2018 Selangor FA season

(Squad build and first transfers)

On 16 November, Selangor squad manager, Abd Rauf Ahmad confirmed that P. Maniam will retain as Selangor's coach for 2018 season.[1]

On 28 November, Ariffin Ab Hamid, manager of Selangor U21 squad confirmed that six players will be promoted to the first squad. Those players were Muhd Haziq Ridwan, Muhd Syukri Azman, Muhd Amirul Haziq Rasmizal, M. Tamil Maran, Muhd Azizul Baharuddin and D. Kugan.[2][3]

During the pre-season planning, P.Maniam also added a few new local players for the season, such as Sean Selvaraj (Negeri Sembilan), Azamuddin Akil (Johor Darul Ta'zim), Mohd Ashmawi Md Yakin (Negeri Sembilan), Joseph Kalang Tie (Pahang) and Shahrul Igwan Samsudin (Negeri Sembilan).[4][5][6]

A few Selangor key players for the last season left the club including Adam Nor Azlin who joins Johor Darul Ta'zim as the first signing for the club since 2017 season end.[7] Other transfers are Mohd Bunyamin Umar and Liberian Francis Forkey Doe to Pahang, Mohd Raimi Mohd Nor, Mohd Fitri Shazwan Raduwan and Nigerian Ugo Ukah to Penang who plays in second division, Rizal Fahmi Rosid to Negeri Sembilan, Zarif Irfan Hashimuddin to PKNS, S. Veenod to Kelantan and star player, Indonesian Andik Vermansyah to Kedah.[8][9][10][11][12]

In early December, Selangor signs for three new foreign players; young Indonesian players, Evan Dimas and Ilham Armaiyn, and a Brazilian defender Willian Pacheco.[13][14]

Selangor announces its fifth signing on 28 January, Alfonso de la Cruz, another Spanish footballer in addition Rufino Segovia del Burgo, who is retained from last season.[15][16]

Selangor first planned to go to Indonesia from 7 to 17 January for its pre-season campaign but it is cancelled for undisclosed reason.[17]

On 30 December, Selangor began its pre-season with a match against ATM FA at Kementah Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. The game ends with 1-1 draw. The goal from Selangor is contributed by the Spanish footballer, Rufino Segovia del Burgo.

In the next match against MISC-MIFA at USIM Mini Stadium in Negeri Sembilan, held on 5 January, Selangor suffers a big defeat with the final score 5-1 against Selangor. MISC-MIFA player, Kpah Sherman scores a hat-trick in the match while Selangor's goal is scored by its captain, Mohd Razman Roslan.[18]

Selangor recorded its first win on 10 January during a match against Terengganu F.C. II at Sime Darby Football Complex at Bukit Jelutong with 1-0, with the single goal scored by Selangor veteran, Mohd Amri Yahyah.

Selangor final friendly match, against Korea Republic third-tier club Daejeon Korail FC was scheduled on 26 January but due to bad weather, the match was postponed to the next morning. On the match played at National Sports Council pitch in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor won 3-1, with goals from Rufino Segovia del Burgo, M. Tamil Maran and Muhd Faizzudin Abidin.[19]

Overall, Selangor finishes the pre-season with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Although Selangor had signed Evan Dimas and Ilham Armaiyn as early as December, Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) does not allow them to join the rest of the team for their pre-season.[20] On 4 January, Selangor president, Subahan Kamal had flew to Jakarta to meet Edy Rahmayadi, PSSI president to find a solution and understanding between the two bodies. The negotiation is successful as Edy finally grants permission to the two Indonesian players to join Selangor's camp following Selangor agreement to comply to PSSI demand in return, which is to allow them to report to the Indonesia national under-23 football team camp when they are called.[21][22][23]

On 16 January, Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) President, Tunku Ismail releases a statement on the body official Facebook page that denies Selangor's application to use Bukit Jalil National Stadium as their home venue, citing that certain matches will collide with Malaysia national football team's calendar as the stadium is also used by the national team as their homeground.[24][25][26]

Following the rejection, Selangor approaches UiTM F.C. on 18 January in a bid to share their stadium but they were denied by the ground owner because of logistic and safety issues.[27]

On 26 January, Selangor's vice-president, Abdul Rauf Ahmad confirmed that they had gained permission from Kuala Lumpur City Hall to use Kuala Lumpur Stadium as their venue and only waiting for official confirmation from FMLLP.[28] On 30 January, it is reported that Kuala Lumpur FA president, Datuk Seri Adnan Md Ikhsan expressed his reluctance to share Kuala Lumpur stadium with Selangor this season because of the rivalries between the two teams. When he was asked to comment on his remarks, he told the reporters that he was joking and refused to comment on it further.[29]

