Datuk James Wong (born 26 June 1953) is a former

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who is a striker for

Malaysia national football team The Malaysia national football team () represents Malaysia in international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Malaysia. The national team is recognised by FIFA as the successor of the defunct Malaya national football ...

and

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

. He also played as a goalkeeper for the Malaysia youth team in the 1971 AFC Youth Championship. He was known as ''King James'' by the local fans.

Career Overview

Wong is the first

an to represent Malaysia in 1971. In 1974, He made his way going abroad to joined Hakoah Sydney, the Australian club, at the invitation of former Malaysia head coach,

Dave MacLaren David MacLaren (12 June 1934 – 6 December 2016) was a footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Although born in Scotland, he spent most of his playing career in England, before turning to management in Malaysia and Australia. Playing caree ...

. He played professionally for the club in

New South Wales Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, the organising body in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Norther ...

for two years. Wong is well-known for his physical and finishing touch. His partnership with

Hassan Sani Hassan Sani (born 31 August 1958) is a former Malaysian football player. Career Overview He played for Sabah and Kuala Lumpur in the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup in the late 1970s and in the 1980s. Hassan start representing Malaysia i ...

produced many memorable goals for Sabah and Malaysia. The most memorable one was in the 1980 Olympic games qualification. In the qualification, Malaysia won the play-off against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

with a 2–1 score at the

Merdeka Stadium The Stadium Merdeka (also known as Merdeka Stadium/; English: Independence Stadium) is a stadium based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is known as the site of the formal declaration of independence of the Federation of Malaya on 31 August 1957. ...

. Wong himself scored the winning goal off a pass from Hassan. Unfortunately, Malaysia did not go as it joined the US-led boycott against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

for its role in supporting the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA),, renamed the Republic of Afghanistan, in 1987, was the Afghan state during the one-party rule of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992. The PDPA came to power ...

against the Islamic Unity of Afghanistan Mujahideen. Wong also appeared for Malaysia in six qualifying matches of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Honours

Club

;Sabah Youth * Burnley Cup: 1969 ;Sabah *

Malaysian League The Malaysian League or also known as the M-League (Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M'') is a terminology used to describe the professional association football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and it ...

Tournament runner-up: 1979 *

Borneo Cup Borneo Cup (Malay: Piala Borneo) is a football tournament held in East Malaysia and Brunei. It was founded in 1950s and abolished in 1989. The tournament was played in Borneo since the 1950s, perhaps earlier. Before the establishment of Malaysi ...

: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980

International

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

King's Cup __NOTOC__ King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King Cup (sometimes named King's Cup), Saudi Arabian men's football nati ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Individual

top scorer: 1970, 1972, 1977, 1980 * National Day Award - Outstanding achievement of all time: 2012 *

Goal.com GOAL is an international association football news website for FC Barcelona fans founded in 2004 by Chicco Merighi and Gianluigi Longinotti-Buitoni. It is published in 19 languages, with 38 national editions and 600 contributors. It is owned by ...

The best Malaysia XI of all time: 2020

Orders

* : **

Commander of the

Order of Kinabalu The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu (Malay: ''Darjah Yang Amat Mulia Kinabalu'') is the only order conferred by the Governor of Sabah, Malaysia. Background The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu is established by virtue of Section 3(a) of State Honou ...

(PGDK) – Datuk (2016)

Further career

In 2015, he together with Hassan was appointed as one of the members for the management team of Sabah FA.

References

1953 births Living people Malaysian footballers Malaysian people of Hakka descent Malaysia international footballers Malaysian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Association football goalkeepers People from Sabah Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) players Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) managers Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent People from Kota Kinabalu Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for Malaysia Southeast Asian Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1977 Southeast Asian Games {{Malaysia-footy-goalkeeper-stub