Matthew Davies (footballer)

Matthew Davies
Personal information
Full name Matthew Thomas Davies[1]
Date of birth (1995-02-07) 7 February 1995
Place of birth Perth, Australia
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing position Right back
Club information
Current team
 Pahang
Number 2
Youth career
2010–2012 A.I.S
2012–2015 Perth Glory
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 Perth Glory 16 (0)
2014 Perth Glory NPL 5 (1)
2015– Pahang 64 (2)
National team‡
2013 Australia U19 5 (0)
2015– Malaysia U23 15 (0)
2015– Malaysia 17 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 July 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 October 2018

Matthew Thomas Davies (born 7 February 1995) is an Australian-born Malaysian professional football player who plays as a right back for Pahang in the Malaysia Super League. He started his professional career with Perth Glory at 18 years old. After playing for two seasons at Perth Glory Davies went on to Pahang in 2015 in the Malaysia Super League, after his first season Davies was given Captaincy for Pahang at just 21 years old, making him the youngest captain ever for Pahang and the first half Malaysian to become captain in the Malaysia Super League.

Davies has also made several appearances for the Malaysian national team, he was given his first international debut with caretaker coach Ong Kim Swee against Saudi Arabia during the World Cup qualifiers in September 2015 at 20 years old. Davies also featured for Malaysia at the 2015 SEA Games in Singapore back in June 2015.

Early life

Born in Perth, Western Australia, Davies grew up playing football from a young age, stating previously his brothers participation in the sport encouraged him to play.[3] Davies grew up as an Australian however his mother is from Sabah, Malaysia giving him the ability to attain Malaysian citizenship.

Davies moved to Malaysia when he was 20 years old due to his impatient nature in search of international football. "I left Australia because I’m impatient in nature … I wanted playing time and I knew I wasn’t going to get much by staying in Australia", he said. "The opportunity to play international football for the country my mother was born in was too good to refuse. There are not many A-League regulars in the Socceroos".[3]

Club career

Davies started his career with A.I.S in 2010. He captained the squad and was awarded player of the year and voted players player during his 2011/2012 NYL season with the AIS. Previously to this he was a product of the National Training Centre (NTC) programs in Western Australia.[4]

Perth Glory FC

Davies signed for Perth Glory FC and played in the National Youth League for Perth Glory FC Youth. In 2013-2014 season, Matthew was promoted to Perth Glory FC squad after signing a 2-year contract with the club. He went on to make his senior debut against Melbourne City FC on 27 October 2013. He spent 2 years with Perth Glory FC accumulating 16 senior appearances.[5]

Pahang FA

In April 2015, Davies signed with Malaysia Super League team, Pahang FA during the April transfer window. He was signed as a local player based on his Malaysian heritage.[4] In February 2016, Davies became captain of the Malaysia Super League team, Pahang shortly after the season had started. He is the youngest player ever to be given captaincy at just 21 years old and the first half-Malaysian to be given the honour in the Malaysia Super League, as he is half Australian and Malaysian.

Matthew Davies captained Pahang FA to victory in 2018, becoming the Malaysian FA cup winners. Davies became the youngest captain in the history of the competition to lift the FA cup at just 23 years of age. The year before Davies narrowly missed the opportunity to obtain the credential at 22 years old after losing to Kedah FA.[6]

Career statistics

Club

As of 29 September 2018[7]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental[nb 1] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Perth Glory 2013–14 A-League 1600000–160
2014–15 A-League 000000–00
Total 160000000160
Pahang 2015 Malaysia Super League90100020120
2016 Malaysia Super League 2012060–281
2017 Malaysia Super League 1817071–322
2018 Malaysia Super League 1706081–311
Total 642160212201044
Career total 802160212201204
Notes
  1. ↑ Includes cup competitions such as the AFC Champions Cup and AFC Cup

International

As of 12 October 2018[8]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Malaysia 201550
201670
201720
201830
Total170

International career

Australia U19

Davies was selected for the U19 Young Socceroos squad to represent Australia at the COTIF Tournament in L'Alcúdia, Spain from 12 to 21 August in 2013.

Malaysia U23

An Australian by birth, he chose to represent Malaysia at national level. He was eligible by virtue of his mother who was born in Malaysian state of Sabah.[9] He made his international debut for Malaysia's under-23 team at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games playing 4 out of 5 Group games. Malaysia Finished third in their group and were unsuccessful in qualifying for the semifinal.[10]

Malaysia

Davies has been called up for national team duty on multiple occasions. He debuted for the Malaysia national team on 8 September in a World Cup Qualifying game against Saudi Arabia in a 1–2 loss. He's since made numerous appearances for the Malaysian national team including representing Malaysia at the 2016 AFF Championship.[11]

Honours

Club

Perth Glory
Pahang FA

Individual

FAM Football Awards

International

Malaysia U-23

Silver Silver Medal: 2017[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Matthew Davies Profile". 2017 Southeast Asian Games. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "Matthew Davies (Perth Glory)". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 Vijhay Vick (8 November 2015). "Davies: I left Australia for Malaysia because of my impatient nature". FourFourTwo. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 Seng-Foo Lee (7 April 2015). "Pahang snap up Matthew Davies". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "Glory LEGEND welcomes YOUNG stars". Perth Glory FC. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Ooi Kin Fai. "Davies dedicates win to Pahang family". goal.com. Perform Group. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Matthew Davies Statistics". Soccer Punter. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Matthew Davies". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Zulhilmi Zainal (8 April 2015). "Transfer News: Pahang sign Perth Glory youngster". Goal.com. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "Ong Kim Swee names 20-man Malaysia squad for SEA Games". ESPN FC. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Chua Siang Yee (9 September 2015). "Malaysia match abandoned". The Straits Times. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  12. ↑ K. Rajan (20 December 2015). "Rightback Davies the only bright spark in Pahang's dim season". The Star. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "SEA Games: Malaysia loses to Thailand 1-0 in football final". The Star. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
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