The Merdeka Cup 2023, a prestigious football tournament, was initially set to feature Malaysia, India, Palestine, and Tajikistan, making it a four-team event.
However, due to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Palestine had to withdraw from the tournament, causing a significant change in the competition's format. Now, the tournament is set to be played with just three participating nations: the hosts, Malaysia, alongside India and Tajikistan.

This alteration means that the semi-final match scheduled for October 13, which was originally meant to be a showdown between four teams, will now be a knockout clash between Malaysia and one of the other two remaining teams.
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Stadium: Bukit Jalil National Stadium
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith and Dheeraj Singh.
Defenders: Nikhil Poojary, Roshan Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Mehtab Singh, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra and Subhasish Bose.
Midfielders: Jeakson Singh, Suresh Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Udanta Singh, Vikram Pratap Singh, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Liston Colaco and Nandhakumar Sekar.
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri and Manvir Singh.
October 13: Malaysia vs India, 6:30 PM IST
October 17: Malaysia/India vs Tajikistan, 6:30 PM IST
Live Streaming: Indian Football Youtube Channel
Telecast: Eurosport