Негери-Сембилан

Early era

The club was established in 1923, according to a passage in the football history books of Malaysia based on an interview with Austin Senevirathe, who was 93 years old when interviewed. He stated that the Malaya Cup match between Negeri Sembilan and Singapore took place in that particular year.

In 1927, PBNS started organising league matches. Among the trophies that were up for grabs at that time were the Annex Shield, the British Resident's Cup, and the Hose Cup. The earliest football clubs that existed and competed in the league were Negri Sembilan Chinese "A," Negri Sembilan Club, Port Dickson Recreation Club, Sungei Ujong Club, Negri Sembilan Chinese "B," and St. Paul's Old Boys Association.

The club is considered one of the top competing teams in the history of football since its establishment. They have won many top competitions in Malaysia, starting in the early 1940s.

In 1948, they won the first HMS Malaya Cup, led by skipper Kwan Soon Teck .

Isa Samad era (1982-2004)

In 1982, Tan Sri Dato' Seri Utama Mohd Isa bin Dato' Haji Abdul Samad was appointed president of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS) as well as the Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan.

The year 1991 was the year of the revival of the Negeri Sembilan team, which in previous years had been an underdog. That was also the last year the Negeri Sembilan team used the Majlis Perbandaran Seremban Stadium before the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi was used as their home ground until now. On August 18, 1991, the team met Sarawak in the final match of the Division 2 League at the Majlis Perbandaran Seremban Stadium. Negeri Sembilan, who was in first place at the time, only needed a draw while Sarawak, who was in second place, needed a win to get the top spot in the league table. The match of that day went to Negeri Sembilan with a result of 2-2, and they managed to collect one point. It was the last year that led to the success of winning the Semi-Pro League Division 2, then qualifying for Division 1 in 1992. Among the star players at that time were the import trio, the Bozik Brothers (Miroslav and Robert), and the powerful striker Marian Vazquez. Local players include Richard Scully, Mansor Sulaiman, and Nazari Hussein.

In 1992, the construction of Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium was completed and inaugurated to be used as a multipurpose stadium. The stadium initially held a capacity of 20,000 people, and since then, the Negeri Sembilan team has officially made the stadium their home ground for the Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1 tournament in that year.

In the 1996 season, Negeri Sembilan became one of the contenders for the league title. Even though it was not given much attention at first, the team starring two former import players from Argentina, Pahang FA's Gus Cerro and Jose Iriarte, surprised many when they gave great competition to other selected teams such as Selangor, Sabah, Sarawak, Kedah, Pahang, and Brunei. Othman Katmon, Faizal Zainal, Khairil Zainal, Rosli Omar, B. Rajinikandh (now converted to Islam), A. Ganeson, V. Arumugham, Idris Kadir, Azmi Mohamed, and Ching Hong Aik (only a few mentions) have put up a good fight, giving great hope to their loyal supporters. However, this squad failed to maintain the momentum when it was finally overtaken by Sabah FA, who emerged as the Premier League champion, as well as Kedah FA, who became the runner-up.

On May 31, 2003, Negeri Sembilan met Perlis in the FA Cup final. Played at Perak Stadium, the club was surprised by the opponent's early goal in the 11th minute. The club managed to close the gap in the 56th minute thanks to a goal by Effendi Malek. The game remained 1-1 until the 90th minute, and in extra time, victory was decided on a golden goal. In the 95th minute, the club managed to get the golden goal as a result of Everson Martinelli's goal, and the club was crowned FA Cup champion in 2003.

Negeri Sembilan made its first appearance in the AFC Cup competition in the 2004 season. The club made its debut in the first match against Island FC with a big 6-0 win on February 10, 2004. However, the club had to settle for being 3rd in the group after losing all the group stage matches against Geylang United, East Bengal, and Island FC. All teams played at home and away for a total of six games.

Mohamad Hasan era (2004 – 2018)

In March 2004, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan was appointed as the president of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS). It's because he successfully held the position as the 10th Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan and replaced Isa Samad, who held that position the previous year. Mohamad Hasan was the first Menteri Besar who had ever been a local football player and then became the president of PBNS. He never represented the first team of Negeri Sembilan but played a lot with clubs in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. He was banned from football for life after receiving a red card when NS Malays played against NS Indians in 1977. He was active in football in the 1970s.

