Sabah Football Club () is a Malaysian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club owned by the

Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd (Sabah FC Sdn Bhd) is a Sabahan limited liability sports and club holding company based in Sabah, Malaysia with a Company Registration Number ''1383683U''. (''Sdn Bhd'' stands for ''Sendirian Berhad'' or private comp ...

. The club represents the state of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

, and competes in the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League (), known simply as the Super League (), is the men's top professional Football in Malaysia, football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnersh ...

, the top tier of Malaysian football. Their home matches are played at the 35,000-capacity

Likas Stadium Likas Stadium ( Malay: ''Stadium Likas''; nicknamed: ''Rumah Sang Badak'') is a multi-purpose stadium in Likas, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. It is mainly used for football and athletics, located within the Likas Sports Complex. It has been ...

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu (; formerly known as Jesselton), colloquially referred to as KK, is the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is also the capital of the Kota Kinabalu District as well as the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the ...

, the capital city of Sabah.

Sabah FA Sabah Football Club () is a Malaysian professional football club owned by the Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd. The club represents the state of Sabah in Borneo, and competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football. Thei ...

(at that time) won the

Malaysia FA Cup The Malaysia FA Cup () is an annual association football, football competition in Malaysia, established in 1990. It was previously managed by the Football Association of Malaysia, before being transferred to the Football Malaysia LLP, Malaysian ...

in 1995, the Malaysian

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

(top tier) in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, and 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 ...

(second tier) in

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 ...

. In 1995, Sabah FA also advanced to the second round of the

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

after defeating

An Giang An Giang is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the country's southwestern part. Geography An Giang is located in the upper reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Hậu Giang and Tiền Giang branches of the Mekong River ...

of V. League 3–1 on aggregate. They lost to Bellmare Hiratsuka (now

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuk ...

) of

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

1–7 on aggregate. 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 SAFA. However, the Malaysian football league mandated that all the top two leagues must be professional, leading to the privatisation of SAFA.

History

From the 1950s until 1963, Sabah competed as North Borneo football team in the Borneo Cup together with Sarawak football team and

Brunei national football team The Brunei national football team (; recognised as Brunei Darussalam by FIFA), nicknamed ''Tebuan'' (The Wasps), is the National sports team, national team of Brunei, controlled by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. The team was fo ...

. Following the

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

of the

Federation of 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 ...

, the North Borneo Football Association (NBFA) changed its name to Sabah Football Association (Sabah FA). Sabah qualify into 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 ...

for the first time in 1977 and enter the competition in 1978.

Amateur and semi-pro era

Sabah was a well known team during the Malaysian football amateur and semi-pro era and produced many quality players, namely the trio of James Wong,

Hassan Sani Hassan Sani (born 31 August 1958) is a former Malaysian football player. Career Overview He played for Sabah and Kuala Lumpur in the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup in the late 1970s and in the 1980s. Hassan start representing Malaysia in ...

and

Peter Rajah Peter Rajah (1 April 1951 – 14 November 2014) was a Malaysian footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Sabah and the national team. Peter was born in Singapore.Peter Rajah Sentuhan Ajaibnya Diharap - Arena Bola Sepak Magazine (Malaysia), Ju ...

. These players 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 by winning all remaining matches, most of them by huge margins including an incredible 8–0 thrashing of Sarawak, 11–0 hammering of

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 ...

and the 6–1 beating of

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

. At the end of the season, Sabah finished as runners-up behind

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 ...

and became the highest scoring team with 49 goals in 12 games. In 1991, Sabah striker

Matlan Marjan Matlan Marjan is a former professional football player from the state of Sabah, Malaysia. He is renowned for scoring 2 goals against England for Malaysia in a friendly match on 12 June 1991, the only Malaysian to have done so. He has a younger ...

became the first Malaysian to score a double against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 'A' international matches.

Professional era

When professional football was introduced by

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (commonly abbreviated as FAM; ) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia, headquartered at Wisma FAM. The FAM is also one of the founding members of both the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) a ...

(FAM), Sabah made a reputation of being one of the Malaysian League's most competitive sides. Quality players were produced from the ranks during the 1990s, most notably Matlan who helped Sabah finish as runners-up during 1993 and 1994

, and who at one time was appointed as the national team captain by

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (; born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana national teams. Managerial career Le Roy has had a varied manageria ...

