Malek Awab is a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an former

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 ...

in the 1980s and 1990s. Malek Awab also once held the record for the most number of international caps for his country, Singapore (121 caps).

Football career

Club

Malek played for the

Kuala Lumpur FA Kuala Lumpur City Football Club, known simply as KL City FC, is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuala Lumpur. The club competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top level of Malaysian football, and was founded in 1974 as Feder ...

side that won the

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

in 1988.

International

Malek was spotted by national coach Jita Singh and brought on to the national team on 13 October 1980. Malek played in his first international game at

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 ...

, Bangkok, 1980. Representing the Lions in midfield, Malek was often seen running tirelessly for 90 minutes of the game, closing down on opposition players and making cutting runs into the opponents half. Together with

Fandi Ahmad Fandi bin Ahmad (born 29 May 1962) is a Singaporean professional football manager and former player. During his professional career, he mainly played as a striker, but also played as a midfielder. Along with the Singapore FA, he had also play ...

Abbas Saad Abbas Saad ( ar, عباس سعد; born 1 December 1967) is an Australian soccer manager and former player, who is currently managing National Premier Leagues NSW side Sydney Olympic. International career Born in Lebanon, Saad's family moved to ...

and

V. Sundramoorthy Varadaraju Sundramoorthy ( ta, வரதராஜு சுந்தரமூர்த்தி; born 6 October 1965) is a former Singaporean international footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, is widely touted as one of the country's mo ...

, they formed the backbone of the Singapore team that won the

in 1994. Malek played his last international match during the 1996

Tiger Cup The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Football ...

Coaching

After retirement from professional football, Malek coaches children at the Kaki Bukit Sports Club.

Career

Outside of football, Malek is a sales manager for Pacific Sports Private Limited since 1980s.

Personal life

Malek is married to seamstress Sharifah Nazihah.

Honours

Singapore Lions *

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

: 1994 *

: 1980, 1994

References

External links

Catching up with Malek AwabJPT Talk - Featuring Malek Awab
1961 births Living people Singaporean footballers Singapore international footballers FIFA Century Club Kuala Lumpur City F.C. players Singapore FA players Geylang International FC players 1984 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Association football midfielders Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1981 Southeast Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Singapore {{Singapore-footy-bio-stub