1950; 74 years ago (1950), as North Borneo Football Association 2021; 3 years ago (2021), as Sabah Football Club (officially owned by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd.)[1]
Until 2021, Sabah FA, also known as Sabah FA State Football Team, was one of the 14 state teams in the Malaysian football system. It was funded and managed by the Sabah Football Association (SaFA) and relied mostly on state government grants. However, the Malaysian football league mandated that all teams in the top two leagues must be professional clubs by 2021, leading to the privatisation of SAFA.
History
A photo of the North Borneo football team who were winners of the first edition of Borneo Cup tournament in 1962, just one year before the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in which the team's homeland North Borneo became a part of the country in 1963. The North Borneo territory also changed its name to the Malaysian region of Sabah after the formation of the country and the team followed suit by changing its name to the Sabah FA State Football Team.
Sabah was a well known team during the Malaysian football amateur and semi-pro era as state team produced many quality players namely the trio of James Wong, Hassan Sani and Peter Rajah.[7][8] These players during their time led Sabah to become one of Malaysian football's most feared teams during the 80's. One fine example was during the 1979 Malaysian League where Sabah started slowly. After a run of 8 matches, they stood with 3 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses but, during the later stages they stepped up a gear or five by winning all their remaining 8 matches with most of them by huge margins, including an incredible 8–0 thrashing of Sarawak, 11–0 hammering of Perak and the 6–1 beating of Terengganu. At the end of the season, Sabah finished as runners-up behind Singapore and became the highest scoring team with 49 goals in 12 games, which is an average of 3 goals per game.[9] In 1991, Sabah striker Matlan Marjan became the first Malaysian to score a double against England in 'A' international matches on 12 June 1991.[10]
Professional era
When professional football was introduced by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Sabah also made a reputation of being one of the Malaysian League's most competitive teams. Quality professional players were produced from the ranks during the 1990s, most notably Matlan who helped Sabah finish as runners-up during 1993 and 1994 Malaysia FA Cup, and who at one time was appointed as the national team captain by the then Malaysian national team coach Claude Le Roy. The positive results gained from the beginning of professional era however was cut short by the match fixing scandal that rocked Malaysian football in 1994. The scandal almost destroyed Sabah and Malaysian football in general. Matlan was the one of several players found guilty for being involved in the scandal. As a punishment for their involvement in match fixing, he and the other players were banned for life by FIFA from being involved in football and banished from the state of Sabah by the state government under the Restricted Residence Act.[11] After the scandal, Sabah began its rebuilding process to regain their reputation in Malaysian football. Sabah won their first professional trophy, the Malaysia FA Cup in 1995. In the 1996 season, Sabah won their first league title and went through to the final of the Malaysia Cup for the first time but were beaten by Selangor on penalties. Sabah reached the final of the 1998 Malaysia FA Cup.[12] The 2000 season could be considered as Sabah's worst since joining the Malaysian professional league as they were relegated to the second division, and could not get past the group stages of the Malaysia Cup. However, Sabah quickly regained its performance in the 2001 season where they finished as runners-up behind Johor FC.[13] In the 2002 season, Sabah lining up players of calibre such as Zainizam Marjan, Khairul Azman Mohamed and foreign striker Josiah Seton, finished third in the league and again managed to get through to the final of Malaysia Cup by beating Selangor Public Bank and Perak. Sabah however finished as runners-up yet again by losing to the same team that beat them in 1996 final, Selangor. This time, Sabah lost by 'golden goal' scored by Amri Yahyah.[14] In 2003, Sabah again finished third in Liga Premier One. Sabah again reached the final of Malaysia Cup. This time they lost to club-side Selangor MPPJ by 0–3, with hat-trick from Juan Manuel Arostegui.[15]
Early years in the Malaysian Super League
When the Malaysia Super League (MSL) was introduced in 2004, Sabah struggled to be competitive against other teams in the top league. Sabah only managed to stay in Super League for two seasons as they were relegated to Malaysia Premier League (MPL) for the 2005/06 season. After the relegation to 2nd tier league, Sabah continued to struggle for promotion to get back into the top division. They lost to Pahang in the 2006/07 season play-off for a place in 2007/08 Malaysia Super League.[16]
All local players seasons
After 6 years playing in the 2nd tier MPL, Australian coach Gary Phillips was able to guide Sabah to promotion in 2010 – his first season in charge.[17] After poor results which have affected Sabah's performance in the 2011 league and also the cup, Gary Phillips was replaced by Justin Ganai to save Sabah from relegation zone.[18] Justin improved Sabah performance in 2011 Malaysia Cup where the team reached the quarterfinals. He was retained as head coach for the 2012 MSL season but step down as the league game were 2 games left. Sabah also relegated back to MPL after lose to Kedah in play-off match by which Pahang (was MPL side) won the play-off. Salt was added to the wound as the relegation was followed by them failing to qualify to the group stage of the 2012 Malaysia Cup.
