Selangor F.C.
Selangor Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The club currently competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football. The club is nicknamed The Red Giants. It was officially founded in 1936 by the Football Association of Selangor. On 2 October 2020, the club officially made its privatization as Selangor Football Club after it was officially approved by the Football Association of Malaysia on 29 September. The club currently plays its home games at the Petaling Jaya Stadium after the club's original home ground, the Shah Alam Stadium, was closed to undergo major renovation and rebuilding work which was prolonged for an extended period of time.
Selangor are the most successful and most decorated club in Malaysia, in terms of overall honours won with 52 top-qualifying trophies and 61 trophies collectively. Domestically, Selangor had won a total of 6 Malaysia top division league titles which include 2 Malaysia Super League titles, 1 Premier League 1 title, 2 Semi-Pro League Division 1 titles and 1 Malaysian League title. In cup competitions, the club have a record of 33 Malaysia Cups, a joint-best 5 Malaysia FA Cups and a record of 8 Malaysia Charity Shields. In addition, the club have also won 2 second-division titles, 1 Malaysia Premier League title and 1 Semi-Pro League Division 2 title and between 1951 and 1973, 7 Malaysia FAM Cups where the Malaysia FAM Cup acted as a secondary knockout cup competition between state teams after the Malaysia Cup.
Selangor was also the first Malaysian club to qualify and enter an Asian continental club tournament, the Asian Champion Club Tournament where the club finished as runners-up in 1967, the first edition of the Asian top-flight continental club tournament, which was later rebranded as the AFC Champions League in 2002. The club were also the first team in Malaysian football history to achieve a league and cup double by winning the Malaysian Amateur League and Malaysia Cup in 1984.
The club also gave rise to many Malaysian football stars who brought success to both club and country such as Mokhtar Dahari, R. Arumugam, Abdul Ghani Minhat, Wong Choon Wah, Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Aun, Zainal Abidin Hassan, Azman Adnan, Rusdi Suparman, Amri Yahyah, and Safee Sali and many others. The club is also one of the best supported clubs in Malaysia and across the Asian continent and holds several rivalries, most notably with Singapore, Kuala Lumpur City and Johor Darul Ta'zim.
History
1905–1936: Beginnings
A Selangor state football association was founded in 1905 to establish and manage an internal state league, called the Selangor Association Football League. The first cup competition was sponsored by the British Resident of Selangor, R.G. Watson. There were also reports that the association was led by British Residents at that time.Due to an internal conflict, some officials left the organization in 1926 and founded the Selangor Football Association, a new organization. The dispute between the SAFL and the SFA continued for almost ten years before the two sides negotiated back on a deal for the betterment of the future of football in the state of Selangor. Finally, the two football entities officially merged on 22 February 1936, under the name of the Football Association of Selangor and forming Selangor FA to represent the state of Selangor.
During this period, Selangor won their first ever piece of silverware in the form of the Malaya Cup in 1922, in a 3–2 win over Singapore FA and going on to win the Malaya Cup a further five times in 1927, 1928, 1929, 1935 and 1936.
MAHA Stadium
The proposal to build a stadium that can accommodate 5,000 spectators was first voiced in 1927, and from the very beginning the venue was built in collaboration between MAHA and the Selangor football association. Initially three sites were nominated for the venue; at Gaol Road, at the intersection of Jalan Bukit Bintang and Circular Road, and at Jalan Pudu. The site chosen was ultimately at the intersection of Circular Road and Jalan Ampang, and according to press reports of the time, it began construction in 1928 and was completed the following year. The specific location of the stadium is not known, it is only said in press reports to be behind a police station at this intersection, which is the current Jalan Tun Razak police station.When it was completed, MAHA was sued by the surrounding residents because it was said that the football matches held there disturbed public order. Although the suit was in favor of the stadium owners, Selangor only began to make the stadium their official ‘home ground’ in 1931, in the Malaya Cup against Penang on July 18, a match that ended in a 5–3 victory for Selangor. The squad played a total of 20 times at this stadium between 1931 and 1940, and won 14 times. The eight finals of the Malaya Cup were held here with Selangor being finalists four times. However, the club won only one final, in a 2–0 win over Singapore FA in 1935. Their last match here was nine years later, against Kedah in the Malaya Cup on 20 July 1940.
In the aftermath of the Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945, the MAHA Stadium was damaged which made it unusable and was subsequently destroyed. The current site of the former MAHA Stadium has now become an area for car dealers, with a shopping mall right next to the Jalan Tun Razak police station, also included are residential and embassy areas. In this neighborhood there are several fields and open spaces owned by Kelab Aman, SJKC Chung Hwa, and a cricket association.
1937–1960: Between World War II and Independence
The outbreak of World War II slowed down FAS' efforts to develop domestic football. The effort was started aggressively as soon as the war ended. Efforts to upgrade state football continued with the association laying out plans to construct a new football stadium for the state team. The state team prior to the war played at MAHA Stadium in Jalan Ampang and in the intervening years at Selangor Field Club, the team's new home ground clearly required a stadium in line with the association's direction. The association management met the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur several times for permission to construct the stadium but a solution couldn't be found. The impasse meant that Selangor's home stadium plan had to be put on hold.However, the appointment of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj as the first official FAS president was a right move for the association. After becoming Prime Minister of the newly independent Federation of Malaya in 1957, Tunku Abdul Rahman pioneered the stadium construction business and ordered the construction of Stadium Merdeka to celebrate the country's independence as well as being Selangor's official new home stadium. Stadium Merdeka also served as the occasional home ground of the Malaysia national football team as well as the staging of international sporting events.
After 1951, Tunku Abdul Rahman vacated the presidency of the FAS. He was succeeded by the Independent MP for Bangsar constituency and also a teacher by profession, S.C.E. Singam, who became the second official FAS president until 1953, where he was succeeded by K. Sundram. Between 1951 and 1960, the club won two Malaysia Cups in 1956 and 1959, finishing as runners-up in 1957 and 2 Malaysia FAM Cups in 1953 and 1960, finishing as runners-up in 1952 and 1955.
1961–1983: Era of Harun Idris' leadership
Dato' Seri Harun Idris is synonymous with football in Selangor and Malaysia in the 1960s to the early 1980s. He ran as president of the FAS for 21 years from 1961 to 1983. During his leadership, Selangor won 15 Malaysia Cups as well as doing a lot of positive changes for the association. The club was originally headquartered at the MCA building in Jalan Ampang before the construction of Wisma FAS in 1973 at Merdeka Stadium under the president's and club manager Hamzah Abu Samah's efforts.In that time, the club won the Malaysia Cup 15 times.
1983–1989: Ahmad Razali Mohd Ali era
Tan Sri, who was the Chief Minister of Selangor at that time became FAS President from 1983 to 1989. In the 1984 Malaysian League season, under his leadership Selangor won their first ever Malaysian top division football league title, a league that was first introduced with a winner's trophy in 1982. Additionally, Selangor also won the Malaysia Cup in 1984 to achieve a historic league and cup double, a first in the history of Malaysian football.The club also won the Malaysia Cup in 1986 where legends Mokhtar Dahari and R. Arumugam made their final appearances. In 1989, the club also won the rebranded Semi-Pro League Division 1 that replaced the Malaysian League as the country's top-flight football league. It was the final trophy under Ahmad Razali's leadership.