1961 Merdeka Tournament

The 1961 Merdeka Tournament was the fifth edition of the Merdeka Tournament and was held between August 2 to 13 of 1961. It was held in Malaya (now Malaysia) and was consented by eleven teams with nine coming from the AFC. The remaining two teams came from CAF with and  becoming the first teams from outside of Asia to compete as part of preparation for the Asia leg of qualifying for the 1962 World Cup.

The format for the 1962 edition saw the format go to two groups of four and one group of three with the winners of each group qualifying plus the best second place team from the two groups of four.