Muhammad Rafli (born 24 November 1998) is an Indonesian 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 for Liga 1 club Arema. A versatile player, Rafli plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, and has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

and on either

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

. Rafli began to be known when he was selected in 2016 to attend the now-defunct

Nike Academy The Nike Football Academy was an English football academy funded and administered by Nike, Inc. The academy had a revolving squad of unsigned under-20 players and was run with the intention of helping them find a professional club. The academy was ...

, a program run by

Nike Inc. Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, ...

for selected under-20 players scouted worldwide known as 'Nike Most Wanted' players. The only other Indonesian who participated in this academy was the national team's current playmaker

Evan Dimas Evan Dimas Darmono (born 13 March 1995) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Personal life Evan Dimas was born in the city of Surabaya in East Java province to a low-income family that once depended on his father ...

, in 2012.

Club career

Early career

He began to pursue soccer by entering the Aji Santoso International Football Academy (ASIFA) in his hometown of

Malang Malang (; , ), historically known as Tumapel, is an inland List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of the Singhasari, Singhasari K ...

. ASIFA, founded by former national team captain and coach

Aji Santoso Aji Santoso (born 6 April 1970 in Malang, East Java, Indonesia) is an Indonesian former professional footballer and football head coach. He was a left-back during his playing days, and was a regular for the Indonesia national football team and Pe ...

, is a feeder for

Arema F.C. Arema Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club based in Malang, East Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top flight of Indonesian Football. They are considered one of the best and most successful football clubs in t ...

and other professional teams in

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

Arema FC

Rafli signed his first professional contract with

in January 2017. Rafli made his Arema debut on 23 April 2017 in a Liga 1 match against Bhayangkara in a 2–0 home win. He contributed with only 7 league appearances, without scoring during his 2017 season. On 27 April 2018, he made his first start and played the full 90 minutes for the first time, in a 3–1 win against

Persipura Jayapura Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jayapura, or Persipura, is an Indonesia, Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Jayapura, Papua. The club was founded in 1963 and currently competes in the Liga 2 (Indonesia), Liga 2 ...

. On 14 October, Rafli provided an assist for Ahmad Nur Hardianto in a 2–1 lose over

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar') commonly referred to as PSM Makassar, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , ma ...

. However, Rafli also made a blunder against the host's winning goal scored by Guy Junior Ondoua. He contributed with only 19 league appearances, without scoring during his 2018 season. In December 2018, he signed a new deal with Arema for two-years contract. On 18 February 2019, Rafli starting his match in 2019 season in the first leg of Arema'

2018–19 Piala Indonesia The 2018–19 Piala Indonesia (known as the Krating Daeng Piala Indonesia for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh edition of Piala Indonesia. It began with the first round on 8 May 2018, and concluded with the finals on 21 July and 6 August 2019. ...

round of 16 in a 1–1 draw against

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung (), also known in acronym as Persib (), is an Indonesian professional football club based in Bandung, West Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Founded in 1919 as ...

. He also scored his first goal for Arema, scored in the 75th minutes. In the second leg in

four days later, Arema eventually draw the match 2–2, and were eliminated from the competition. Despite this, He won his second trophy with the club in April 2019, making first appearance for the first time until last appearances in the second leg of

2019 Indonesia President's Cup The 2019 Indonesia President's Cup () was the fourth edition of Indonesia President's Cup, held by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) as a pre-season tournament for the 2019 Liga 1. The tournament started on 2 March and finished on 12 A ...

final against the rival

Persebaya Surabaya Persatuan Sepakbola Surabaya ( 'Football Association of Surabaya'), commonly known as Persebaya Surabaya or simply Persebaya (), is an Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Surabaya, East Java. The club currentl ...

. He scored his first Liga 1 goal on 2 October 2019. It was the first goal in a 0–2 victory against

. On 16 December 2019, he scored in a 3–2 win over

Bali United Bali United Football Club (; , ''æklub’ sépak bola Bali United'') is a professional football club based in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Bali United emerged in 2015 as the ...

