29-year-old Mohd Faiz Subri has made Malaysia proud!
The Malaysian footballer, whose glorious physics-defying goal which left spectators picking their jaws off the floor at the Penang vs. Pahang Super League match, placed him in the running to win FIFA’s 2016 Puskás Award, made international headlines today (Tuesday, 10th January).
In November 2016, it was announced that he was one of 10 shortlisted from thousands of goals scored between 30th September 2015 – 30th September 2016, the first Malaysian and Asian to make it to the list. He just made history again when he became the winner of the prestigious award after garnering nearly 60% of the votes ahead of Brazil’s Marlone (22.86%) and Venezuela’s Daniuska Rodriguez (10.01%).
The FIFA Puskás Award, named after legendary Real Madrid striker Ferenc Puskás, was established in October 2009. It acknowledges the “most beautiful” goal of the year, with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahmovic (2013), Neymar (2011), and Cristiano Ronaldo (2009) among the award’s previous winners.
Upon receiving the award from Brazilian legend Ronald, Faiz said, “This is the best moment of my life. I never imagined that I would ever win this award. My first thought was to ring my family because without them I would not be a professional footballer. This is an award not just for me and my club but for the whole of Malaysia. When I went up on the stage to collect it, I honestly didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe that I was in the same company as some of the true greats of football.”
The footballer also posted up his acceptance speech on his Twitter account, joking that he was so nervous but lucky that he was able to find it on his cellphone and went on to thank everyone for their support.
I'm so nervous,lucky I can find this on my cellphone…
Thank You everyone
Malaysia Boleh and Haria Penang Haria pic.twitter.com/SYPIghw9gk— faizsubri13 (@faizsubri131) January 9, 2017
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Faiz Subri received the accolade during the FIFA Football Awards 2016 in Zurich on Monday. Congratulations, Faiz! All of us back home are so immensely proud of you. Malaysia boleh.
Tentu boleh :)
Watch his amazing, now award-winning free-kick below:
Mohd Faiz Subri has won the Puskás award for the best goal of 2016 pic.twitter.com/bjbJleLgWP
— Live Signings (@Livesignings) January 9, 2017
Want to send him your love and support too? Tweet him via his handle, @faizsubri131.
Sources: FIFA, Faiz Subri, FourthOfficial, ESPN FC / Featured image: ESPN FC.