Foreign players returns
Sabah started their 2013 season back in MPL as their main defenders, Sipitang duo Ronny Harun and Mafry Balang left for Borneo rival Sarawak and Bongawan young striker Rozaimi Abdul Rahman was loaned out to Harimau Muda A. 2013 season was led by Northern Irishman, David McCreery and they end up in 5th place but still available for Malaysia Cup play-off by which they lose heavily 0–4 to Negeri Sembilan at Shah Alam Stadium. McCreery left at the end of the season with disappointment.
The year 2014 saw a major changes in the team's sponsorship by which local brand Carino was signed as their kit supplier and Ararat Sports plus BSA as their sponsors. During this season, former Sabah player Milomir Šešlija become their head coach, replacing McCreery in the hot seat.[19] National striker, Rozaimi and winger/midfielder Maxsius Musa also returned after their loan to Harimau Muda A and Harimau Muda B respectively finished. But to no avail, they finished 8th out of 12 in the MPL, missed the Malaysia Cup group stage for third consecutive seasons and also kicked out from FA Cup in the early stage. This was worse than the 2013 season. Milomir's contract was not renewed at the end of the season.
Just after 2014 season finished, another major changes was made by which George O'Callaghan was signed as their Technical Director and Justin is back as temporary head coach. Sabah FA chief executive officer TC Goh also came as team manager by which he and O'Callaghan makes a big signings. Carino remained as their kit supplier but only for the women team, futsal team, President Cup and U19 team. Adidas, Globaltech, UZMA, Grace One, BSA and Ararat Sports are their current sponsors. Sabah FA successfully signed twice African Player of The Year, El Hadji Diouf and his compatriot Abdoulaye Faye followed by Irish-born Libyan footballer, Éamon Zayed and Singaporean striker Fazrul Nawaz.[20][21][22][23] Fazrul and O'Callaghan were released early in the season few weeks before Malaysia Premier League kick off.[24][25] Fazrul was replaced with Joel Chianese during the mid-season transfer window in April and O'Callaghan was replaced with Brisbane Roar ex-head coach Mike Mulvey in February 2015.[26][27] Both Chianese and Mulvey are Australian. After 3 games working as technical director, Mulvey was appointed as the new head coach while Justin went back to the President Cup team. During this current season, fans began to return and fill the home stadium. But as the seasons passing by, Sabah lose mostly of their matches during the second half of the season. Diouf's dissatisfaction with Sabah FA management plans,[28] along with his dismissal during few of Sabah's matches thus allowing youngster Leopold Alphonso and Rawilson Batuil respectively to skip the team.[29] Promising start of 2015 season end with huge disappointment for the team as they sit at 7th place, missing Malaysia Cup automatic slot and also the play-off. TC Goh, Mulvey and big name players such as Diouf, Zayed, Faye and Chianese plus local golden boy, Rozaimi Abdul Rahman left at the end of the season due to no contract renewal.[30]
Asian and ASEAN player quota introduced
Following much efforts and various reorganisation made on the team, Sabah FA was crowned as the champion of the 2019 Malaysia Premier League for the first time since they last lifted the old first division title back in 1996.[31] Having early secured various imports such as Brazilian Luiz Júnior, South Korean defender Park Tae-soo and Serbian midfielder Luka Milunović in the 1st leg transfer before securing another two important players such as Angolan striker Aguinaldo da Veiga together with Turkmenistan midfielder Ahmet Ataýew in the 2nd leg transfer that was combined with Serbian striker Rodoljub Paunović and various local talents, the team able to won thirteen matches from a total of 19 matches thus qualifying the 2020 Malaysia Super League.[32][33][34]