. He contributed with 17 league appearances with four times as a starting, scored 2 goals and 1 assist during his 2019 season. Prior to the start of the 2020 season, Rafli switched his shirt number from 30 to 10, last season, the number was worn by

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

an foreign player Makan Konaté, who has now left for rival club Persebaya Surabaya. On 2 March 2020, Rafli provided an assist for

Kushedya Hari Yudo Kushedya Hari Yudo (born 16 July 1993) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga 2 club PSPS Pekanbaru. Club career Kalteng Putra After years of struggling in third-tier clubs on Indonesia's more developed islands ...

in a 0–2 away win over

TIRA-Persikabo Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Kabupaten Bogor 1973, commonly known as Persikabo 1973, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The club set to competes in the Liga Nusantara, the third tier of ...

at the

Pakansari Stadium Stadion Pakansari is an all-seater stadium at Pakansari, Cibinong, Bogor, West Java in Indonesia. It is mostly used for football matches and is the home stadium of Persikabo 1973. It can hold 30,000 spectators. The stadium is one of the venues fo ...

. Rafli only played 3 times and 1 assist for the club because the league was officially discontinued due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 3 October 2021, Rafli scored his first goal of the 2021–22 season, scoring from the free-kick in the 34th minute, final result, Arema win 3–0 over

Persela Lamongan Persatuan Sepakbola Lamongan, commonly known as Persela, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Lamongan, East Java. Currently the club plays in Liga 2, the second tier of domestic football. History Although it has been estab ...

in the 2021–22 Liga 1. On 23 October, he scored the opening goal with scoring from the free-kick in the 4th minute, final result, Arema win 2–0 over

Persiraja Banda Aceh Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Kutaraja, commonly known as Persiraja, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Banda Aceh, Aceh. They currently compete in the Liga 2. They play their home matches either at Harapan Bangsa Stadium or ...

. On 6 November, he scored in a Super East Java Derby against

, final result, Arema draw 2–2. On 23 November 2021, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 home win against

PS Barito Putera Persatuan Sepak Bola Barito Putera, also known as Barito Putera, is an Indonesian professional football (soccer), football club based in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. The club will compete in Liga 2 (Indonesia), Liga 2, following relegation in ...

and scored the opening goal in a 1–2 away win against the same opponent on 2 March 2022. Rafli finished the season with 5 goals, 1 assist in 27 games.

International career

Rafli made his international debut for Indonesia U-19 on 14 September 2016 against Thailand U-19. and he scoring one goal against

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 ...

on 18 September 2016. He made his international debut for Indonesia U-23 on 7 June 2019 against Thailand U-23 and scored three goals against Philippines U-23 on 9 June 2019, both at

2019 Merlion Cup The 2019 Merlion Cup is an international men's under-23 football competition organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Participants The following are the participants in this year's tournament: * (Host) * * * Venue S ...

. Rafli was part of the Indonesia team that won silver in the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, were the 30th edition of the SEA Games, Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport ...

in the Philippines. He received a call to join the senior

Indonesia national football team The Indonesia national football team () represents Indonesia in international men's Association football, football matches since 1945. The men's national team is controlled by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI), the governing body fo ...

in May 2021. He earned his first senior cap in a 25 May 2021 unofficial FIFA friendly match in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, in which he was also the team captain.

Career statistics

Club

International

International under-23 goals

Honours

Club

Arema *

Indonesia President's Cup The Piala Presiden () is an annual pre-season association football tournament held in Indonesia and organized by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI). Liga 1 clubs are entitled to participate. The inaugural tournament was held in 2015 to ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

International

;Indonesia U23 *

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 ...

Silver medal:

Individual

Merlion Cup The Merlion Cup is an invitational association football, football tournament that was held in Singapore annually from 1982–1986, in 1992, 2009 and 2019 and 2023. Participants included full national sides, Olympic sides, Invitational XI's and ...

Top Goalscorer:

(3 goals)

References

External links

*
Muhammad Rafli
at Liga Indonesia * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafli, Muhammad 1998 births Living people Indonesian men's footballers Footballers from Malang Men's association football forwards Nike Academy players Arema F.C. players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Footballers from East Java Indonesia men's youth international footballers Indonesia men's international footballers Competitors at the 2019 SEA Games SEA Games silver medalists for Indonesia SEA Games medalists in football 21st-century Indonesian sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England