Mohammad Shah Azahar bin Abdullah Ahar, formerly known as Philip Anak Ahar (born 11 December 1983) is a

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

an international

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 ...

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language * Iban people Given name Cycling * Iban Iriondo (born 1984) * Iban Mayo (born 1977) * Iban Mayoz (born 1981) Football * ...

descent who plays as a defender for Lun Bawang FC of the

Brunei Super League The Brunei Super League (''Liga Super Brunei'' in Malay) is a Bruneian professional league for association football. It is at the top flight of the Bruneian football league system and it is managed by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam ...

Club career

Philip, as he was previously known, started playing club football with

QAF FC QAF FC is a professional football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The club won the Brunei League in 2006 when the DPMM FC had to withdraw because they play in the Malaysian Premier League, thus the QAF FC won the title. Their captai ...

of the B-League Premier 1 in the 2005–06 season as an employee of Ben Foods (B), a company under the QAF corporation. His club won the Bruneian league championship for three seasons in a row while he was there. Shah Azahar joined

Jerudong FC Jerudong Football Club () is a Bruneian football club that plays in the Brunei Super League. With almost 30 years of service, the club has experienced its fair share of highs and lows while competing in the various leagues. The club has wor ...

once QAF FC waived entry into the 2015 Brunei Super League, along with many of his QAF teammates. He moved again to

Wijaya FC Wijaya Football Club (; abbrev: WFC) is a football club from Brunei that competes in the Brunei Super League. They are a founding member of both the B-League in 2002, as well as the Super League in 2012. They were also the inaugural winners o ...

for the following 2016 season. After several years off the pitch to focus on his running career, Shah Azahar rejoined Wijaya in June 2021.

International career

While still known as Philip Anak Ahar, he made his first foray into the international scene with

at the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup held in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. He made his debut and only appearance as a late substitute in the 2–1 win over

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

on 4 April. His next tournament was the

2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification phase saw five teams advance to the finals to join three automatic qualifiers in the final tournament in Sri Lanka. Qualification consisted of two sections. * A playoff between the 19th and 20th ranked entra ...

in which he played two games out of three, all as substitute. After solid displays with

, Shah Azahar was recalled into the international fold in mid-2015, taking the field in friendly games against

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 ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Honours

Team

;QAF FC *

Brunei Premier League DST Group Brunei Premier League ( ms, DST GROUP LIGA PERDANA BRUNEI) was the top-tier football league of Brunei until 2012, when it became the second tier of the football pyramid of Brunei with the creation of the Brunei Super League by the Nationa ...

(3): 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 *

Brunei League Cup Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by the ...

(2): 2008, 2009

Personal life

Besides football, Shah Azahar is also a

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

who has finished in first place at many locally-held events. Hailing from a family of runners, his eldest brother Sefli is a celebrated Bruneian marathon runner, while his elder brother Jimmy represented Brunei at the 2004 Summer Olympics for the men's 1500 metres on top of having played league football with MS PDB. Shah Azahar embraced

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and changed his name from Philip

circa Circa is a word of Latin origin meaning 'approximately'. Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), art platform based in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear com ...

2010.

External links

* * *

References

1983 births Living people Iban people Bruneian Muslims Converts to Islam Men's association football defenders Bruneian men's footballers Brunei men's international footballers QAF FC players Wijaya FC players Brunei Super League players {{Brunei-footy-bio-stub