On 28 January, Selangor launches its kits for 2018 season. The launching ceremony was held at Plaza Alam Sentral, Shah Alam and was attended by hundreds of Red Giants fans.[30][31]

Selangor officially kicks off its 2018 Malaysia Super League campaign on 4 February 2018 with a highly anticipated Klang Valley Derby match against Kuala Lumpur FA. Playing in their shared venue, Selangor played as away and claimed the title King of Klang Valley as they won the match 2-0, with both goals from Rufino Segovia.[32][33]

On 7 February, Selangor won 4-1 against Melaka United, with two goals each from Rufino Segovia and Muhd Syahmi Safari. The two consecutive wins allow Selangor to be on top of the league for the first two weeks.[34]

On 10 February, Selangor suffers its first lost at Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium in a match against Terengganu F.C. I. The final score is 1-4 to Terengganu as Selangor's only goal from Amri Yahyah came late at the 89th minute.[35][36][37]

On 11 February, Selangor announces its collaboration with local musician, Monoloque, to produce a new anthem song for the football team in a pre-launch event.[38][39][40]

After a week Chinese New Year break, Selangor comes back on 24 February only to lose against Pahang 1-3 on their own homeground. Selangor's goal was contributed once again by Rufino Segovia making him the team topscorer, as he had scored 5 goals for Selangor so far.[41]

On 1 March, Football Association of Malaysia's referees committee chairman, Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh announced that two referees from Selangor's match against Pahang FA on 24 February will be suspended for two weeks following the controversial penalty given to Pahang's side. During the match, Selangor's defender Willian Pacheco commits a hand ball outside the penalty box but a penalty was awarded despite Selangor's objection.[42][43]

Selangor starts its campaign in the FA Cup in the second round match against MOF F.C. on 4 March, following a first round bye. They won with 3-0, with a goal each from Amri Yahyah, Rufino Segovia and Muhd Syahmi Safari.[44]

Following a statement released by Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) on 19 February where Selangor was announced as one of the team failed to submit their registration document on time, on 7 March FMLLP announced that Selangor will have to pay RM 1.5 mil fine for the offense.[45][46]

On 11 March, Selangor faces their third defeat in a row in the Super League, this time against rival Perak TBG F.C. with 3-0 to Perak.[47] This result had spark anger from the fans that pushes for coach P. Maniam to be fired.[48] On 14 March, Selangor announces that Maniam had been rested and the assistant coach, Nazliazmi Mohd Nasir will takeover as a caretaker coach while Selangor finds a suitable candidate to replace the coach.[49][50]

The next game was held on 14 March, against Terengganu F.C. I. It was the first game played by Selangor after the changing in coaching staff. In the third round match of FA Cup, Selangor won 3-1. The goals was contributed by Amri Yahyah, Willian Pacheco and Evan Dimas.[51]

On 31 May 2018, the departing president, Subahan Kamal confirmed that Tengku Amir Shah will replace him as the football association's president after he left the sports body.[52][53][54]

Tengku Amir officially became the president of Selangor FA after receiving 81 nominations from 96 affiliates and won uncontested in the extraordinary congress that was held on 3 July 2018.[55][56] He stated that his goal as the new president is to make FA Selangor self-sustaining and become a commercially viable club. He aimed for the club to be able to not rely on state funding in five years.[57]

On 3 November 2018, a group of individuals called an Extraordinary Congress (EC) to elect new executive committee, citing that the appointment of several committee members are not lawful, including the position of several vice-presidents. The subsequent re-election showed total change in all posts, barring Tengku Amir who was re-elected as the president.[58] However, Tengku Amir later declared that the EC was invalid since it does not followed the proper procedure. It was also held without his consent and was not recognised by him and the association.[59] This was supported by the Football Association of Malaysia president, Hamidin Amin, who said that Tengku Amir is still the president of FAS and the congress was invalid as it was held without the president's consent.[60] Tengku Amir called the rogue faction to meet him at the palace to voice out their displeasure but only less than half of them attended it.[61] As a result, he removed 43 affiliate clubs from the association, stating that they no longer hold the same values and dreams as FA Selangor. The announcement was made through FAS social media accounts on 15 December 2018.[62]