Malaysian Football League privatisation era
Starting from the 2021 season, all clubs competing in the 2021 Malaysia Super League and the Malaysia Premier League, must be privatised as required by the FAM.[1]Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd was formed in order to fulfill the condition in order to compete in the 2021 season of Malaysia Super League. Local Businessman Verdon Bahanda was official appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the football club on 12 November 2020.[35] Therefore Sabah FA was renamed to Sabah F.C. as the new club name and Rhino once again became the official mascot of the club.[36]
Return to AFC club competition
Sabah finished in third place of the 2022 Malaysia Super League, which saw them returning to AFC club competition since 1995–96 and making their debut in the 2023–24 AFC Cup, being drawn in Group H with Haiphong, Hougang United and PSM Makassar. On 21 September 2023, they played their first fixtures in a heavy downpour against Singaporean club, Hougang United in a 3–1 home win. In the next fixture, Sabah faced PSM Makassar in Indonesia where they won 5–0 with Saddil Ramdani bagging a hat-trick of assists in the match.
Being a Malaysian state football team competing in the Malaysian football league system before 2021, the team wore kits with the crest of the Sabah Football Association (SaFA) on them, whenever they play any competitive match. In November 2020 and following the privatisation of the club, Sabah FC displayed the club's new official logo on its Facebook page which was chosen following a competition to create the Sabah FC's logo. During the time, Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd in its statement informed that the logo was created by an individual named Firzaruddin Zainal Abiddin. Apart from fulfilling the design requirements, the logo was chosen in the competition based on the one voted by the most fans as fans at the time get to vote on which logo they like on the team's Facebook page.[37]
Penampang Stadium - (Sometimes, when Likas stadium renovated or floodlights require maintenance)
Tawau Stadium - (Sometimes, just in Malaysia Premier League)
Likas Stadium is the current official main home ground for Sabah FC. It has a capacity of 22,000, making it the 8th largest football stadium in Malaysia in terms of seating capacity. It has been the home stadium of Sabah FC since its opening in 1983 and renovated in 2001, and then secondary renovation in 2023 with a set of brand new seats and including a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology for the 2022 AFC Cup preparation usage.
Others usage
Penampang Stadium is occasionally used for afternoon matches, usually when Likas Stadium is getting renovated or if floodlights require maintenance. Tawau Sports Complex is a regular venue that is only used sometimes for the Malaysia Premier League.
Sabah FA first mascot was the Rhino since mid-1990s. In 2010 SAFA rebranded the struggling team mascot to Hawk[38] which was controversial as Kuala Lumpur FA at that time was also known as the Hawks.[39] Sabah FA reinstated its name as the Rhinos starting from 2015.[20] In 2019, Sabah FA once again rebranded as Tambadau.[40]
During 2021 privatisation process, Sabah FC was chosen as the new club name and Rhino once again became the official mascot.[36]
Rivalry
Sabah FC neighbouring rival is Sarawak United with both claiming the title of 'the best in Borneo' and referred to as the Borneo Derby.
Broadcasting
Radio coverage of regular season matches are broadcast on Sabah FM 89.9 in Malay language.
^Mustapa Lakawa; Mohd Yunus Yakkub (18 January 2015). "Sabah singkir Callaghan, Fazrul" [Sabah gets rid of Callaghan, Fazrul]. Kosmo! (in Malay). Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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