. The positive results were cut short by the match fixing scandal in 1994. Matlan was the one of several players found guilty. As a punishment for their involvement in match fixing, he and the other players were banned for life by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and

banished Banished may refer to: * The punishment of being exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumsta ...

from the state of Sabah under the Restricted Residence Act. After the scandal, Sabah began its rebuilding process. Sabah won their first professional trophy, the FA Cup 1995. In the 1996 season, Sabah won their first league title and went through to the final of the Cup for the first time, but were beaten by

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 ...

on penalties. Sabah then reached the final of the 1998 Malaysia FA Cup. 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 Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club, or simply JDT, is a professional football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia, that competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football. Founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC, the club was ...

. In the 2002 season, Sabah was lining up players of calibre such as Zainizam Marjan,

Khairul Azman Mohamed Khairul Azman bin Mohamed (born 5 March 1968) is a former Malaysian footballer who was a goalkeeper for Pahang, Sabah and the Malaysia national team. Career Khairul started his football career with Pahang youth team in 1985. At that time he ...

and Josiah Seton, finishing 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 The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

scored by Amri Yahyah. In 2003, Sabah again finished third in Liga Premier One. They reached the final of Malaysia Cup. This time they lost to club-side

Selangor MPPJ Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya Football Club or Petaling Jaya Municipal Council Football Club, commonly known as MPPJ FC, was a Malaysian professional football club based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The club's home ground was the 25,000 capaci ...

by 0–3, with

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

from Juan Manuel Arostegui.

Early years in the Malaysian Super League

When the

(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 the

(MPL) in 2005. After the relegation, Sabah continued to struggle for promotion. They lost to

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

in the 2007 season play-off.

All local players seasons

After 6 years in the 2nd tier MPL,

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 ...

n Gary Phillips was able to guide Sabah to promotion in 2010 – his first season in charge. After poor results which have affected Sabah's performance in 2011, Gary Phillips was replaced by Justin Ganai to save Sabah from relegation zone. Justin improved Sabah performance in 2011 Malaysia Cup where the team reached the quarterfinals. He was retained as for the 2012 season but step down eventually. Sabah got relegated back to the MPL after lost to

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman (دار الأمان; Arabic for 'The Safe Abode') and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of ...

. 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 The 2012 Malaysia Cup ( Malay: ''Piala Malaysia 2012'') was the 86th edition of Malaysia Cup. The competition began on 24 August 2012 and ended on 20 October 2012 with the final, held at Shah Alam Stadium. A total of 16 teams took part in the comp ...

Foreign players return

Sabah started their 2013 season back in the MPL as their main defenders

Ronny Harun Ronny Harun (born 19 January 1984 in Sipitang, Sabah) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays for Petaling Jaya Rangers in the Malaysia FAM League. His primary position is as a left back but he can also play as a centre-back. On 14 A ...

and

Mafry Balang Mafry Balang (born on 26 March 1984 in Sipitang, Sabah) is a Malaysian footballer who plays for Sabah in Malaysia Premier League. He plays mainly as a centre back, although he can operate occasionally as a defensive midfielder. Mafry spent mos ...

left and

Rozaimi Abdul Rahman Muhammad Rozaimi bin Abdul Rahman (born 6 October 1992) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He previously played for the defunct Sarawak, Sabah, Selangor, Kedah and Johor Darul Ta'zim II. Rozaimi is a former Mala ...

was loaned out to

Harimau Muda A Harimau Muda A was the Malaysia under-22 national football team, representing Malaysia in international football competitions such as the AFC U-22 Asian Cup, Champions Youth Cup as well as other under-22 international football tournaments. It ...

. 2013 season was led by Northern Irishman

David McCreery David McCreery (born 16 September 1957) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played for Newcastle United and many other clubs during his long career. He mostly played in midfield, but was very versatile, and during his caree ...

and they end up in 5th place, but lost the Malaysia Cup play-off 0–4 to

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

Shah Alam Stadium The Shah Alam Stadium () was a multi-purpose stadium and one of the largest stadiums in the world located in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. It was used mostly for Association football, football matches but also had facilities for Sport of athle ...

