Thanabalan a/l Nadarajah (; born 25 February 1995) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Malaysia third division football league Malaysia M3 League (AFL)(M3) side Harini FT. He is known for his heading accuracy and is widely regarded as one of the best forwards in Malaysia.

Career

As a child Thanabalan regularly played football at school field of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil,

Sungai Gadut Sungai Gadut'is a small town in Seremban District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near Senawang. The place is surrounded by many smaller towns such including Taman Tuanku Jaafar, Bandar Seremban Selatan, Taman Pinggiran Senawang, Taman Senawang Per ...

, Seremban while trained by his own father. He later furthered his education at Tunku Ismail Sports School in Johor. In 2013, Thanabalan signed five-year contract with

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

. He was listed to the senior team in 2013 season and was given the number 28 jersey. He made his debut in a 2-0 home defeat against Pahang on 22 May 2013, coming in as substitutes in the 68 minutes replacing

Nazrin Nawi Mohd Nazrin bin Mohd Nawi (born 7 February 1988 in Tumpat, Kelantan) is a Malaysian footballer who last played for Kelantan in 2020 Malaysia Super League seasons. Nazrin plays mainly as a winger but can also play as an attacking midfielder. ...

. He also featured for the Negeri Sembilan U-21 in the

Malaysia President's Cup The Piala Presiden ( en, President Cup) is a developmental football competition in Malaysia for Under-21 players. The cup consists of developmental squad from clubs competing in the top and second division of Malaysian football league system, t ...

. In 2014 Thanabalan made his first ever league start for

against DRB-Hicom on 24 January 2014. He played for 68 minutes before being replaced by Fauzi Nan. During 2015 season, Thanabalan was allocated the number 33 shirt. Thanabalan made his first appearance of the 2015 season as a substitute in Negeri Sembilan's opening

Liga Premier 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 ...

match, a 1–1 draw at home against Kuantan. He made 14 appearances and scored 3 goals. Thanabalan was loan to FELCRA in 2017. He made his debut against Penjara FC in the

2017 Malaysia FA Cup The 2017 Malaysia FA Cup was the 28th season of the Malaysia FA Cup a knockout competition for Malaysia's state football association and clubs. The final was played between Pahang and Kedah at the Shah Alam Stadium in Shah Alam, Selangor. Kedah bea ...

. He made 13 appearances and scored 5 goals. He return to Negeri Sembilan in 2018 and made 12 appearances scoring 3 goals. In 2019, he transferred to Kedah. He made his debut in a 1-1 draw against Perak on 8 February 2019. He also won the

2019 Malaysia FA Cup The 2019 Malaysia FA Cup (also known as Shopee Malaysia FA Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th edition of the Malaysia FA Cup, a knockout competition for Malaysia's state football association and clubs. The winners were assured a place for th ...

and made 3 appearances in the competition. In 2020 season, Thanabalan was loan to Perak II. He made his debut in a 2-2 draw against Sarawak United on 29 August 2020. After his contract ended with Kedah, Thanabalan join Borneo based club Sabah and made a reunion with former Malaysia youth 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 ...

. He made 10 appearances in all competition for Sabah in 2021. In 2023 he joined second tier Malaysia M3 League side Harini FT, alongside few others ex Malaysia national team players.

International career

Thanabalan was capped at youth level with Malaysia. He made 6 appearances and 4 goals in

2017 Southeast Asian Games Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanes ...

. He also played in the final against Thailand which Malaysia lost 0–1 due to an own goal scored by Malaysian keeper Haziq Nadzli. Thanabalan was part of the national team that qualified for the

2018 AFC U-23 Championship The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ...

that took place in China and he scored 2 goals in 3 appearances during the qualification matches.

Personal life

Originated from Kampung Sagga,

Rantau Rantau (Chinese: 晏斗) is a small town and a mukim in Seremban District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Location Rantau is 16 km south of downtown Seremban, 20 km ENE of Port Dickson and 49 km south-east of Kajang, Selangor. It is ...

in the state of

, Thanabalan the oldest child of S. Nadarajah, who is paralysed from the chest down following a road accident in 2013 and V. Thirusundari who is a housewife. He has a younger brother and a younger sister, Keeteswaran and Keerthikaa.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Malaysia Under-23

Honours

Club

;Kedah *

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

: Runner-up

International

Malaysia U-23 * Southeast Asian Games : Silver Medal:

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 ser ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thanabalan Nadarajah 1995 births Living people Malaysian men's footballers Malaysian people of Tamil descent Malaysian sportspeople of Indian descent Negeri Sembilan FC players Felcra F.C. players Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) players Footballers from Negeri Sembilan Men's association football forwards SEA Games silver medalists for Malaysia SEA Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2017 SEA Games