Pulau Pinang

The club was founded in 1920 unofficially, and officially as Football Association of Penang (FAP) in 1921. Penang is the oldest football club in Malaysia and one of the oldest clubs in Asia. Penang is the fourth most successful team in Malaysian football history with 16 titles.^[]

On 21 October 1921, the club was officially founded. Almost all the big matches were played at Victoria Green, home of the Chinese Recreation Club. They lost its first cup final in 1934 to Singapore FA with a score of 1–2.

The 1950s saw Penang producing players such as the country's first Olympian, Yeap Cheng Eng, Yeang Kah Chong, Tan Swee Hock, Wong Kam Poh, Yap Hin Hean, Liew Fee Yuen, Lee Ah Loke, and the Pang brothers. Since the early 1950s, Aziz Ahmad was Penang's top goal-scorer. He scored the winning goal as Penang defeated Singapore 3–2 in the 1953 Malaya Cup final in Ipoh. Penang won 3 Malaysia Cups (1953, 1954 and 1958) and 4 FAM Cup champions (1952, 1955, 1956 and 1957). Some of the well-known FAP officials were Loh Hoot Yeang, who was president for many years, A. S. Mohamad Mydin, Tan Cheng Hoe, Yaakob Syed and Haris Hussain.^[] David Choong was president in 1962 when Penang made the FAM Cup final, but lost 3–4 to Selangor in a contest on May 12 at the City Stadium.^[] In October 1963, Penang trounced Perlis 13–0 in a Malaysia Cup tie. Aziz took over as captain when Cheng Eng retired.^[] By 1965, veterans such as Siang Teik and Aziz made way as Penang rebuilt.^[] M. Kuppan took over as captain with Yeap Kim Hock, James Raju and Ibrahim Mydin.^[]

For the first time, Penang preferred the services of four British airmen based at the RAF support unit at the Butterworth base, which participated in the local league. They were John Leather, Clive Warren, Vic Probert and Alan Peacock.

The late 1960s saw the emergence of Aziz's nephews, the Abdullah brothers—Namat and Shaharuddin. At his peak, Shaharuddin was a goal-scorer together with Isa Bakar.^[] Penang made the Malaysia Cup final in 1968 to face mighty Selangor. Selangor romped home 8–1 in one of the most one-sided finals ever In 1974, Penang heroically knocked Singapore out in the semifinal to face northern rival Perak in the final. Namat Abdullah led Penang to a 2–1 victory in what was to be the state's last Malaysia Cup final victory. Penang stepped into the final of Malaysia Cup in 1977 as they lost the match to Singapore. In 1976, Penang became the first and only club from Malaysia to win the Aga Khan Gold Cup which was the early version of the Asian Club Championship, beating Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club 3–0 in the final at the Bangabandhu National Stadium under the guidance of Lim Boon Kheng.

Football Association of Malaysia introduced the Malaysia First Division League in 1982. Penang was one of the founding members of the league. The first edition saw Penang becoming the champion. In 1983, Penang was the first runner-up of the league. After that, the team faced stagnation until the mid-1990s and failed to win any major trophy.

The glory days came after more than 15 years. Penang entered into the FA Cup final in 1997 and lost to Selangor. After the disappointment, Penang won the 1998 Malaysia Super League. The team failed to defend the title as they were the runners-up in 1999. The 2000 FA Cup saw Penang lost to Terengganu after a nail-biting penalties. Penang was the runner-up of the top division in 2000. After two consecutive years as the runner-up, Penang become the champion in 2001. Penang FA historically won the FA Cup for the first time in 2002 thanks to the goal scored by Gustavo Romero on the 65 minutes.

