Mohd Faiz bin Subri (born 8 November 1987) 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 ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

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 Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

side

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

. He is best known for his banana free-kick goal which won him the 2016

FIFA Puskás Award The FIFA Puskás Award is an award established on 20 October 2009 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), at the behest of then-president Sepp Blatter, to be awarded to the male or female judged to have scored the mo ...

Early life

Faiz was born and raised in Ayer Hitam,

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...

. He is the third of five siblings. He received his primary and secondary education in

, at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tengku Laksamana and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Permatang Bonglai respectively, before transferring to Sekolah Menengah Teknik Arau in

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces ...

Club career

Kedah, Tambun Tulang, Perlis, T–Team

Faiz began his football career playing for the

youth team in 2006. In 2009, Faiz signed with

FAM League The FAM Cup (Malay: Piala FAM) was a knock-out tournament for teams in both the Malaysia M3 League and the Malaysia M4 League in Malaysia. The tournament was a cup format, but from 2008 to 2018 was held as a third-tier league tournament and used ...

club Tambun Tulang. He made 14 league appearances and 6 league goals during his season with the club. Tambun Tulang also

in Piala Emas Raja-Raja 2009. In 2010, Faiz signed with

side

. He played for two seasons with Perlis before decided to leave the club for T–Team and signed one-year contract with T–Team.

Kelantan, Terengganu

In 2013, Faiz signed one-year contract with

Kelantan FA Kelantan Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kelantan) is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The club plays in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football since 2023. Founded in 1946, the ...

along with his former teammate Zairo Anuar, where he score one goal against a Vietnamese football club, SHB Đà Nẵng in the AFC Cup group stage match. Faiz successfully made 28 appearances and 5 goals for Kelantan before his departure at the end of the 2013 season. In 2014, Faiz signed a one-year contract with

Terengganu FA Terengganu Football Club is a professional football club based in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia, that competes in Malaysia Super League, the first division of Malaysian football league system. Nicknamed "The Turtles", the club was founded ...

. He managed to make 14 appearances and 1 goal during his season with

Penang

After cutting short his stay with

, Faiz signed a contract with

Penang FA Penang Football Club (or simply known as Penang FC) is a Malaysian professional football club based in George Town, Penang, that competes in the Malaysia Super League. Unofficially founded in 1920, officially as Football Association of Pena ...

along with his

teammate

Mazlizam Mohamad Mazlizam Mohamad (born 19 September 1986) is a Malaysian footballer who plays as a defender for Perlis FA in the Malaysia Premier League. He was a member of the Malaysia national under-23 football team and a member of the 2009 Laos Sea Games ...

. He helped

earn second place in the

2015 Malaysia Premier League The 2015 Liga Premier ( en, 2015 Premier League) was the 12th season of the Liga Premier, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia.http://www.rsssf.com/tablesm/malay2015.html 2015 Liga Premier The season was held from January an ...

, and the team was consequently promoted to the 2016 Malaysia Super League. On 16 February 2016, Faiz scored an incredible

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

in a 4–1 win over

Pahang FA Sri Pahang Football Club () is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuantan, Pahang. Founded in 1959 and has traditionally worn a yellow home kit since. At the beginning, club's home matches were held around the city public fields a ...

at the City Stadium in George Town. Videos of his free kick soon went viral on social media, and he was nominated by the Football Association of Malaysia for the

later that year. In 2017, Faiz was awarded the

for that free kick goal, becoming the first-ever Asian to have won the international award for the best goal of the year.

Kuala Kangsar

In March 2021, Faiz joined Kuala Kangsar FC.

Second spell with Penang

In 2022, he return back to played for penang for the second time.

International career

Faiz was first called up to the Malaysia national team in 2012 and 2013 under K. Rajagopal, but he never made any appearance in either call-ups. After strong performance in 2015 with his team

, he was recalled to the national team in August 2015 under coach

Dollah Salleh Dollah Salleh (born 10 October 1963) is a Malaysian football coach and former player. He is well-known to MSL fans as Pablo Dollah. One of Malaysia's most decorated players, he has also been manager of Malaysia's national team. Playing car ...

Style of play

An efficient

, Faiz also can play as a winger and as a striker. His assets include his speed, precise long range shooting and his range of passing towards his teammates. Faiz is also notable for scoring spectacular free kicks.

FIFA Puskás Award 2016

On 16 February 2016, during the 2016 Malaysia Super League match between

and

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

at the City Stadium in George Town,

, Faiz scored an incredible free kick which subsequently went viral on social media for its '''physics-defying flight'''. The free kick he took was described as a swerve so wicked that the goalkeeper... stood no chance'''. The free kick goal he scored was nominated for the

later that year by the Football Association of Malaysia. The nomination was accepted by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, and Faiz subsequently made it all the way to

's top 3 shortlist for the Puskás Award, beating the likes of professional stars such as

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

and

Neymar Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (born 5 February 1992), known as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Sain ...

. On 9 January 2017, Faiz was awarded the

during

The Best FIFA Football Awards The Best FIFA Football Awards is an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA. The first awarding ceremony was held on 9 January 2017 in Zürich, Switzerland. The award is aimed at reviving the FIFA Wo ...

in Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He garnered nearly 60% of the online votes, while Brazilian

Marlone Johnath Marlone Azevedo da Silva (born 2 April 1992), commonly known as Marlone, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Vila Nova. In the 2016 Copa Libertadores, Marlone scored a stunning strike in a 6–0 win over ...

and Venezuelan Daniuska Rodriguez came in second and third places respectively. He is also the first Asian footballer to win the FIFA Puskás Award. Faiz Subri becomes the latest player to collect this award after

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

(2009), Hamit Altintop (2010),

(2011),

Miroslav Stoch Miroslav Stoch (born 19 October 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer, who currently plays as a winger for Motorlet Prague and competed for the Slovakia national team. He has earned 60 caps for Slovakia since his debut in 2009, and was in ...

(2012),

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

(2013),

James Rodríguez James David Rodríguez Rubio (born 12 July 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Super League Greece club Olympiacos and the Colombia national team. He has been praised in the past ...

(2014) and Wendell Lira (2015).

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Kelantan * Malaysia FA Cup:

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 ...

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 ...

: Runners-up

Penang *

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional Association football, football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The ...

: Promotion

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual *

: 2016 * PFAM Player of the Month: February 2016 *

FAM Football Awards The Football Association of Malaysia National Football Awards are presented to the best football local and foreign players and coaches. They have been awarded since the 2005–06 season. Sponsorship Since the establishment of the National Footb ...

– FAM Special Award: 2016 –

References

External links

* {{FIFA Puskás Award winners 1987 births Living people Malaysian footballers Malaysia Super League players Perlis FA players Terengganu F.C. II players KSK Tambun Tulang FC players Kelantan FA players Terengganu FC players Penang F.C. players People from Kedah Malaysian people of Malay descent Association football wingers Association football forwards