Datuk Wira Soh Chin Ann (or Soh Chin Aun due to misspelling by Malaysian media; ; born 28 July 1950) is a Malaysian former

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 played as a defender. He was affectionately known as ''Tauke'' or '' Towkay'' (''Boss'') by his teammates and fans.

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

and

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

formerly recognised Soh as the player with the most international caps in men's football with 219 caps, before being overtaken by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

in 2025. He formerly held the record of all-time most appearances in FIFA international recognised matches with 195 caps, before being overtaken by

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

's Bader Al-Mutawa in 2022.

Club career

Soh started his football career with

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

in 1969. He joined

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 ...

in 1971 and played for them until 1978 winning six

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 ...

titles. He returned to star for Malacca in 1979 and won the League Cup title in 1983 but was inactive for two years due to a one-year suspension in 1985. He captained Malacca in 1988 which was also his last appearances in the domestic league.

International career

National team

At the age of 19, Soh earned his full international caps for Malaysia at the 1969 King's Cup. In 1971, when he played in the Olympic qualifier in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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 ...

, he was the youngest member of the national team at the age of 21. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and playing all three group games. He also was the captain of the team that qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Malaysia did not participate in boycott of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. However, because of his contribution for helping Malaysia to qualify for the Olympics, he was awarded the Ahli Mangku Negara by the

Yang di-Pertuan Agong The King of Malaysia, officially ''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'' ( Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ), is the constitutional monarch and Figurehead, ceremonial head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957, when the Federation of Malaya gained ...

. He later took part in the

1980 AFC Asian Cup The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was the 7th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were hosted by Kuwait between 15 and 30 S ...

, where his Malaysia was eliminated from the group stage, yet Malaysia produced one of the finest performance ever under his leadership, with the team gaining a famous 1–1 draw over powerhouse

; Soh gained fame as well for having an exceptional tournament, allowing him to be named into the Team of the Tournament by the AFC, the first Southeast Asian to receive such honour, a record which would stand until the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Malaysia Selection

On 11 May 1975, Soh was part of the Malaysia Selection that played against Arsenal FC in a friendly match, which the team won 2–0 at the

Merdeka Stadium The Independence Stadium or Merdeka Stadium is a stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is known as the site of the formal declaration of independence of the Federation of Malaya on Independence Day (Malaysia), 31 August 1957. The stadium is also ...

Retirement

He retired from international football in 1984 and made 250 international appearances as recorded by Football Association of Malaysia.

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

recognised his achievements and included him into AFC Century Club in February 1999.14 EX-INTERNATIONALS INDUCTED INTO AFC CENTURY CLUB
– BERNAMA, 11 February 1999.National Library of Singapore.
/ref>

Post-playing career

He was appointed as the chairman of the referees' committee on 13 March 2007. He was the team manager (not head coach) of

Malaysia national football team The Malaysia national football team () represents Malaysia in international association football, football and is governed by the Football Association of Malaysia. The national team is recognised by FIFA as the successor of the defunct Malaya ...

from 2007 until 2009.

Political career

He once tried to make it in politics by contesting to be the Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka representing

Malaysian Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (Abbreviation, abbrev: MCA; Malay language, Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic List of political parties in Malaysia, political party in Malaysi ...

(MCA) of Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1986 but he suffered a defeat of 17,606 votes to Lim Guan Eng of Democratic Action Party (DAP). Percentage figures based on total turnout.

Election results

Personal life

In 2016, he made a cameo appearance in '' Ola Bola'' as Soh Chin Aun, a character based on himself in the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

qualification campaign.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Malaysia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ann goal.

Honours

Selangor *

: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978 Malacca *

Malaysian League The Malaysian League, also known as the M-League ( Malay: ''Liga Malaysia'' or ''Liga-M''), is a terminology used to describe the professional football league in Malaysia. The terminology was mainly used to describe the league and its divisions ...

: 1983 Malaysia *

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Bronze Medal: 1974 * SEA Games:

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

* Merdeka Tournament:

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, 1974,

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

* King's Cup: 1972, 1976, 1978 * Jakarta Anniversary Tournament: 1970 Individual * AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

* AFC Asian All Stars: 1982 * MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998 * AFC Century Club: 199914 EX-INTERNATIONALS INDUCTED INTO AFC CENTURY CLUB
– BERNAMA, 11 February 1999.National Library of Singapore.
/ref> * OCM Hall of Fame: 2004 * Asian Football Hall of Fame: 2014 * Goal.com The best Malaysia XI of all time: 2020 *

Men's All Time Malaysia Dream Team: 2022 Records *

all-time most appearances: 219 * The first men's footballers to reach 200 or more international caps (according to

and

): 219 *20th century most international caps in men's football (1901–2000): 219 * The first Asian footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team: 108 * The first footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team (1969–1984): 108 Order * : ** Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (1980) * : ** MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Knight Companion - DIMP

MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Knight Companion - DIMP

Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (2000) * : ** MY-SEL Order of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah - lower classes - DSIS - SIS - AIS

Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) – Dato' (2016) * : ** MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca

Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2021)

References

External links

Malaysian torchbearers of the Olympic Flame
(archived 29 September 2007)

at Selangorfc.com (archive 28 September 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Soh, Chin Ann 1950 births Living people Footballers from Malacca Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent Malaysian men's footballers Malaysia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Malaysia Footballers at the 1972 Summer Olympics 1980 AFC Asian Cup players Melaka United F.C. players Selangor F.C. players Members of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Malaysian sportsperson-politicians Malaysian Chinese Association politicians Asian Games bronze medalists for Malaysia Asian Games medalists in football SEA Games gold medalists for Malaysia SEA Games medalists in football SEA Games bronze medalists for Malaysia Men's association football defenders Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Competitors at the 1973 SEAP Games FIFA Men's Century Club Malaysian political candidates