) announced on Friday that the Liga Malaysia will return on August 26.

The decision was reached by the MFL Board of Directors after considering many factors, including the teams’ preparation period in order to ensure the competitiveness and quality of Liga Malaysia.

The season was suspended since March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Chief Executive Officer Abdul Ghani Hassan, the MFL believe that the return date would be beneficial for all teams after training sessions were permitted by the government from July 15.

“In order to resume the 2020 Liga Malaysia season, the teams needed to comply with many items such as registering every stadium or match venue with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and being verified by the MFL, as well as carrying out compulsory sanitisation and disinfection processes.

“Match Commissioners appointed by the MFL will conduct stadium or match venue inspections before the league resumes and match organisation Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) will be distributed to all teams by the MFL.

“In order to ensure the smooth organisation, the MFL have also had meetings with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM)'s Referees Committee to discuss preparations and competition SOP.

“What is for certain is that we are ready to resume all Liga Malaysia action this season,” he said in an official statement.

As previously announced, the Malaysian Super League and the Malaysian Premier League would conclude at the halfway stage, while Malaysia Cup is set to take place from October 17 to November 7.

The Malaysian FA Cup and the Challenge Cup were already cancelled.