Aidil Zafuan

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Abd. Radzak is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Mohamad Aidil Zafuan. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.

Mohamad Aidil Zafuan bin Abd. Radzak (born 3 August 1987) also known as Aidil Zafuan, is a Malaysian retired professional footballer who last played primarily as a centre-back and is currently working as an assistant coach for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim. In his time with Johor Darul Ta'zim, he has won 26 trophies in total and making 211 appearances for the club.

Aidil Zafuan
عيدالزافوان

Zafuan (left) playing for Malaysia against Syria in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Mohamad Aidil Zafuan bin Abd. Radzak
Date of birth	(1987-08-03) 3 August 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)	Centre-back
Team information
Current team	Johor Darul Ta'zim (Assistant coach)
Youth career
2001–2003	Bukit Jalil Sports School
2004–2005	Negeri Sembilan U19
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2011	Negeri Sembilan	23	(11)
2012	ATM	21	(3)
2013–2023	Johor Darul Ta'zim	114	(4)
International career‡
2004–2006	Malaysia U20
2007–2014	Malaysia U23	34	(4)
2007–2022	Malaysia	101[2]	(3)
Managerial career
2024–	Johor Darul Ta'zim (Assistant coach)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Malaysia Men's football AFF Championship Runner-up 2018 Merdeka Cup Winner 2007 Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 September 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 March 2022

Aidil is a former member of the Malaysia U23 and Malaysia U20 squad and has represented the Malaysia national team at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He is the older of his twin, Zaquan Adha who is also a professional footballer.^[3][4]

Aidil has individually won 5 FAM Football Awards 'Best Defender Award' making him the only defender in the league to hold this record. Aidil has also won 11 Malaysia Super League title where he is the first and only player in the league history to win 10th consecutive league title with Johor Darul Ta'zim. He has also win 5 Malaysia Cup, 8 Malaysia Charity Shield, 4 Malaysia FA Cup and 1 AFC Cup.

Club career

Negeri Sembilan

Aidil Zafuan began his career with Negeri Sembilan youth team. He represented his hometown, Negeri Sembilan at 2004 Sukma Games. He won the gold medal during the tournament that took place at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium, Seremban. In 2005–06 season, he was promoted to the first team. In his season debut, Negeri Sembilan won their first Malaysia Super League title.

Malaysian Armed Forces

Aidil signed a contract with Malaysia Premier League side Malaysian Armed Forces for the 2012 Malaysia Premier League season. He won the Malaysia Premier League title in 2012 and reached the 2012 Malaysia Cup Final.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

In the 2013 season, Aidil joined the rebranded club Johor Darul Ta'zim along with his twin brother, Zaquan Adha. With JDT, he won the Malaysia Super League, Malaysia FA Cup, Malaysia Cup and historically part of JDT's 2015 AFC Cup winning team. Aidil was chosen as the club captain mid-way throughout the 2021 Malaysia Super League season after actual club captain, Hariss Harun left the club.

On 16 November 2022, He made his 200th appearance with the club in all competitions in a 1–0 away win against Sabah where he joins Safiq Rahim and Farizal Marlias to become the third player to reach this milestone^[5]

International career

Youth

Aidil has represented Malaysia since he was 14 years old. He is very experienced in international youth arena. He played for the Malaysia U20 side on two AFC Youth Championship in 2004 in Malaysia as Malaysia reached the quarter-finals but was defeated by China. At the AFC Youth Championship in India, he was chosen as the captain of the team. Malaysia failed to win all three matches and only managed to score 1 goal and conceding 7 goals.

Aidil started representing the Malaysia U23 squad during 2008 Olympic Games qualifier. He continued to represent Malaysia in the 2007 Merdeka Tournament that held in Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya and managed to win the Merdeka Tournament after defeating Myanmar 3:1. He then represented Malaysia in the South East Asia Games held in Thailand. However, Malaysia failed to advance into the semi-finals after drawing against rivals Singapore. In 2009, he was selected as the captain for the national under 23 team at the 2009 Southeast Asian Games where Malaysia won their first gold medal after 20 years. In 2014, he was selected as one of the overage players for the 2014 Asian Games.

Senior

Aidil made his debut on 18 July 2007 against Cambodia where he also scored his first international goal in his debut against Cambodia. He then became one of the players from the under-23 side who were selected into Malaysia 2007 AFC Asian Cup squad. He only made his appearance in the last game against Iran where Malaysia lost 0–2.

Aidil received his first red card in international duty during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers second leg against Bahrain. As a result, he was banned by FIFA from taking part in international match for three games.

On 12 July 2016, Aidil with 71 international caps announced his retirement from international football via his football club's website and its Facebook page. He returned in 2017 and was part of Malaysia's 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup squad earning 82 international caps during the tournament.^[6] In 2019, he earned his 83rd international caps against Sri Lanka.^[7]

He earn his 100 appearances for Malaysia in 2020 AFF Championship against Vietnam.^[8][9] During his international career, Aidil went on to play a total of 101 matches for Malaysia and his international appearances comprise 98 'A' international matches as classified by FIFA including 3 international matches not classified as 'A'.^[10]

Others

Aidil also represented the Malaysia XI (represent Malaysia for B match) squad against Chelsea at the Shah Alam Stadium on 29 July 2008. The Malaysia XI eventually lost 0–2. However, Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari praise the Malaysia XI for giving a good fight against his team.

