Mohammad Shah Azahar bin Abdullah Ahar, formerly known as Philip Anak Ahar (born 11 December 1983) is a

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

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 ...

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language The Iban language () is spoken by the Iban, one of the Dayak ethnic groups who live in Brunei, the Indonesian provinc ...

descent who plays as a defender for

Kota Ranger FC Kota Ranger Football Club (; abbrev: KRFC), formerly Perkota, is a Bruneian football club, playing in the Brunei Super League. It was formed in 1978 and was successful in the late eighties and early nineties, winning the national championships t ...

of the

Brunei Super League The Brunei Super League ( abbr: BSL; – LSB) is a professional league for men's association football in the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. It is at the top tier of the Bruneian football league system, and it is managed by the Football As ...

Club career

Philip, as he was previously known, started playing club football with

QAF FC QAF FC is a professional football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The club won the Brunei League in 2006 when the DPMM FC had to withdraw because they play in the Malaysian Premier League, thus the QAF FC won the title. Their captain ...

of the B-League Premier 1 in the 2005–06 season as an employee of Ben Foods (B), a company under the QAF corporation. His club won the Bruneian league championship for three consecutive seasons while he was there. Shah Azahar joined

Jerudong FC Jerudong Football Club () is a Bruneian professional association football, football club that last competed in the Brunei Super League. With almost 30 years of service, the club has experienced its fair share of highs and lows while competing in ...

once QAF FC waived entry into the

2015 Brunei Super League The 2015 Brunei Super League is the third season of the Brunei Super League. It is organized by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam and sponsored by DST Group. On 23 October 2015, MS ABDB clinched the title with two games left t ...

, along with many of his QAF teammates. He moved again to

Wijaya FC Wijaya Football Club (; abbrev: WFC) is a professional football club from Brunei that competes in the Brunei Super League. They are a founding member of both the B-League in 2002, as well as the Super League in 2012. They were also the inaugura ...

for the following 2016 season. After several years off the pitch to focus on his running career, Shah Azahar rejoined Wijaya in June 2021.

International career

While still known as Philip Anak Ahar, he made his first foray into the international scene with

at the

2006 AFC Challenge Cup The 2006 AFC Challenge Cup was held between 1 and 16 April 2006 in Bangladesh. Sixteen teams were split into four groups, the top two in each group qualifying for the quarterfinals, and from then on a straight knockout contest. There was no qual ...

held in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. He made his debut and only appearance as a late substitute in the 2–1 win over

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

on 4 April. His next tournament was the

2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification phase saw five teams advance to the finals to join three automatic qualifiers in the final tournament in Sri Lanka. Qualification consisted of two sections. * A playoff between the 19th and 20th ranked entra ...

in which he played two games out of three, all as substitute. After solid displays with

, Shah Azahar was recalled into the international fold in mid-2015, taking the field in friendly games against

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

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Honours

Team

;QAF FC *

Brunei Premier League The Brunei Premier League () is the second tier of the football pyramid of Brunei. It was Brunei's top-tier football league until 2012, when the Brunei Super League was created. The Premier League falls under the management of the National Footba ...

(3): 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10 *

Brunei League Cup Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

(2): 2008, 2009

Personal life

Besides football, Shah Azahar is also a

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

who has finished in first place at many locally-held events. Hailing from a family of runners, his eldest brother Sefli is a celebrated Bruneian marathon runner, while his elder brother

Jimmy Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

represented Brunei at the 2004 Summer Olympics for the men's 1500 metres on top of having played league football with MS PDB. Shah Azahar embraced

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and changed his name from Philip

circa Circa is a Latin word meaning "around, approximately". Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear company * Circa (contempora ...

2010.

External links

* * *

References

1983 births Living people Iban people Bruneian Muslims Converts to Islam Men's association football defenders Bruneian men's footballers Brunei men's international footballers QAF FC players Wijaya FC players Kota Ranger FC players Brunei Super League players {{Brunei-footy-bio-stub