. McCreery left at the end of the season. 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 sponsor. During this season, former Sabah player

Milomir Šešlija Milomir Šešlija, also known as Milo (born 21 July 1964) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. Playing career Šešlija began playing football for Yugoslav First League side Željezničar. After spending most of his car ...

become their

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, replacing McCreery in the hot seat. They finished 8th out of 12 in the MPL, missed the Malaysia Cup group stage for third consecutive seasons and also got out of the FA Cup in the early stage. El Hadji Diouf

Just after 2014 season finished, another major change was made by which

George O'Callaghan George Paul O'Callaghan (born 5 September 1979) is an Irish former football player and manager. O'Callaghan started his career with Port Vale in 1995; he made 41 appearances for the club before joining Cork City in 2002. He spent five years a ...

was signed as their technical director. Sabah FA successfully signed twice African Player of The Year El Hadji Diouf and his compatriot

Abdoulaye Faye Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye (born 26 February 1978), known as Abdoulaye Faye, is a Senegalese former footballer who played as a defender. Faye began his career playing for ASEC Ndiambour and Jeanne d'Arc in his native Senegal before moving to Fren ...

, followed by Irish-born Libyan footballer,

Éamon Zayed Éamon Zayed (; born 4 October 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in the Republic of Ireland, he represented the Libya national team as a player. Zayed gained international fame on 2 February 2012 after s ...

and Singaporean

Fazrul Nawaz Fazrul Nawaz bin Shahul Hameed (born 17 October 1985) is a Singapore former international footballer who last played as a striker or second-striker for Singapore National League club Warwick Knights and the Singapore national team. He is ...

. Fazrul and O'Callaghan were released early in the season few weeks before

kick off. Fazrul was replaced by

Joel Chianese Joel Joseph Chianese (born 15 February 1990) is an Australian semi-professional footballer currently playing for Perth RedStar, in the NPL WA competition. Career Sydney FC Chianese made his senior debut in the first game of the 2011 Asian Ch ...

during the mid-season transfer window, and O'Callaghan by

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's football pyramid. When Queensland Lions F.C. were ...

ex-coach

Mike Mulvey Mike Mulvey (born 25 February 1963) is an Australian-English football manager, who is the technical director of South West Queensland Thunder. He had previously been in charge of clubs in Australia, Thailand and Malaysia. Mulvey is best known ...

in February 2015. Diouf's dissatisfaction grew with Sabah FA management plans, along with his dismissal during few of Sabah's matches thus allowing youngster Leopold Alphonso and Rawilson Batuil to play. Promising start of 2015 season ended with disappointment at 7th place, missing Malaysia Cup automatic slot. TC Goh, Mulvey and big name players such as Diouf, Zayed, Faye, Chianese and Rozaimi Abdul Rahman left at the end of the season due to no contract renewal.

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 The 2019 Malaysia Premier League is the 16th season of the Malaysia Premier League, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia since its establishment in 2004. Team changes A total of 12 teams contested the league, including 8 side ...

for the first time since they last lifted the old first division title back in 1996. Having early secured various imports such as Brazilian Luiz Júnior, South Korean

Park Tae-soo Park Tae-soo (; born 1 December 1989), also known as Karim or Karim Park, is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back. He became well known when his free-kick goal against Petaling Jaya City ...

and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

Luka Milunović, Aguinaldo da Veiga,

Ahmet Ataýew Ahmet Didarovich Atayev or Ahmet Didarowiç Ataýew (Turkmen Cyrillic: Ахмет Дидарович Атаев; ; born 19 September 1990) is a Turkmen professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ýokary Liga club FK Arkadag and the ...

Rodoljub Paunović Rodoljub Paunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Родољуб Пауновић; born 20 June 1985) is a Serbian retired footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Sabah In June 2017, Paunović signed for Malaysia Premier League side Sabah ...

and various local talents, the team was able to win 13 from a total of 19 matches, qualifying for the

2020 Malaysia Super League The 2020 Malaysia Super League (), known as the CIMB Bank Liga Super Malaysia 2020 for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional football league in Malaysia. Johor Darul Ta'zim were the defen ...

Malaysian Football League privatisation era

Starting from the 2021 season, all clubs competing in the Malaysia Super League must be privatised as required by the FAM.

was formed in order to fulfill the condition.

Verdon Bahanda Verdon bin Bahanda is a Malaysian politician, businessman and indigenous activist who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kudat since November 2022. He is an independent. He served as the chief executive officer (CEO) and directo ...

was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the club on 12 November 2020. Therefore, Sabah FA was renamed to Sabah F.C. as the new club name, and the

rhino A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

once again became the official mascot of the club.