20 November 2017 – 11 February 2018

Transfers in

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	Moving from	Type	Transfer fee	Date
6	MF	Evan Dimas	22	Bhayangkara	Contract expired	Free transfer	2 December 2017
7	MF	Sean Selvaraj	21	Negeri Sembilan	Contract expired	Free transfer	1 December 2017
12	FW	Azamuddin Akil	32	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Contract expired	Free transfer	30 November 2017
14	MF	Alfonso de la Cruz	31	Free agent	N/A	Free transfer	28 January 2018
15	DF	Mohd Ashmawi Md Yakin	23	Negeri Sembilan	Contract expired	Free transfer	4 December 2017
18	FW	Ilham Armaiyn	21	Bhayangkara	Contract expired	Free transfer	2 December 2017
19	MF	Joseph Kalang Tie	30	Pahang	Contract expired	Free transfer	20 November 2017
22	GK	Muhd Haziq Ridwan	21	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017
23	CB	Willian Pacheco	25	Persija Jakarta	Contract expired	Free transfer	4 December 2017
24	CB	Muhd Syukri Azman	20	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017
25	CB	Muhd Amirul Haziq Rasmizal	19	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017
27	CB	M. Tamil Maran	20	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017
28	MF	Shahrul Igwan Samsudin	23	Negeri Sembilan	Contract expired	Free transfer	4 December 2017
29	FW	Muhd Azizul Baharuddin	19	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017
30	MF	D. Kugan	20	Youth system	Promoted	N/A	27 November 2017

Transfers out

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	Moving to	Type	Transfer fee	Date
5	MF	K. Satish	23	Free agent	Contract expired	Free transfer	3 December 2017
7	MF	Andik Vermansyah	26	Kedah	Contract expired	Free transfer	9 February 2018
9	DF	Adam Nor Azlin	21	Johor Darul Ta'zim	Contract expired	Free transfer	18 November 2017
10	FW	Francis Forkey Doe	32	Pahang	Contract expired	Free transfer	9 February 2018
12	DF	Mohd Bunyamin Umar	29	Pahang	Contract expired	Free transfer	10 November 2017
15	DF	Mohd Raimi Mohd Nor	31	Penang	Contract expired	Free transfer	10 November 2017
17	DF	Rizal Fahmi Rosid	31	Negeri Sembilan	Contract expired	Free transfer	10 November 2017
18	DF	Ugo Ukah	33	Penang	Contract expired	Free transfer	10 November 2017
19	FW	Mohd Afiq Azmi	28	Free agent	Contract expired	Free transfer	10 November 2017
22	GK	Zarif Irfan Hashimuddin	22	PKNS	Contract expired	Free transfer	2 December 2017
23	MF	S. Veenod	29	Kelantan	Contract expired	Free transfer	22 November 2017
24	MF	Mohd Fitri Shazwan	29	Penang	Contract expired	Free transfer	22 November 2017
27	FW	Nurshamil Abd Ghani	23	Melaka United	Loan return	—	5 November 2017

Source: Competitions

  Win   Draw   Loss

  Win   Draw   Loss

Team	Home score	Away score	Double
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2–2	0–2	2–4
Kedah	1–2	0–4	1–6
Kelantan	4–0	1–2	5–2
Kuala Lumpur	3–3	2–0	5–3
Melaka United	4–1	2–3	6–4
Negeri Sembilan	2–1	1–3	3–4
Pahang	1–3	1–1	2–4
Perak	1–1	0–3	1–4
PKNP	1–1	2–0	3–1
PKNS	2–1	2–2	4–3
Terengganu	2–0	1–4	3–4

Second Round

MOF v Selangor

4 March 2018	MOF	0–3	Selangor	Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
21:00 UTC+08:00	Daniel Ong  81'	Report	Amri  70' Rufino  82' (pen.) Syahmi  90+3'	Stadium: KLFA Stadium Attendance: TBD[85] Referee: Mat Zan Abd Wahab

Third Round

Terengganu v Selangor

16 March 2018	Terengganu	1–3	Selangor	Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu
21:00 UTC+08:00	Shahrul  24' Thierry  60' Fitri  70'	Report	Amri  7' Rufino  27', 70' (pen.) Evan  62' Pacheco  83' Halim  90'	Stadium: Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah Stadium Attendance: TBD[86] Referee: Nagor Amir Noor Mohamed

First Leg

Kuala Lumpur v Selangor

7 April 2018	Kuala Lumpur	0–3	Selangor	Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
21:00 UTC+08:00	de Paula  26' Firdaus  53'	Report	Amri  12' Pacheco  20'  58' Rufino  24', 90+1' Halim  27'	Stadium: KLFA Stadium Attendance: TBD[87] Referee: Suhaizi Shukri

Second Leg

Selangor v Kuala Lumpur

21 April 2018	Selangor	0–3 (8–7 p)	Kuala Lumpur	Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
21:00 UTC+08:00	Ashraf  63' Sean  89'	Report	Zaquan  15'  104' Josué  45+2' Syazwan Andik  54' Anuar  90+2'	Stadium: KLFA Stadium Attendance: TBD[88] Referee: Mohd Nafeez Abdul Wahab
	Penalties
	Rufino Evan Sean Azamuddin Ilham Namathevan Kannan Sarkunan Ashraf		Josué Indra Zhafri Irfan Hafiz Syazwan Andik Akbarov Zaquan Firdaus

3–3 on aggregate. Selangor won 8–7 on penalties.