In the 2006 season, the team won the Malaysia Super League by finishing first out of eight clubs that competed. The newly promoted team from the Malaysian Premier League in the 2005 season managed to become the league champion in their first appearance since the Super League was introduced in 2004.

On November 7, 2009, the team ended their 61-year drought in the Malaysia Cup after posting a convincing 3–1 victory over Kelantan in the final at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil. The team also won all the matches in the Malaysia Cup tournament, starting from the group stage until the final. That final match was a fantastic night.

The repeat final of 2009 between the club and Kelantan happened again on October 30, 2010. However, this time, the club lost 1–2 to Kelantan despite having taken an early lead through a penalty by Shahurain Abu Samah.

On April 10, 2010, Negeri Sembilan needed the luck of the penalty shootout to win the FA Cup championship again by beating Kedah 5-4 in the final of the 21st edition at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil. This continues to confirm them as the new powerhouse of national football after winning the Malaysia Cup last season. Both teams were tied at 1-1 after the end of the 90 minutes of the actual game, even after the referee, R. Krishnan, dragged it into extra time in front of about 70,000 spectators, the majority of whom were "Hijau Kuning" supporters.

In 2011, the club again qualified for the Malaysia Cup Final for the third time in a row, this time with their new coach, Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah. They won the trophy after defeating Terengganu FA with an epic comeback. The first goal was scored by Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin for Terengganu in the 59th minute. PBNS used the last 10 minutes of the game to make a comeback. S. Kunanlan equalised the score in the 81st minute before Hairuddin Omar, the veteran striker, hit the winning goal for PBNS with a beautiful volley in the 85th minute.

In the early part of the 2011 season, one of the team's all-time best coaches, Wan Jamak Wan Hassan, resigned from the club. He sees no excuses for the team's disappointing run in the Malaysia Super League and Malaysia FA Cup competitions for that season.

Throughout the years 2003–2011, there was a "golden generation" for the Negeri Sembilan team because, throughout the year, the team achieved a lot of success in competitions at the domestic level. Starting with winning the FA Cup in 2003, the team managed to win the Super League in 2006. The most proud performance was when Negeri Sembilan successfully made it through the Malaysia Cup final stage three years in a row from 2009–2011. The team won two finals in 2009 and 2011, and in 2010, the team became runners-up when they had to accept a defeat, but they managed to win the FA Cup in the same year (2010). In addition, this golden era also saw the emergence of several big names who were with the Negeri Sembilan team in the Malaysian football scene, including Ching Hong Aik, Shukor Adan, Norhafiz Zamani, Khairul Anuar Baharom, Bekamenga Bekamengo, Sani Anuar, Rezal Zambery, Zaquan Adha, Aidil Zafuan, Farizal Marlias, S. Kunanlan and Shahurain.

On December 6, 2014, the president of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association announced that the Negeri Sembilan team would be known as the Negeri Sembilan Matrix from the 2015 season. This has become the beginning of the process of privatising the Negeri Sembilan.

On June 7, 2018, the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS) lost an experienced figure when Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan resigned as president of the association. Also followed Mohamad's footsteps were two vice presidents, Datuk Mohamad Haslah Mohd Amin, who was also the PBNS Chief Finance Officer and manager of the Negeri Sembilan Super League team, and lastly, Datuk Abd Ghani Hasan .

Razman al-Qadri era (2018 – present)

On September 10, 2018, Tunku Besar of Tampin, Tunku Syed Razman Tunku Syed Idrus Al-Qadri, was elected as the new President of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS) for the period of 2018–2021 after winning unopposed at the 86th PBNS Congress, held at Klana Resort.

On October 20, 2020, the club officially made its privatisation under a new entity as Negeri Sembilan Football Club after it was officially approved by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The club has been registered under a private limited company named Negeri Sembilan Football Club Sdn. Bhd. (Negeri Sembilan Football Club Pvt. Ltd.). The club became a subsidiary of the Negeri Sembilan Football Association (PBNS), which is also the owner of the club.

In 2024, Malaysia Super League will start in May and this is the first season to have a two-year schedule, since the 2007–08. This system has been changed from the old Malaysian league match schedule system, so it will coordinate the same scheduling with the AFC calendar. Also, On January 12, Faliq Firdaus was appointed as the new chief executive officer of Negeri Sembilan FC. He became the youngest CEO in the Malaysia Super League competition for the 2024–25 season.