Return to AFC club competition

Sabah finished in third place of the

2022 Malaysia Super League The 2022 Malaysia Super League (), is the 19th season of the Malaysia Super League, the top-tier professional association football, football league in Malaysia for association football clubs since its establishment in 2004, and the 41st season of ...

, which saw them returning to the continental club competition since 1995–96 and making their debut in the

2023–24 AFC Cup The 2023–24 AFC Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the final edition under the AFC Cup title, as the competition was revamped under the nam ...

in the group H with

Haiphong Haiphong or Hai Phong (, ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of , consisting of 8 urban districts, 6 rural districts and 1 municipal city (sub-city). Two o ...

Hougang United Hougang United Football Club is a professional football club based in Hougang, Singapore. The club competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singaporean football. Founded in 1998 as Marine Castle United, the club changed its ...

and

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 ...

. On 21 September, they played their first fixture against Hougang United in a 3–1 home win. In the next fixture, Sabah faced PSM Makassar away, where they won 5–0 with

Saddil Ramdani Saddil Ramdani (born 2 January 1999) is an Indonesian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Liga 1 club Persib Bandung. Early career Saddil comes from the remote Muna Island in Southeast Sulawesi province in ...

bagging a hat-trick of assists. Their journey ended in the ASEAN Zonal semi-final, where they faced

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under Professional sports league organi ...

and were ultimately defeated 0–3.

Players

First-team squad

Technical staff

Crest and colours

In November 2020 following the privatisation of the club, Sabah FC displayed the club's new official logo which was chosen following a competition. 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 by the most fans.

Stadiums

- * Penampang Stadium - * Tawau 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 Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

. It has been the home stadium of Sabah FC since its opening in 1983.

Kit manufacturers and main sponsors

Club culture

Supporters

* Bola Sepak Sabah * Football Fans of Sabah * Kelab Penyokong Sabah Rhino * North Borneo Ultras (NBU) * Sabah Football Fans Club * SabahRhinos.com since 1997 * Tawau City Hoodlum (TCH) * The Rhinos Troops * Sabah Diehard * The Voice of Rhinos#12 * RedBois City (RBC) * Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) * Bola Rhinos Fans Club

Mascot

Sabah FA first mascot was the

since mid-1990s. In 2010 the SAFA rebranded the mascot to

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

. which was controversial as Kuala Lumpur FA at that time was also known as the ''Hawks''. Sabah FA reinstated the Rhino mascot starting from 2015. In 2019, Sabah FA once again rebranded the mascot as Tambadau. During 2021 privatisation process, Sabah FC was chosen as the new club name and rhino once again became the official mascot.

Rivalry

Sabah FC neighbouring rival was Sarawak United, and Kuching City matches referred to as the Borneo Derby.

Broadcasting

Radio coverages regular season matches on Sabah FM 89.9 in

Malay language Malay ( , ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays (ethnic group), Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on the mainland Asia. The lang ...

Honours

Club records

''Note'': * Pld = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, F = Goals for, A = Goals against, Pts= Points, Pos = Position Source:

Performances in AFC competitions

: 1 appearance ::

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

: Round of 16 *

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

: 1 appearance :: 2023–24: ASEAN Zonal semi-finals

Former managers and coaches

Managers

* Goh Thian Chuan (1999, 2015) * Osman Jamal (2000–2001) * Mohd Joehari Mohd Ayub (2004–2005) * Abdul Rahman Zakaria (2006–2009, 2014) * Mohd Asyraaf Fong Abdullah (2009) * Gary Phillips (2010–2011) * Shahriman Abdullah (2011–2012) * Alijus Sipil (2013–2014) *

Adlane Messelem Adlane Messelem is an Algerian football manager who was last contracted to Sabah FA in Malaysia. Career Part of RC Lens' backroom staff from 2005 until 2007, Messelem worked as a football negotiator for five years before being hired as tec ...

(2017) *

Juil Nuatim Juil Nuatim (born 7 November 1959) is a Malaysian politician who has served as a Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly for Limbahau since September 2020. He is a member of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and was a member of the Social Democ ...

(2018) *

Peter Anthony Peter Anthony (born 24 February 1971) is a Malaysian politician, singer and businessman who served as the State Minister of Infrastructure Development of Sabah in the Heritage Party (WARISAN) state administration under former Chief Minister S ...

(2018–2020) * Jelius Ating (2020–2022) *

Shahelmey Yahya Shahelmey bin Yahya (born 20 February 1973) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Deputy Chief Minister III and State Minister of Works of Sabah in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state administration under Chief Minister Hajiji N ...

