Turns out it isn’t necessary to watch the great international leagues to see beautiful plays in what Pelé famously christened “The Beautiful Game”. Instead, you can witness them right here in Malaysia as Faiz Subri proved earlier this year. In February, the Penang player executed an outstanding free kick 40 yards apart from the goal against Pahang at the Malaysia Super League. The ball, which proved too difficult for the opposing keeper to save, made an ovation-worthy curve before scoring at the top right corner of the goal. With Faiz’s amazing goal, Penang managed to pull ahead with a 4-2 win while the player himself ascended to instant internet stardom. The YouTube video immortalising his awesome free kick has garnered over 2 million views at the time of writing.
Soon after, the Football Association of Malaysia nominated his goal for the FIFA Puskas award. Months later, Faiz is now shortlisted on the top 10 of the award, standing figuratively alongside football greats like Lionel Messi. Faiz now is in arm’s length of the privilege to represent Malaysia at the upcoming FIFA Ballon d’Or if he gets on the 3-man shortlist this 2nd December. If that happens, he will be Malaysia’s first player representative at the prestigious occasion in history!
Whether he clinches the 3-man shortlist or not, Faiz has regardless made Malaysia very proud! However, he has a pretty good shot considering he is now leading in votes at 23.6%, ahead of Lionel Messi’s 21.8%.
Watch the amazing free kick that got him the nomination right here!