First Leg

Selangor v PKNS

23 June 2018	Selangor	4–0	PKNS	Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
21:00 UTC+08:00	Saiful  29' Rufino  39', 41', 56' Azmizi  64' (o.g.) Razman  88'	Report	Rodney  15' Shahrul  72'	Stadium: KLFA Stadium Attendance: TBD[89] Referee: Suhaimi Mat Hassan

Second Leg

PKNS v Selangor

30 June 2018	PKNS	1–1	Selangor	Shah Alam, Selangor
21:00 UTC+08:00	Sivakumar  20' Shahrul  23' Rodney  48' Jafri  61' Safee  64' Alif  90'	Report	Cruz  3' Rufino  71'	Stadium: Shah Alam Stadium Attendance: TBD[90] Referee: Muhd Nazmi Nasaruddin

Selangor won 5–1 on aggregate.

Selangor joined the competition in the group stage.

As of 16 September 2018 [98]

Appearances (Apps.) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only including sub appearances
Red card numbers denote: Numbers in parentheses represent red cards overturned for wrongful dismissal.

No.	Nat.	Player	Pos.	Super League				FA Cup				Malaysia Cup				Total
				Apps				Apps				Apps				Apps
1		Khairulazhan Khalid	GK	14				5				3				22
2		A. Namathevan	DF	13		2		4				2				19		2
3		K. Kannan	DF	21		2		6				6				33		2
4		Halim Zainal	MF	10		2		5		2		1				16		4
5		Amirul Ashraf	DF	8				4		1		4		1		16		2
6		Evan Dimas	MF	20	2	2		5	1			3	1			28	4	2
7		Sean Selvaraj	MF	13	2	1		1		1		6	1	1		20	3	3
8		Saiful Ridzuwan	MF	17	1	6		6		1		5		3		28	1	10
10		Rufino Segovia	FW	22	19	1		7	9			6	3			35	31	1
11		Faizzudin Abidin	MF	7								3				10
12		Azamuddin Akil	FW	6				3								9
13		Razman Roslan	DF	8		4		6		2		4		2		18		8
14		Alfonso de la Cruz	MF	18		2		4		2		3				25		4
15		Ashmawi Yakin	DF	7		1		3				2			1	12		1	1
16		K. Sarkunan	MF	5		1		1				4	1	1		10	1	2
17		Amri Yahyah	FW	22	3	2		6	1	3		5	1	2		33	5	7
18		Ilham Armaiyn	FW	16	1			7				3				26	1
19		Joseph Kalang Tie	MF	9		1		3				2	1			14	1	1
20		Syahmi Safari	MF	13	5			5	1			3		1		21	6	1
21		Norazlan Razali	GK	7				2				2				11
22		Haziq Ridwan	GK	3								1				4
23		Willian Pacheco	DF	14		6	1	5	1	2		6	1			25	2	8	1
24		Syukri Azman	DF	3								1				4
25		Amirul Haziq	DF	2												2
26		Fairuz Abdul Aziz	DF	3				1								4
27		M. Tamil Maran	DF	3												3
28		Shahrul Igwan	MF	6				2				4				12
29		Azizul Baharuddin	FW	2				1								3
30		D. Kugan	MF	12	2	3		6								18	2	3
32		Badrul Amin	FW									1				1
Own goals					0				1				0				1
Totals					35	36	1		14	14	0		9	11	1		58	61	2

Includes all competitive matches.

As of match played 16 September 2018

Rank	Pos.	No.	Player	Super League	FA Cup	Malaysia Cup	Total
1	FW	10	Rufino Segovia	19	9	3	31
2	MF	20	Muhd Syahmi Safari	5	1	0	6
3	FW	17	Mohd Amri Yahyah	3	1	1	5
4	MF	6	Evan Dimas	2	1	1	4
5	MF	7	Sean Selvaraj	2	0	1	3
6	DF	23	Willian Pacheco	0	1	1	2
	MF	30	D. Kugan	2	0	0	2
7	MF	8	Saiful Ridzuwan Selamat	1	0	0	1
	MF	16	K. Sarkunan	0	0	1	1
	MF	18	Ilham Armaiyn	1	0	0	1
	MF	19	Joseph Kalang Tie	0	0	1	1
Own Goals				0	1	0	1
TOTALS				35	14	9	58
Own Goals Conceded
1	MF	14	Alfonso de la Cruz	1	0	0	1
TOTALS				1	0	0	1