(2023–)

Coaches

* Stanley Chew (–1979, 1985, 1987–1988) * Gerd Schmidt (1980–1983) * James Wong (1984) * Azah Ezrein (1986) * Frank Upton (1989–1990) * Roy Lorenson (1990–1992) * Oldřich Sedláček (1992–1995) * Kelly Tham (1995–1996) * Ron Smith (1996–1997) * Ken Shellito (1998) * Justin Ganai (1999, 2005–2006, 2011–2012, 2015) *

Ken Worden Ken Worden (2 February 1943 – 20 September 2021) was a British-born Australian football player and coach. Worden was born on 2 February 1943, in Preston, Lancashire, England. Worden was more successful in Australia as player and coach, no ...

(1999) *

David Woodfield David Woodfield (11 October 1943 – 1 May 2025) was an English football player and coach. He played as a central defender, making over 250 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers during the 1960s, before concluding his playing career at Watfor ...

(2000–2001) * Peter Butler (2001–2004) * José Garrido (2004–2005) * José Luis (2005) *

Drago Mamić Drago Mamić (born February 9, 1954) is a Serbian-born Croatian retired football player and manager. Managerial career He last managed Bangladesh Premier League side Saif Sporting Club. He is also the former manager of Maldives. He has a UEFA ' ...

(2007–2008) *

Wathiq Naji Wathiq Naji Jassim Al-Kaissi (; 1 July 1940 – 20 November 2014) was an Iraqi football manager, who took the team to the 1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * Janu ...

(2008–2009) * Mohd Asyraaf Fong Abdullah (2009) * Gary Phillips (2010–2011) * Andrew Majjangkim (2012) *

(2012–2013) * Johnny Dominicus (2013) *

(2013–2014) *

(2015) *

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(2021–2024) * Martin Stano (2024–)

Coaching history

The following coaches won at least one trophy when in charge of Sabah:

Notable players

''Notable former players of Sabah F.C. who have earned senior international caps for their respective nations:''

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* Amri Yahyah *

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* Azzizan Nordin *

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* Badrulzaman Abdul Halim *

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* Brendan Gan *

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* Evan Wensley * G. Jeevananthan *

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* Izuan Salahuddin * James Wong * K. Sanbagamaran *

* Liew Kit Kong *

* Mohd Anis Faron * Mohd Arsyah Ayob *

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* Nazri Ahmad *

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* N. Thanabalan *

* Redzuan Mohd Radzy * Rizal Ghazali *

* R. Surendran * Sumardi Hajalan * Shahril Saa'ri * Shahrul Azhar Ture * Syed Adney * Tommy Mawat Bada * Wong Sai Kong * Zainizam Marjan * Zuraindey Jumai AFC * Michael Baird * Scott Ollerenshaw *

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* Dedi Kusnandar * Lee Kil-Hoon *

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* Aguinaldo * Alexis Tibidi * Émile Mbouh *

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* José Embaló *

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* Joseph Amoah * Josiah Seton *

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* Petrus Shitembi *

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* Dumisa Ngobe * Francis Kasonde * Gift Kampamba

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* Héctor Ramos *

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* Luiz Júnior

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Jaroslav Netolička Jaroslav Netolička (born 3 March 1954, in Opava) is a Czech football goalkeeper. He obtained a total number of fifteen caps for Czechoslovakia national football team, in which he conceded ten goals. Netolička began his playing career with ...

David Rocastle David Carlyle Rocastle (2 May 1967 – 31 March 2001) was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the roles of a playmaker and a winger. He spent the majority of his career at Arsenal where he was nicknamed "Rocky". Ro ...

Sofiane Choubani Sofiane Choubani (born 29 March 1990) is a French footballer who plays for Championnat National 3 club Challans. He played in the 2016 Algerian Cup Final for NA Hussein Dey Nasr Athlétique de Hussein Dey (), known as NA Hussein Dey or ...

* Risto Mitrevski * Luka Milunović * Rhys Weston

References

External links

*
Sabah football supporters website

Sabah FA team latest statistics

Sabah FA individual player stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabah. F.C. Sabah F.C. (Malaysia) Malaysia Premier League clubs Football clubs in Malaysia Football clubs in Sabah Association football clubs established in 1963 1963 establishments in Malaysia Football associations in Malaysia Sports organizations established in 1963