On 23 May 2026, 50,032 people packed the Bukit Jalil National Stadium for the Malaysia Cup final, and Johor Darul Ta’zim did what they have done for most of a decade: waited, then struck late. Marcos Guilherme and Arif Aiman scored in the closing minutes to beat Kuching City 2-0, completing a fourth straight domestic quadruple.
By Sunday, the Johor government had declared the following Monday a special state holiday. This guide explains how a club that began life as PKENJ FC in 1972 became the team every other Malaysian side measures itself against.
Key Takeaways
- JDT took their name in 2013 after Johor football was consolidated under Tunku Ismail Idris, and they have won all 12 Super League titles since 2014.
- The club plays at the 40,000-capacity Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, which opened on 22 February 2020, and runs a youth structure from JDT II to JDT V.
- Their unbeaten league run began in April 2021 and reached 111 matches by the end of August 2026, passing ASEC Mimosas’ old world mark of 108.
- In Asia, JDT won the 2015 AFC Cup and in 2026 became the first Malaysian club to reach the AFC Champions League Elite quarter-finals.
How JDT Became JDT
JDT’s present identity dates from 2013, but the club has a longer and messier backstory than most fans realise. It helps to see the three stages that got them here.
1. The Early Years as PKENJ and Johor FC
The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and became Johor FC in 1996, when Johor Corporation took it over. It won the second-tier Liga Perdana 2 in 2001, and for most of its early life it was a mid-sized state side with no particular claim on the title.
2. The 2012 Merger and the New Name
The turning point came in 2012 after a fan campaign to save Johor football. Tunku Ismail Idris, widely known as TMJ and today the Regent of Johor, merged the two Johor clubs under one banner, and the team took the name Johor Darul Ta’zim in 2013. Larkin Stadium, built in 1964, was the home ground from 2013 to 2019.
3. Going Professional in 2016
In January 2016, JDT became a separate professional entity from the Johor Football Association. That year they won a third straight league title, a first for the Super League, and finished the season unbeaten, another first for a Malaysian club.
JDT’s Honours at a Glance
The honours list explains why the club’s supporters talk about eras, not seasons. Here is how the main trophies add up.
| Competition | Titles | Most Recent |
|---|---|---|
| Malaysia Super League | 12 | 2025-26 |
| Malaysia Cup | 6 | 2026 |
| Malaysia FA Cup | 5 | 2025 |
| Charity Shield | 11 | 2026 |
| AFC Cup | 1 | 2015 |
The four domestic trophies are the ones that make up a quadruple, and JDT have now won all four in the same season four times in a row. The first came in 2022 and the fourth in 2025-26.
What Makes JDT Different
Plenty of Malaysian clubs have had rich owners and ambitious plans. JDT are the ones that built the infrastructure to go with them.
1. Ownership and Leadership
Tunku Ismail Idris owns the club and is its driving force. Luis Garcia, a Spaniard who won the UEFA Champions League as a Liverpool winger, has been chief executive since January 2024.
On the pitch, Spaniard Xisco Muñoz took over as head coach in June 2025, succeeding Hector Bidoglio, who had held the job since 2022. Muñoz’s announcement described him as a LaLiga winner and former Watford manager.
2. The Sultan Ibrahim Stadium
The 40,000-capacity Sultan Ibrahim Stadium opened on 22 February 2020, in Iskandar Puteri. Construction began in January 2016, and the cost was estimated at around MYR 200 million.
It is the centrepiece of JDT Sports City, built on a 70-acre site in Iskandar Puteri.
3. A Youth Structure Built to Last
JDT run development squads from JDT II to JDT V, overseen by a technical director who covers all youth and grassroots football. Their Padang Sri Gelam training base in Johor Bahru includes an indoor pitch, a gym, a swimming pool and ice baths.
The club has also signed partnerships with Valencia, Borussia Dortmund and Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. A planned 40-hectare academy site at Kulai, developed with Dortmund, is meant to widen the pipeline further.
The Unbeaten Run Explained
JDT’s unbeaten run is the club’s best-known record, and it needs some careful reading. It counts league games only, and it dates back to April 2021.
