Malaysian footballer
Indra Putra Bin Mahayuddin PB[2] (born 2 September 1981) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays for Malaysia Super League club Kelantan United. He is the all-time highest goalscorer of the Malaysia Super League. He is a versatile forward, who can operate as a striker or a winger but mostly spent his career playing as left winger.[3]
Club career
Beginnings with Perak, Pahang and Selangor
Indra Putra has played for the Perak youth team when he was a teenager. He then was promoted to the senior team in 1999 under the late Karl Heinz Weigang. He made his senior debut in the 1999 Malaysia Cup qualifying round.[4]
He scored his first goal in a 2-1 home win against Penang in the 1999 Malaysia Cup.[5]
With Perak, Indra Putra mainly started playing in the left wing and occasionally as striker. He helped Perak to clinch the back to back Malaysian Premier One League title in 2002 and 2003. Then, in 2004, Indra Putra Mahayuddin moved to Pahang in a high-profile transfer. There, Indra helped Pahang to win the inaugural edition of the rebranded Malaysian Super League in his first season.
Indra Putra Mahayuddin was described as the best Malaysian football player in his generation by former Perak's coach Steve Darby. He was the 2004 Malaysian Super League season top goalscorer with 15 goals from 19 league appearances. He remains, until this day, the last Malaysian football player to win that accolade in the presence of foreign players.[6]
He joined Selangor for the 2008 season, after his contract with Pahang expired.
Kelantan
During 2009 season, Indra Putra joined Kelantan and were partnered upfront by his former teammate in Perak Khalid Jamlus.[7] On 18 April 2009, he was the villain among the Negeri Sembilan supporters after stamping on Negeri's defender, Rahman Zabul. Amazingly, he escaped the red card. He was part of the Kelantan team that play in that year Malaysia FA Cup final against Selangor where Kelantan lost 3–1 on penalties his spot kick hit the bar which cost Kelantan the match. Kelantan suffered another setback when lost the 2009 Malaysia Cup final against Negeri Sembilan. Indra scored a consolation goal from the free kick. However, Indra was chosen as the most valuable player for the 2009 season. He was part of the Kelantan's 2010 Malaysia Cup winning team.
T-Team
Indra signed with Kuala Terengganu-based club, T-Team in 2011. He made 24 league appearances scoring 11 goals. He also helped T-Team reaching the Malaysia Cup semi final.
Second Stint with Kelantan
After one season with T-Team, Indra returned to Kelantan for the 2012 season. During the 2012 Malaysia Cup final at the Shah Alam Stadium, he scored an extra-time winner and clinched a dramatic 3–2 victory over ATM. During the season, he also help the team win the 2012 Super League and 2012 Malaysia FA Cup, completing the treble.
Felda United
Indra joined Felda United, who were just relegated to the Premier League, at the end of the 2013. He helped the club finish runners-up in the 2014 Malaysia Premier League, and the club was promoted straight back to the Malaysia Super League after only being in the second division for one season.[8]
Third Stint with Kelantan
On 30 December 2015, Indra was officially announced as Kelantan new signing during a friendly match with PKNP by Kelantan FA President, Annuar Musa.[9] He was released at the end of his contract.
Kuala Lumpur
On 3 December 2017, Indra signed a contract with newly promoted side Kuala Lumpur after being released by Kelantan.[10] He scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw against Pahang FA. He then scored his second goal against his former club, Kelantan FA in a 4–2 defeat. On 27 April 2019 he scored 100 goal in Malaysian Super League against PKNS; his first goal was 21 February 2004 against Sabah FA.
International career
Indra Putra has played for the Malaysia at youth level and senior level. He represented Malaysia U-23 for the 2001 Sea Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[11][12] After that, he joined national team in the FA Premier League Asia Cup 2003 and also in the 2002 Tiger Cup in Thailand, helping Malaysia national football team to a 4th-place finish.
In 2002, Indra was call up for an international friendly match against five times World Cup winners Brazil. He was selected as one of the first eleven to play against Brazilian stars such as Ronaldo and Barca's Ronaldinho.[13][14][15]
He also been called up by Malaysia national football team coach Norizan Bakar for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 in July, co-hosting by 4 countries Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. In the competition, Indra Putra is the only Malaysian player to score a goal, against China, as Malaysia crashed out in the group stages having lost all group games.
Indra Putra also represented the Malaysia Selection against Premier League clubs. He played against Manchester United twice in 2001 and 2009, and Chelsea at Shah Alam Stadium on 29 July 2008.
He was unexpectedly recalled to Malaysia national team, after a long period of absence, for a match against Indonesia on 14 September 2014 by national coach Dollah Salleh. He entered the match as a substitute, which ended in a 2–0 loss to Malaysia. At the 2014 AFF Championship, he score Malaysia's third goal in a 3-1 win against host Singapore. The goal became a viral meme after the Malaysia-Singapore match.[16] In the second leg of the 2014 AFF Championship final match, Indra Putra scored the second goal before half time to level Malaysia on aggregate.[17] Malaysia won 3-2 but lose 4-3 on aggregate.[17]
.jpg)
