Dato' Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The title of the wife of Datuk is Datin. Origin The oldes ...

Shahdan bin Sulaiman (born 9 May 1988) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Geylang International and the Singapore national team.

Club career

LionsXII

Shahdan previously played for S.League clubs

Home United Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club competing in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, the ...

, Tampines Rovers & Young Lions. He moved to play for the LionsXII in the Malaysia Super League for the 2012 season. In 2012, while playing for the LionsXII, Shahdan Sulaiman's impressive form had attracted the attention of the Thai scouts from

Pattaya United F.C. Pattaya United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลพัทยา ยูไนเต็ด) was a Thai football club based in Pattaya, Chonburi Province. Defunct after the 2018 season, the club was renamed to Samut Prakan ...

who likened him to be a player in the mould of Kaka due to his vision and passing ability. He was briefly considered by the Thai club to join as part of their foreign Asian player scheme, but the move did not happen.

Tampines Rovers

He joined Tampines Rovers in the 2013 season after he was left out of the LionsXII squad as the squad was mostly made up of U-23 players in preparation of the Southeast Asian Games. In 2013, he signed a 23 months contract with his old club Tampines Rovers. He finished the 2013 season with 4 goals and 9 assists. At the end of 2014, while playing for the national team in the AFF Championship, he picked up an injury which ruled him out for 6 months of the 2015 season.

Back to LionsXII

Following his recovery from a long-term injury he picked up at the end of 2014, Shahdan re-joined the LionsXII in 2015. He made his long awaited comeback in a game against Sime Darby as a late substitute in May 2015. In his next match against

ATM FA Armed Forces Football Club, commonly known as Armed Forces, enters a team in Malaysian football competitions to represent the Malaysian Armed Forces. The club's home stadium is the Mindef Stadium. The club currently plays in the 3rd division of ...

, he scored with his first touch of the ball and made his first start in July, against

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...

Re-signing for the Stags

In January 2016, after the disbandment of LionsXII, he went back to

Tampines Rovers FC Tampines Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singapore football league system. Founded in 1945, the club have won the national league c ...

, although he has had to take a huge pay cut. Shahdan played a key role in the team, starting 10 out of 10 league games for the stags before he then missed a huge chunk of the season due to an injury that he picked up in the 90th minute of an

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 s ...

tie with

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

at the

Singapore Sports Hub The Singapore Sports Hub (Chinese: 新加坡体育城; Malay: Hab Sukan Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் விளையாட்டு மையம்) is a sports and recreation district in Kallang, Singapore. The Sports H ...

. He marked his return in late October, helping his team to a 3-1 win over the Young Lions and eventually secured a place in the national team for the

2016 AFF Championship The 2016 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016, was the 11th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). The whole tourn ...

. Shahdan remained with the stags for the

2017 S.League The 2017 S.League (also known as the Great Eastern Hyundai S.League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the S.League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996. The ...

season. He had a good season, scoring 6 goals in all competitions, with his performances attracting interest from MSL side

Melaka United Melaka United Football Club () was a defunct Malaysian professional football club based in Malacca that competes in the Malaysia Super League. They were owned by Kenteam Sdn Bhd which is one of nitrile glove producer in Malaysia. Previously, th ...

Melaka United

Shahdan signed for Malaysia Super League side

for the 2018 MSL season on a season long loan from the Stags to fill their ASEAN foreign player slot.

Returning to Tampines Rovers

Shahdan returned to the Stags for the

2019 Singapore Premier League The 2019 Singapore Premier League (also known as the AIA Singapore Premier League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 2nd season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since ...

season and had a stellar season where he was one of three nominees for the Player of the Year award.

Lion City Sailors

Shahdan then signed for the

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...

's first privatised club, the

Lion City Sailors Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club competing in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, the t ...

for the

2020 Singapore Premier League The 2020 Singapore Premier League (also known as the AIA Singapore Premier League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 3rd season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since ...

season.

International career

Shahdan got his first goal for the national team in a 2–2 draw with

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, scoring a last gasp equaliser to help the Lions come back from behind. As of December 2017, Shahdan has amassed 51 caps for the senior national team.

Career statistics

Club

¹ Includes Singapore Cup and

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 Fo ...

.
² Includes

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 ...

and Singapore League Cup.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Singapore's goal tally first.''

Honours

Singapore * ASEAN Football Championship: 2012 Tampines Rovers *

S. League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

* Singapore Cup:

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 ...

Lion City Sailors *

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 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Others

Singapore Selection Squad

He was selected as part of the Singapore Selection squad for The Sultan of Selangor's Cup to be held on 24 August 2019.

References

External links

*
Fas.org.sg

Goal.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shahdan Sulaiman 1988 births Living people Singaporean footballers Singapore international footballers Singaporean expatriate footballers Home United FC players Tampines Rovers FC players Singapore Premier League players LionsXII players Association football midfielders Malaysia Super League players Young Lions FC players Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2011 Southeast Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Singapore Lion City Sailors FC players