By the end of August 2026 it stood at 111 matches, made up of 100 wins and 11 draws. The old world mark was 108, held by ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast between 1989 and 1994.
JDT equalled it on 10 May 2026 with a 14-1 win over Kelantan The Real Warriors, then broke it on 21 August with a 3-0 win over Kuching City in the Charity Shield. That fixture also opened the league season and carried league points, which is why it sits inside the run.
The 2025-26 season alone was almost perfect: 23 wins and one draw from 24 games, 117 goals scored and 10 conceded. Their margin over second-placed Kuching City was 17 points.
The Players Who Carry the Team
Three players stand out from the 2026 season.
1. Bérgson
Bérgson da Silva, a Brazilian born in Alegrete on 9 February 1991, joined from Fortaleza on loan on 2 March 2021 and signed permanently on 19 May that year. He is the Super League’s all-time top scorer, with more than 130 league goals.
In 2024-25 he became the first player in the league’s history to pass 30 goals in a season, finishing on 32. In April 2025 he scored five goals in 29 minutes in a 9-0 win over Kelantan, and he won the Golden Boot again in 2025-26 with 27.
2. Arif Aiman Hanapi
Arif Aiman is JDT’s captain. He scored the second goal in the 2026 Malaysia Cup final after returning from injury, and he was named Man of the Match.
3. Marcos Guilherme
Guilherme is a Brazilian winger who scored in the 2026 Malaysia Cup final and opened the scoring in the 3-0 win over Kuching City that set the world record. Alongside him in that game, Iranian forward Shahab Zahedi, who joined on a free transfer on 1 July 2026, scored the third.
JDT in Asia
JDT’s biggest continental trophy is the 2015 AFC Cup. They beat FC Istiklol 1-0 in the final in Dushanbe on 31 October 2015, with Leandro Velázquez scoring, and became the first Southeast Asian club to win the competition.
In the Champions League they have kept inching forward. They were the first Malaysian club in the group stage in 2019 and the first to reach the last 16 in 2022, where they lost 5-0 to Urawa Red Diamonds.
The 2025-26 AFC Champions League Elite run is the high point so far. JDT finished sixth in the 12-team East league stage, beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 3-2 on aggregate in the last 16, and lost 2-1 to Al-Ahli in the quarter-final in Jeddah on 17 April 2026. Al-Ahli, a Saudi Pro League side, played with 10 men from the 37th minute and still won.
JDT are in the league stage again this season. The AFC Champions League Elite league profile has the competition details, fixtures and standings.
Does JDT’s Dominance Help or Hurt Malaysian Football?
Both, and the evidence sits on each side. JDT draw the league’s biggest crowds, including 32,777 for the 2025-26 opener against Selangor, and their Asian results give Malaysian football a profile abroad.
They also make the league predictable. Their title margins have been 15 points in 2023, 17 in 2025-26 and a record 23 in 2018, and the New Straits Times called the 2025-26 title race predictable from the start.
The crowd figures show the same imbalance. In 2023 JDT averaged 17,623 per home game while the whole league averaged 5,330, and in 2025-26 the league average dropped to 3,931 per match. The record unbeaten run says as much about the gap to everyone else as it says about JDT.
The fairer test is whether other clubs copy the model. Kuching City’s rise to second place suggests a few might, but nobody yet has the infrastructure or funding to close the gap.
What to Watch in 2026-27
JDT are favourites for every competition they enter. A 13th league title is the baseline expectation, they are back in the AFC Champions League Elite league stage, and a fifth straight quadruple would extend their own record.
For a fuller picture of the rest of the division, the Malaysia Super League teams guide covers all 12 clubs, and how the Malaysia Cup, FA Cup and Challenge Cup compare explains the cups that JDT keep winning. The complete guide to the Malaysia Super League puts all of it in context.
Why JDT Matter Even If You Never Watch Liga Super
JDT are worth following even if you only watch a few games a year. They are the one Malaysian club with a global profile, and the unbeaten run turned them into a world-record story.
Watch one home game at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium and one Asian night, and you will see both the strengths of the model and the questions it leaves for the rest of the league. The leagues hub is a good place to start for fixtures across the competitions JDT play in.