Although the team got a good start by winning the first Charity Shield, they finished mid-table in the league and third in the group stage of the Malaysia Cup. In 2004, Penang ranked fifth out of 8 in the league and got eliminated in the second round of the FA Cup. The league performance in 2006 was a bit worse as they ranked sixth. Penang won the first round of the FA Cup, but failed to qualify for the third round. The next season saw Penang ranked sixth in the league and lost the first round match of the FA Cup. The team lost the quarter-final matches of the Malaysia Cup. In 2006–07 season, the team ranked tenth throughout the league. Penang finished the journey of the FA Cup in round one, as fifth out of six in the group stage. Mohd Bakar was appointed in the 2007–08 season. The Panthers finished 12th in the league, round two in FA Cup and last in the Malaysia Cup group stage. From then until 2012, the club was facing a critical financial condition. In 2009, Penang FA finished third from the last in the top division league. Penang was knocked out from the FA Cup in round two for two consecutive years. Penang was eliminated from the Malaysia Cup tournament after finished third in the group stage.

In 2010, the darkest period ever in the team history came. Reduan Abdullah squad had only collected 10 points and finished at the bottom of the league. Penang was relegated from the top flight after 18 consecutive spells. The club continued to decline and in 2011 they were relegated further, after the team struggled in the second division with only 4 points in 22 matches. Janos Krecska was appointed as head coach in 2012. The team finished mid-table in the third tier.

Penang FA's legend, Merzagua Abderrazak, took over in 2013. The aim of the promotion was achieved successfully under the new tactician. Penang won a silverware after an 11-year wait. The club appointed K. Devan as the new head coach. Under his guidance Penang claimed the third spot of the Premier League and qualified in the Malaysia Cup after four years. Penang finished last in the group stage with four points after six matches. K. Devan's contract was not renewed and he was signed by Negeri Sembilan. Jacksen F. Tiago took over for the next season. Penang stepped into the quarter-final of the Malaysia FA Cup after 13 years. A dramatic finish in the 2015 league campaign saw Penang FA as the runner-up and a ticket to the top flight.

Penang beefed their squad with several youngsters from the Harimau Muda project and signed three new imports. The Panthers were hopeful of at least staying in the MSL, but found themselves stuck in the relegation zone. The appointment of the MSL winning coach Bojan Hodak as chief executive officer and Nenad Bacina as head coach offered some promise for the second half of the season, but Penang still struggled to find consistency. It wasn't until the final day of the season that Penang saved their top flight status, thanks to the goal from Faizat Ghazli.

I-League winning coach Ashley Westwood signed a two years contract with the club in November 2016 to replace Nenad and Bojan. However, Penang FA terminated their contract under mutual consent due to poor results in March 2017, and he was replaced by Zainal Abidin Hassan. Zairil Khir Johari, who took over from Nazir Ariff Mushir Ariff, has resigned as president of the Penang Football Association (FA). Former player Reinaldo Lobo had reported PFA to FIFA after the club failed to pay him for six months.

After the relegation, Zainal Abidin Hassan remains the head coach. Players like Mohd Faiz Subri, Yong Kuong Yong, Sanna Nyassi and Mohd Azrul Ahmad were retained. The departures saw Syamer Kutty Abba moving to Johor, Jafri Firdaus Chew & K. Reuben to PKNS FC, Rafiuddin Rodin to Perak. They finished in 10th position and avoided a successive drop.

Dr. Amar Pritpal Abdullah was elected as Penang FA president after edging out Datuk Seri Ho Kwee Cheng. Penang FA searched for stability ahead of the 2019 season under the helm of new management. The FA of Penang have set a modest target, to stay in the Premier League. Manzoor Azwira bought new import player like Casagrande and Sergio Aguero and Penang FA climbed to the 2nd place, securing the Super League promotion. However, less than 24 hours later, Penang FA found themselves back in the Premier League after being docked six points due to Reinaldo Lobo case.

In 2020 the government stopped all sports activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Penang FA was on track of winning the league after being unbeaten in 8 matches. They secure promotion to the Super League after beating Kuala Lumpur 2–1 at City Stadium. Penang celebrated their first ever MPL title after beating Kelantan United 4-0 and got promoted to the 2021 Malaysia Super League.