Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin (born 29 May 1979) is a former 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 ...

who last played in the

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 ...

. Once touted as a successor to golden boy

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 pla ...

, he can play as an

attacking 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 ...

or striker with his talented playmaking skills. He was also capable of playing as a full-back later in his career. However, due to his consistent bad disciplinary track record for the national team and club sides, he is deemed the 'bad boy' of Singapore football. Ahmad Latiff's various nicknames include the frequently used "bad boy of Singapore football" for his disciplinary problems on and off the pitch, and also "the blond bombshell" in reference to his bleached blond hair.

Club career

Youth career

Ahmad Latiff started his career at Police FC (now known as

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 ...

) in 1996, before moving to Tampines Rovers Youth Academy the following year.

Geylang United

Ahmad Latiff moved to

Geylang United Geylang International Football Club is a professional football club based in Bedok, Singapore, which plays in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was founded in 1973 with the purpose of building a s ...

in 1997 for a first chance of senior football appearance. His flamboyant performances caught the eyes of many top football coaches in Asia, who were confident that he would be the next big thing in Asian football. However, his disciplinary problems had got the best of him and he failed to live up to the high expectations set for him.

SAFFC

In 1999, Ahmad Latiff moved to

SAFFC Warriors Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on 20 January 2013, they were previously known as the Singapo ...

where he helped the club win the

title the following season.

Persikabo Bogor

In 2001, Ahmad Latiff made his first career move abroad to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

joining Liga 3 club,

Persikabo Bogor Persikabo Bogor was a football club based in Cibinong, Bogor Regency. They competed for the last time in Liga 3 2018, the third tier of Indonesian football. Their home stadium was Pakansari Stadium and also used Persikabo Stadium for traini ...

Returned to SAFFC

Ahmad Latiff returned to SAFFC in 2002, where he played as a playmaker instead of a striker in which he led the team to the

2002 S.League 2002 S.League was the seventh season of Singapore's professional football league. It was won by Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and de ...

title victory.

Woodlands Wellington

In 2004, Ahmad Latiff moved to

Woodlands Wellington Woodlands Wellington Football Club is an inactive professional football club which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. They are based in Woodlands at the 4,300 seater Woodlands Stadium, where they have played sin ...

, but he was unable to capture the blistering form from his days in SAFFC.

Johor FA

Eventually, in 2006, Ahmad Latif made his move abroad once again to Johor FA, which played in the

Malaysian Premier League 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 ...

. He played well for the side along with fellow Singaporean and

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

skipper, Aide Iskandar.

Loan to Tampines Rovers

After the Malaysian football season ended, he was loaned together with Aide Iskandar to

Tampines Rovers 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 ...

for the rest of

season.

Returned to Woodlands Wellington

Prior to the start of the

2007 S.League 2007 S.League was the twelfth season of Singapore's professional football league. It was won by Singapore Armed Forces, which was their sixth league title. Changes from 2006 * Korean Super Reds represented the Korean community in Singapore. They w ...

season, Ahmad Latiff returned to his former club,

. He was then appointed as the club captain by the then-manager, Jörg Steinbrunner, and led

to their first piece of silverware in their history, the inaugural

2007 Singapore League Cup The inaugural Singapore League Cup was held in 2007. The tournament was held before the start of the S.League season that year. Prior to this tournament, there is another tournament with the same name that was held until in 1997 where the Singapo ...

Third spell at SAFFC

On 2 July 2008, Ahmad Latiff made his return debut for

in the 2008 S.League. It was his third spell at the club after previously playing for the SAFFC back in 1999 and 2002. Latiff made very important contributions to SAFFC in his third spell, scoring against

PSMS Medan Persatuan Sepakbola Medan dan Sekitarnya, commonly known as PSMS, is an Indonesian football club based in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of Indonesia's most successful clubs. They currently compete in Liga 2, the second level in Ind ...

in the qualifying round to send the Warriors into the

2009 AFC Champions League The 2009 AFC Champions League was the 28th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 7th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

group stages for the very first time. On 5 May 2009, he also netted a splendid volley against

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

in the fifth game of the competition's group stages, helping his team win their first ever point in the AFC Champions League in a 1–1 draw.

Tampines Rovers

In 2010, Ahmad Latiff moved to

where he helped them to two consecutive

titles in 2011 and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. Since returning to the

in 2009, he has appeared in 29

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

matches, with SAFFC in the

and

2010 AFC Champions League The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

, as well as

in the

2011 AFC Cup The 2011 AFC Cup was the eighth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Allocation of entries per association *2 teams to qualify from each ...

and

2012 AFC Cup The 2012 AFC Cup was the ninth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Al-Kuwait from Kuwait won their second AFC Cup title in four years, ...

, scoring 5 goals in the process.

International career

Ahmad Latiff made his debut for

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, bor ...

against

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

on 24 May 1997. In 1998, his sterling performances led Singapore to win the

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 Footbal ...

, the nation's first international trophy, despite getting sent off in the final win against Vietnam. However, due to his poor disciplinary track record, he had been in and out of the Singapore team since the 1998 Tiger Cup win. Ahmad was recalled to the Singapore in 2006 after his good performances for Johor FA but was axed by coach Raddy Avramovic after he reacted angrily to the coach's decision to substitute him after just 25 minutes during Singapore's Asian Cup qualifying match against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. Ahmad has never played for Singapore since that incident.

Club career statistics

Ahmad Latiff Khamaruddin's Profile
:All numbers encased in brackets signify substitute appearances. :*Tampines Rovers appeared in the AFC Cup in 2011 & 2012.

International goals

Honours

Club

;Singapore Armed Forces *

: 2002,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, 2009 *

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost football cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

;PDRM *

Malaysia Premier League 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 ...

: 2006–07 ;Tampines Rovers *

: 2011,

: 2006 ;Woodlands Wellington *

Singapore League Cup The Singapore League Cup was an annual soccer competition in Singapore. It was launched in 2007, and was open to teams who play in the S.League. The 2007 competition was sponsored by SingTel, and officially titled the SingTel League Cup. Eight of ...

: 2007

International

Singapore *

AFF Championship 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 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Individual

*SAFFC-Warriors' Player of the Year: 2010

References

Videos

youtube.com

External links

*
sleague.comdata2.7m.cn
* *
safwarriors.com.sgsafwarriors.com.sg
{{Tanjong Pagar United FC Singaporean men's footballers Singapore men's international footballers Singaporean expatriate men's footballers Warriors FC players Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia 1979 births Living people Geylang International FC players Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Expatriate men's footballers in Indonesia Persikabo Bogor players Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Happy Valley AA players Woodlands Wellington FC players Tampines Rovers FC players Polis Diraja Malaysia FC players Tanjong Pagar United FC players Singapore Premier League players Men's association football forwards