Shahrul bin Mohd Saad (born 8 July 1993) is a Malaysian professional

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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Malaysia Super League club

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super ...

and the Malaysia national team. Shahrul plays mainly as a

but can also plays as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Shahrul started his career at

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's ...

youth team. He was then transferred to Malaysia national youth setup and has played for

Harimau Muda B Harimau Muda B was the club name for the former Malaysia Under-21 National Football Team and was managed by the Football Association of Malaysia. The national team played as a club under the name Harimau Muda B which took part in Malaysia Premi ...

in the 2011 Malaysia league and

Harimau Muda A Harimau Muda A was the club name for the former Malaysia Under-22 National Football Team, representing Malaysia in international football (soccer), football competitions such as the AFC U-22 Asian Cup, Champions Youth Cup as well as other under ...

in the 2012 Singapore S.League. In 2014 he played 22 matches for Harimau Muda in the Australian National Premier Leagues. In 2015, he graduated from the national youth setup and was signed by Felda United. At Felda, he was converted from a defender to a defensive midfielder by head coach

Irfan Bakti Abu Salim Irfan Bakti Abu Salim is a Malaysian football coach, who is head coach of the Malaysia Premier League club Kuching City. Playing career He had played with Kelantan FA and ATM FA in 1970s. He also was in the Malaysia squad for the 1976 AFC As ...

. He made his debut in the second match of 2015 Malaysia Super League against Sime Darby coming on from a bench in the 81st minute. He made his first start against Johor Darul Ta'zim on 3 May 2015 and become a regular until the end of the season. His only league goal for Felda was in the final league match against Johor Darul Ta'zim, where Felda won 2-1. In 2016, Shahrul returned to Perak FC. He won the 2018 Malaysia Cup with Perak and finished as league runners up in 2018, hence qualified to the

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 ...

play-off round. On 8 May 2021, Shahrul joined

. He was given the number 32 shirt. He made his debut against Sabah in the

2021 Malaysia Cup The 2021 Malaysia Cup (Malay: ''Piala Malaysia 2021'') was the 95th edition of Malaysia Cup tournament organised by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysian Football League (MFL). The defending champions were Johor Darul Ta'zi ...

. He also scored his first goal for Johor Darul Ta'zim in the same competition against Kelantan.

International career

In 2012, Shahrul played his first match for the national under 23 team in the final match of 2012 Olympic qualifiers against Syria. He featured in two Southeast Asian Games (2013 and 2015) and 2014 Asian Games for the Malaysia national under 23 team. He also a part of the 2013 Merdeka Tournament winning team and played for the 2013 Malaysia Universiade team. Shahrul made his debut for Malaysia national football team in late 2015 by national coach

Ong Kim Swee Ong Kim Swee () is a Malaysian football manager and former footballer, who is the Head coach of Malaysia Super League club Sabah. He spent most of his career playing for East Malaysian teams, notably Sarawak and Sabah during the mid 1990s. Ong ...

Career Statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 8 June 2022. Malaysia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Shahrul Saad goal.

Personal life

Shahrul has two older brother who also have played professional football,

Shahrizal Saad Shahrizal bin Mohd Saad (born 5 June 1987) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays for Hanelang in the Malaysia FAM League as a forward. Career Shahrizal started his career at Perak FA and he also played for the Perak President Cup ...

and Syamsul Saad. Like him, both brothers have played for

and Malaysia national team. Shahrul even played under Syamsul when his brother was the head coach of Perak in 2016.

Honours

Club

; Perak TBG * Malaysia Super League runner-up:

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

runner-up:

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 ...

; Johor Darul Ta'zim *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* Malaysia Super League:

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 ...

* Piala Sumbangsih:

International

Malaysia U23 *

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

: 2013 Malaysia * AFF Championship runner-up:

Individual

* Malaysia Football League Best Defender: 2018, 2019

References

External links

* {{Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. squad 1993 births Living people Malaysian footballers Malaysia international footballers People from Perak Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players Perak F.C. players Felda United F.C. players Association football defenders Association football midfielders Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Malaysia