Zaiful Nizam bin Abdullah (born 24 July 1987), more commonly known as Zaiful Nizam, is a Singaporean 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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which ...

club

Hougang United Hougang United Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. History Hougang United Football Club was founded as Marine Castle United Football Club, which was formed by Newcastle Uni ...

. Zaiful is the first goalkeeper to get an assist in the history of the

AFF Championship The ASEAN Football Federation Championship (less formally the AFF Championship or AFF Cup), currently known as the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup for sponsorship reason, is the primary association football tournament organized by the ASEAN Footbal ...

tournament.

Club career

Gombak United

Zaiful began his professional football career with

Gombak United Gombak United Football Club was a professional Football (soccer), football club which competed in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was based in Bukit Gombak. During the early years of the S. League, Gombak Unite ...

in the 2006 S. League. His stint with the bulls ended after the club has dissolved after the 2012 S.League season making 81 appearances in total.

Balestier Khalsa

In 2013, Zaiful signed for

Balestier Khalsa Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Founded in 1898, the club is considered as the oldest football club in the country. History Tracing their origins all t ...

and is the first choice which he became the captain for the team. He made his 100 capped in the first match of the

2017 S.League The 2017 S.League (also known as the Great Eastern Hyundai S.League for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season of the S.League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996. The ...

fixtures against

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been ...

. He almost scored a goal with a free kick when the team was losing 1–2 to Warriors, his free kick came close and hit the post and the game resulted in a loss. In 2014, Zaiful won the 2014 Singapore Cup with Balestier Khalsa. During the

2021 Singapore Premier League The 2021 Singapore Premier League (also known as the AIA Singapore Premier League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 4th season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, si ...

, Zaiful started in 13 out 15 matches for Balestier. On 14 August 2021 against a match against the Young Lions, Zaiful who was on the bench, refused to substitute with the playing goalkeeper, Zacharial Leong during half-time. Balestier was down 4-0 at half-time. He was subsequently suspended by the club following the match. On 19 August, Balestier Khalsa terminated Zaiful. During an interview, Zaiful revealed that he refused to substitute Leong to encourage him and regretted refusing to play.

Geylang International

On 27 August 2021, Geylang International announced the signing of Zaiful as part of their goalkeeping squad. In 2022, Zaiful won the Golden Glove during the 2022 Singapore Premier League Awards Night after keeping nine clean sheets during the

2022 Singapore Premier League The 2022 Singapore Premier League (also known as the AIA Singapore Premier League due to sponsorship reasons) is the 5th season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, si ...

season and was named in the Team of the Year.

Hougang United

Zaiful was unveiled as a

player on 17 January 2023 on the club's social medias. He made his debut on 19 February 2023 in the 2023 Singapore Community Shield in a 3-0 loss against Albirex Niigata. During the

2023–24 AFC Cup The 2023–24 AFC Cup will be the 20th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). This is the first ever AFC Cup season to have a two-year (autumn-to-spring) schedule, ...

group stage match against Malaysian side,

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

on 21 August 2023, Zaiful put on a ''Man of the Match'' performances during a heavy rain weather.

International career

Zaiful got his first international call up by

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

's head coach

Bernd Stange Bernd Walter Stange (born 14 March 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Syria national team. During his playing career, he played for Chemie Gnaschwitz, Vorwärts Bautzen, and HSG DHfK Leipzig as a defender. Playing care ...

for friendlies against

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, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

on 30 May and 6 June 2015 respectively. He made his international debut against

on the 60th minute, replacing

Izwan Mahbud Mohamad Izwan bin Mahbud (born 14 July 1990) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors and the Singapore national team. He was the third-choice goalkeeper of Singap ...

. He finally collected his second cap for the Lions in a friendly against Fiji on 11 September 2018, replacing

Hassan Sunny Hassan bin Abdullah Sunny (born 2 April 1984) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Singapore Premier League club for Singapore Premier League club Albirex Niigata (S) and the Singapore national team. Foot ...

in the 60th minute. Zaiful then collected his 3rd cap and pulled off a series of stunning saves against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

in the

2019 AIRMARINE Cup The AIRMARINE Cup 2019 is the first edition of the AIRMARINE Cup, an international football tournament with four countries participating. It is played on 20 and 23 March 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ananth S. Nathan, Executive Chairman of AIR ...

Final. Zaiful made his third appearance for the national team on 23 March 2019, against

in the finals of the

. He started the game and played the full 90 minutes. It eventually ended in a 1–1 draw but Singapore lost to Oman in penalties. Zaiful was selected for the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup that took place in December 2022. In the opening match for the Lions against

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, he was in the starting line up following first-choice Hassan Sunny red game in the previous tournament. In the 74' min, He assisted

Shawal Anuar Shawal Anuar (born 29 April 1991) is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors and the Singapore national team. Shawal is known for his pace, dribbling skills and finishi ...

for the winning goal with a long punt that cemented Singapore's 3–2 win. He became the first goalkeeper to get an assist in the history of the tournament .

Others

Singapore Selection Squad

He was selected as part of the Singapore Selection squad for The Sultan of Selangor's Cup to be held on 6 May 2017.

Personal life

Zaiful has two children.

Career statistics

Club

. Caps and goals may not be correct.

International

Honours

Clubs

Balestier Khalsa *

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost football cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

International

Singapore U17 *

Lion City Cup The Lion City Cup, is an annual international association football competition organized by the Football Association of Singapore, contested by the Under-16 soccer teams. It was founded in 1977 as the only Under-16 soccer tournament in the world ...

: 2004

Individual

Golden Glove: 2022 *

Team of the Year:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

References

1987 births Living people Singaporean men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Gombak United FC players Balestier Khalsa FC players Singapore Premier League players Singapore men's international footballers Competitors at the 2021 SEA Games SEA Games competitors for Singapore Geylang International FC players Hougang United FC players {{Singapore-footy-bio-stub