PETALING JAYA: Mohd Safiq Rahim capped off a perfect year, winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and best midfielder honours at the National Football Awards.
And it was a memorable night for Safiq’s team too as Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) were the biggest winners at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre last night.
All in, Super League champions JDT bagged eight of the 17 awards. Besides Safiq’s two honours, JDT also picked up the other major awards – best head coach (Mario Gomez), best striker (Mohd Amri Yahyah), best defender (Aidil Zafuan Abdul Razak), best goalkeeper (Farizal Marlias) and best foreign player (Luciano Figueroa of Argentina).
JDT were also given a special award and RM100,000 for being the first Malaysian team to win the AFC Cup. JDT were 1-0 winners over Istiklol FC in the final in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Oct 31. Safiq also picked up the AFC Cup’s MVP award.
In the battle for the best young player award, Australian-born Matthew Davies of Pahang beat Mohd Farhan Roslan of Kedah and Selangor’s Nazmi Faiz Mansor. It was the 20-year-old Davies’ first season in the M-League this year.
Both the top scorer awards for the two divisions were won by foreigners.
Police’s Dramane Traore of Mali netted 20 goals to win the Super League category while Negri Sembilan’s Liberian striker Francis Doe was the Premier League’s top scorer with 17 goals.