Managerial career

After Aidil retirement at the end of the 2023 Malaysia Super League season, he would then take the coaching role as an assistant under head coach, Héctor Bidoglio at Johor Darul Ta'zim.

Career statistics

Club

As of 16 December 2023.^[11]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Negeri Sembilan	2005–06	Malaysia Super League		1		0		0	–		–			1
	2006–07	Malaysia Super League		1		0		0	5	0	–			1
	2007–08	Malaysia Super League		4		0		0	–		–			4
	2009	Malaysia Super League		3		1		1	–		–			5
	2010	Malaysia Super League		1		0		0	–		–			1
	2011	Malaysia Super League	23	1	1	0	4	0	–		–		28	1
	Total		23	11	1	1	4	1	5	0	–		28	13
ATM	2012	Malaysia Premier League	21	3	1	0	11	1	–		–		33	4
	Total		21	1	1	0	11	1	–		–		33	4
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2013	Malaysia Super League	15	1	5	1	8	0	–		–		28	2
	2014	Malaysia Super League	9	0	2	0	9	0	–		–		20	0
	2015	Malaysia Super League	15	1	0	0	6	0	5	0	–		26	1
	2016	Malaysia Super League	16	1	7	0	2	0	10	1	–		35	2
	2017	Malaysia Super League	12	0	0	0	5	1	5	0	–		22	1
	2018	Malaysia Super League	11	0	0	0	7	0	5	0	–		23	0
	2019	Malaysia Super League	13	0	0	0	9	0	4	0	–		26	0
	2020	Malaysia Super League	8	1	–		1	0	1	0	–		10	1
	2021	Malaysia Super League	9	0	–		0	0	1	0	–		10	0
	2022	Malaysia Super League	5	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	–		10	0
	2023	Malaysia Super League	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	–		1	0
	Total		114	4	16	1	49	1	32	1			211	7
	Total		158	16	17	2	60	3	37	1	–		272	7

International

As of 26 March 2022^[10][12]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Malaysia	2007	6	1
	2008	11	0
	2009	8	0
	2010	3	0
	2011	8	2
	2012	14	0
	2013	7	0
	2014	5	0
	2015	4	0
	2016	5	0
	2017	3	0
	2018	8	0
	2019	5	0
	2021	9	0
	2022	2	0
Total		98	3

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	18 July 2007	Shah Alam Stadium, Shah Alam, Malaysia	Cambodia	6–0	Won	Friendly
2.	29 June 2011	National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia	Chinese Taipei	2–1	Won	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
3.	3 July 2011	Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taiwan	Chinese Taipei	2–3	Lost	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)

Honours

Club

Negeri Sembilan

• Sukma Games gold medal: 2004
• Malaysia Super League: 2005−06
• Malaysia Cup: 2009, 2011
• Malaysia FA Cup: 2010

Malaysian Armed Forces

• Malaysia Premier League: 2012

Johor Darul Ta'zim

• AFC Cup: 2015
• Malaysia Super League: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
• Malaysia FA Cup: 2016, 2022, 2023
• Malaysia Cup: 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
• Malaysian Charity Shield: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

International

Malaysia U-18

• Lion City Cup: 2005

Malaysia U-23

• Pestabola Merdeka: 2007; runner-up 2008
• SEA Games : 2009

Malaysia

• AFF Championship runner-up: 2018

Individual

• Malaysia Super League 'Best Defender Award': 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2020
• AFC Cup All-Time XI: 2021^[13]

References

1. "Aidil Zafuan". Official website of Johor Darul Ta'zim FC. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
2. Malaysia – Record International Players – RSSSF.
3. "7 AIDIL ZAFUAN". Johorsoutherntigers.com.my. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
4. "Goal Asia Team of the Month – July 2013 – Centre-back: Aidil Zafuan (Malaysia, Johor Darul Takzim)". Goal. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
5. "AIDIL SETS NEW MILESTONE WITH JDT – 200 APPEARANCES". Johor Darul Ta'zim FC. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
6. Aidil Zafuan excited about return to Harimau Malaya for Sri Lanka friendly, Malay Mail – Retrieved 6 Oct 2019
7. Aidil on track to becoming Msia's most prized footballer, New Straits Times – Retrieved 6 Oct 2019
8. 100 up for Aidil – SPORTIMES, 12 December 2021.
9. Paying the price for poor planning? – New Straits Times, 14 December 2021.
10. Mohamad Aidil Zafuan bin Abdul Radzak – International Appearances – RSSSF
11. "Aidil Zafuan". Soccerway.com. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
12. "Abdul Radzak, Mohd Aidil Zafuan". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
13. "Revealed: The AFC Cup All-time XI, as voted by you!". AFC. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.

External links

• Aidil Zafuan at National-Football-Teams.com
• Aidil Zafuan at Soccerway