Sabah only narrowly avoided the drop from the Super League in the recently concluded 2020 season after they finished just a single spot outside of the relegation zone in 10th place of a truncated season.The Rhinos gain promotion having won the 2019 Premier League title but found the jump to the top tier of Malaysian football to be a bigger gap than they had anticipated and struggled for large parts of the season.
The Borneo side had only won a solitary game heading into that vital clash against Melaka at Likas Stadium towards the tail-end of the season and were practically staring at quick return to the second tier.