Kedah Darul Aman Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kedah Darul Aman) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club based in

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Jawi: الور ستار, Kedahan: ''Loqstaq'') is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malays ...

, Kedah, that competes in the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

. They are the only team in the history of Malaysian football to have won two trebles: in 2006–07 and 2007–08. The club is managed by Darulaman Football Club Sdn Bhd.

History

The football team was founded in 1924 by Tunku Yaacob ibni

Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah Paduka Sri Sultan Sir Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Mukarram Shah (4 June 1864 – 13 May 1943) was the 26th Sultan of Kedah. He reigned from 1881 to 1943. Foreign relations During his reign, the Sultan had asked ...

as president, though they only had limited success until the appointment of Ahmad Basri Akil as manager in 1985. Under Ahmad Basri Akil, the club qualified for six

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the nation's o ...

final matches in a seven-year period between 1987 and 1993; and won two

titles, one league title and one

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

title. The club experienced a lean period in the 1980s and 1990s, but enjoyed a revival in the new millennium by achieving back-to-back domestic trebles under Azraai Khor. However, the club experienced a dip in performances thereafter as a result of the loss of their influential import players; including

Nelson San Martín Nelson Marcelo San Martín Arriagada (born 17 May 1980) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career As a child, San Martín was with the Colo-Colo youth team until the age of 15. Then he moved to the tra ...

Cornelius Huggins Cornelius Bernard Huggins, (born June 1, 1974), also known as Outlaw between fans, is a footballer from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines formerly playing as a centre back and a vice-captain for Kedah FA in the Malaysian Super League. Career His ...

and Marlon James. Problems with the new management team also led to Azraai Khor's departure. The club were relegated to the second-tier of Malaysian football, the

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leag ...

, after losing 3–2 in the playoff final to Sri Pahang in a penalty shootout during the 2012 Super League season.

Marijo Tot Marijo Tot (; born 2 June 1972) is a Croatian football manager and former player who played as a left back. He last served as assistant coach of the Iranian national team under Dragan Skočić. As a player, he has played for Inter Zaprešić ...

was hired to replace Wan Jamak in an attempt to bring the club back to Malaysia Super League during the 2013 Premier League season, which also saw the return of former Kedah Darul Aman's talisman,

. In the 2014 season the club signed

Billy Mehmet Billy Osman Mehmet (born 3 January 1984) is a professional footballer who last played as a striker for of Northern Cyprus. Born in London, of English, Irish and Turkish Cypriot descent, he has played for the Republic of Ireland U21 team. Me ...

, who made an immediate impact. He helped the club reach the semi-final of the Malaysia Cup, winning the first leg 3–1, but ultimately lost the second leg 5–1. Billy Mehmet ended the season as the club's top goal scorer in the Malaysia Premier League as well as the club's top goal scorer in all competitions. He was also the second highest goal scorer in all competitions at all levels in Malaysian professional football. Prior to the 2021 season, the club changed its name from Kedah FA to Kedah Darul Aman F.C.

Crest and colours

Kedah Darul Aman Football Club's traditional colours are red and black, but the home kit's colours have been green and yellow since 1988. The colours were the result of the former Kedah Football Association Deputy President, Ahmad Basri Akil's request for a different set of colours for the home kit. The colours of green and yellow were chosen as they referenced the state's nickname of ''Jelapang Padi'' or ''Paddy field''. The current club crest were announced by Ahmad Basri Akil alongside the club's official colours of green and yellow in 1988. Green dominates the background; the side of the crest shows 11 joint bordered lines which signify the 11 districts of the Kedah state. At the centre of the crest is a ball and Allamanda flowers; as the flower is green and yellow in colour, with the team motto () written in yellow.

Stadium

The club is currently based at the all-seater

Darul Aman Stadium The Darul Aman Stadium ( ms, Stadium Darul Aman) is a multi-purpose all-seater stadium in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium was opened officially by the Sultan of Kedah in 1962 during M ...

, located in

, Kedah. It has a capacity of 32,387 seats and was opened in 1962.

Club culture

Supporters

The song ''Biar Jasa Jadi Kenangan'', once again idealised and written by Ahmad Basri Akil and famously recorded by a Malaysian musician Freddie Fernandez, is the anthem of the club, and has been sung by the crowd since 9 September 1987 after the club reached their first

semi-final match since 1940. This famous song is sung by the club's fanatic fans to boost their beloved players' morale. The well-known and popular chants among the club supporters is ''Pulun Kedah Pulun''. It is use since late 80's as "words of spirit" during and off the game, and as the slogan among supporters. It was inspired by the idea from Abdul Rashid Fadzil, the former Head of Kedah Fan Club.

Kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor

Club record

Accurate as of 2021 ''Note'': *Pld = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, F = Goals for, A = Goals against, D = Goal difference, Pts= Points, Pos = Position Source:

Honours

Domestic

League

* Division 1/Premier 1/Super League (3):

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, 2006–07, 2007–08 **Runners-up (6):

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* Division 2/Premier 2/Premier League (4):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, 2005–06,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

**Runners-up (1):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

Cup

Malaysia FA Cup The Malaysia FA Cup ( ms, Piala FA) is an annual national knock-out football tournament in Malaysia. The cup was first held in 1990. The competition was previously managed by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), before being transferred to F ...

(5):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

**Runners-up (1):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

(5): 1990, 1993, 2007, 2008,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

**Runners-up (9): 1940, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 2004,

* Malaysian Charity Cup (3): 1991, 1994,

**Runners-up (6): 1997, 2008, 2009,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Youth

* Malaysian President's Cup (3): 1991, 2000, 2003 **Runners-up (1): 2018 * Malaysian Youth Cup (1): 2017

Double

Treble

Kedah Darul Aman's former assistant coach Muhamad Radhi Mat Din said,

Continental record

''All results (home and away) list Darulaman FC's goal tally first.''

Performance in AFC competitions

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

: 1 appearance **

: Play-off round *

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying ...

: 2 appearances **

: Quarter-final **

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

: Round of 16

Rivalries

The

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the M ...

-based Penang FC are the biggest rivals of the club. The club's fans consider their main rivalries to be with (in order)

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces ...

and

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand' ...

. Matches against fellow northern region sides Tambun Tulang, Kuala Muda Naza, Kedah United,

Sungai Ara Sungai Ara is a residential neighbourhood within the city of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. It is located within the Southwest Penang Island District, adjacent to the town of Bayan Lepas. Sungai Ara also borders Relau to the north ...

, PBAPP, SDMS Kepala Batas and Perak YBU have only taken place intermittently, due to the clubs often being in separate divisions.

Northern Region Derby

Northern Region Derby is the name given to football matches that involves Kedah Darul Aman and Penang. Both them are located in the north of Malaysia. Bandaraya Stadium and

are packed by fans from both clubs during the derby matches. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere, with numerous banners unfolded before the start of the game.

Friendships

Although the club's main rivals mostly are from the northern region of Malaysia, especially

, but there is also a strong supporter of friendship with

and there are good relations with the fans of and

"This is Utara", which means "This is the north", is a slogan which shows their good friendships among the clubs.

Players

First-team squad

Under-23s

Under-19s

Head coaches

Club officials

Senior officials

Team officials

References

External links

Official website

Kedah League's website

Galerihijaukuning.com
{{Malaysia football champions Malaysia Super League clubs Football clubs in Malaysia Football associations in Malaysia Malaysia Cup winners 1924 establishments in British Malaya Sports organizations established in 1924