Ali Imran bin Alimi (born 2 February 1998) is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Ali Imran was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan but raised in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

and

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

. He began his football career in 2013 at Sekolah Sukan Tunku Mahkota Ismail in

Bandar Penawar Bandar Penawar is a town in Desaru, Pengerang PBT, Kota Tinggi District, Johor, Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal const ...

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

where he studied for 3 years and continued his career development at Malaysia Pahang Sports School in

Gambang, Pahang Gambang is a town in Kuantan, Kuantan District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located at a junction between Malaysia Federal Route 2, Federal Route 2, MEC Highway (Malaysia Federal Route 222, Federal Route 222) and Tun Razak Highway (Malaysia Federal Ro ...

, graduating with a

Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination sat for by all Education in Malaysia#Secondary education, Form 5 secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the Genera ...

at the end of 2015.

Club career

Youth

As soon as he graduated from Malaysia Pahang Sports School, Ali Imran signed with Felda United U21 team in 2016 The Malaysian Side, one match away from a World Cup
Vijhay Vick, 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2018 to compete in the President Cup Malaysia. In the 2016 Sukma Games in Sarawak, Ali Imran was one of the players representing the Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur football team. The team struggled their way up to the finals only to be defeated by the back-to-back Sukma Football champion,

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

with a 2–0 score.

Felda United

Few months through the season in 2017, the former head coach of

Felda United Felda United Football Club was a Malaysian football club based in Jengka, Pahang, owned by the Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA).

, B. Sathianathan, promoted Ali Imran alongside Danial Amier Norhisham, to the first-team squad where he was initially registered with the number 31 jersey. He had to train among senior players which are more experienced and professional. Stepping into his second season with the team in 2018, he registered with his lucky number, the number 5. He made his debut for Felda United in the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

on 9 September 2017 in a game against

. In that match, he came on as a substitute for Azriddin Rosli, and Felda lost 1–2. On 27 July 2018, Ali made his first league appearance for Felda United, starting the game in the final match of

2018 Malaysia Premier League The 2018 Malaysia Premier League, known as 2018 100Plus Malaysia Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was the 15th season of the Malaysia Premier League, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia since its establishment in 2004. ...

, where the team became champions of the league. In the 2019 Super League, Ali made his first appearance of the season on 3 March 2019 on the last minute of the game against Petaling Jaya City, as a substitute for Jocinei Schad.

Sarawak United

Moving into 2020, Ali Imran signed a contract with a reformed club from East of Malaysia, Sarawak United, that is currently playing for the second division of Malaysian football, the

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ra ...

. Ali Imran decided to shake things up by ditching his favourite number 5 and chose to have the number 24 on his jersey. He made his first appearance for Sarawak United in their first Premier League match against

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

, as a substitute for Ashri Chuchu, that has gotten himself an injury in the 26th minute and Ali Imran continued to fight till the last second of the match.

International career

Ali Imran began his international career at a young age of 15 years old for Malaysia Under-16 in 2013 for the

AFF U-16 Youth Championship The ASEAN U-16 Boys' Championship (formerly AFF U-16 Youth Championship) is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations from ...

and continued on his journey in the following year for the

AFC U-16 Championship The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship, is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-17 teams that also serves as a q ...

,AFC U-16 Championship 2014
Ajitpal Singh, 4 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2015 both under Malaysian U-16 coach S. Balachandran.

2013 AFF U-16 Championship

In 2013, Ali Imran was named to join the Malaysia U-16 for the 2013 AFF U-16 Youth Championship in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The team started off the championship by being listed in Group B to play against 4 other participating teams,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The team ended up being placed on top of the table with 2 wins and 2 draws with Indonesia following close with points tied, but differed in goal difference. On 31 August 2013, the team knocked

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

out in the semi-finals with a tight win of 1–0 to advance to the finals. On 2 September 2013, the 2013 AFF U16 Youth Championship finals kicked off with Malaysia U-16 going head on against Indonesia. Both teams battled out to win the title but the game ended with a draw that lead to a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

that puts Malaysia U-16 as the winner of the Championship with a 3–2 score against IndonesiaAFF U-16 Malaysia Lifts First Ever Crown 2013
AseanFootball.org, 3 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2018

2014 AFC U-16 Championship

On 6 April 2014, the draw for the competition was held in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

settling Malaysia U-16 in Group A with other qualified teams which included

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. The team secured their target to merge into quarter finals with 6 points alongside South Korea that scored a big win with 9 points. On 14 September 2014, the team had to intensely face

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the quarter finals to be eliminated with a narrow defeat of 2–1. The team was devastated, however Malaysia achieved the best quarter-final appearance in its history of AFF U-16 Championship up to this date.

2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games

On 24 May 2017, Ali Imran was listed among 26 players that was called up to join the Malaysia U-22

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

Project Training Camp in preparation for the SEA Games. The training camp was held at

Wisma FAM Wisma FAM is a training facility and the main headquarters for the Football Association of Malaysia located at Kelana Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The Facility is founded by the Football Association of Malaysia with it purpose to serve as the Footba ...

from 29 May to 23 June 2017. They flew to

Xiangtan Xiangtan ( zh, s=湘潭) is a prefecture-level city in east-central Hunan province, south-central China. The hometowns of several founding leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Chairman Mao Zedong, President Liu Shaoqi, and Marshal P ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on 8 June 2017 their first friendly match on 10 June 2017 against China U-22 and travelled to

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

on 11 June 2017 for another 2 friendly matches before flying back to Malaysia on 16 June 2017.SEA Games 2017 Call Up List for training camp
Football Association of Malaysia, 2017. Retrieved by 25 August 2018 However sadly, as soon as the flight touched down, Malaysia U-22 coach,

Ong Kim Swee Datuk Ong Kim Swee () DPSM is a Malaysian football manager and former footballer, who is currently the head coach of Liga 1 club Persik Kediri. He spent most of his career playing for East Malaysian teams, notably Sarawak and Sabah during t ...

announced that Ali Imran and Kalaiharasan Letchumanan were dropped from the team and will no longer join the training camp.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Felda United *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Felda United Crowned as Malaysia Premier League Champions 2018
Zulhilmi Zainal. Retrieved 25 August 2018

International

Malaysia U-16 *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

References

{{Reflist 1998 births Living people Malaysian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Malaysia Premier League players Malaysia Super League players FELDA United F.C. players 21st-century Malaysian sportsmen Sarawak United FC players Footballers from Negeri Sembilan