Selangor FA

History

Before the Football Association of Selangor was formally established, there were only associations that managed the internal state league, called the SAFL (Selangor Association Football League), which was founded in 1905. The first cup held was sponsored by the British Resident of Selangor, RG Watson. There were also reports the association was led by British Residents at that time.

In 1926, the internal political crisis had led some officials to withdraw the association set up a separate association named Selangor Football Association (SFA).

The dispute between the SAFL and the SFA continued almost ten years before the two sides back to the negotiating table for the betterment of Selangor state football. Finally, the two associations merged officially on February 22, 1936, under the name of the Football Association of Selangor (FAS) or Persatuan Bola Sepak Selangor.

But the outbreak of the Second World War slowed down FAS's efforts to develop domestic football. The effort was started aggressively as soon as the war ended, the first official FAS president was none other than Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.

Efforts to uphold the state football continued with FAS planning the construction of a typical football stadium for the team. Selangor who earlier used the Selangor Field Club (now Dataran Merdeka) as their home clearly requires a stadium in line with the association.

FAS met the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur several times for permission on construction of the stadium but has is still not found a solution absolutely yet. The dream to see Selangor in action in the stadium itself seemed fainter by the day.

However, the appointment of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj (currently holds the presidency of both FAS and FAM) as the next Prime Minister of the newly independent Malaya pioneered back in the stadium construction business.

Tunku ordered the construction of the Merdeka stadium to celebrate the country's independence as well as the official Selangor FA stadium. Merdeka Stadium will also be the official national stadium in organizing international sports.

The name that is synonymous with football in Selangor on the 1960s is Datuk Harun Idris. He became president of the Football Association of Selangor for 21 years from 1961 to 1982. During his leadership, Selangor won 15 Malaysia Cups as well as doing a lot of positive changes to the association.

FAS was originally headquartered at the Old MCA building in Jalan Ampang long before the construction of Wisma FAS in 1973 at the Merdeka Stadium on Datuk Harun's own efforts (also Chief Minister of Selangor at the time) and team manager, Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah. In the mid-1990s, FAS moved to Wisma FAS in Kelana Jaya today.

Since its inception in 1936, Selangor has won 33 Malaysia Cups, most recently being in 2015, champions of Malaysia Super League 7 times, 5 times FA Cup winners and being the only Malaysian team that made it to the Asian Club Cup final making it the most successful team in local football arena.

Among those who are responsible for the success of Selangor are the presidents: Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, Datuk Harun Idris, Datuk Aini Taib, Tan Sri Muhammad Haji Muhammad Taib, Tengku Ahmad Shah; team managers: Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah, Mohd Noor Khamis, Mazlan Harun, Dr Nordin Selat, Datuk Mokhtar Ahmad; coaches: M Chandran, Khaidir Buyong, Ken Worden and many others that are not mentioned here.

The state also has many football stars who brought success to the state and the country such as Ghani Minhat, the late Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Zainal Abidin Hassan, Wong Choon Wah, Khan Hung Meng, Azman Adnan and many others.

MP Selayang Stadium

The stadium has been the home of Selangor FA since December 2016. The stadium is owned by the State Government of Selangor.

Selangor have used several grounds during their history. After playing home matches at Selangor Club Field (now known as Dataran Merdeka) from 1936 until the Independence of Malaya on 1957, the club settled at Merdeka Stadium during the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman as the club's president, their home for 38 years until 1994. After 1994, the club changed their home ground to the Shah Alam Stadium, which became the club's home stadium until 2016. For 2017, the club had to change its stadium to the MP Selayang Stadium due to a financial crisis that occurred after the Selangor State Government decided not to give any subsidies to the club for the upcoming 2017 season.

Training

The SUK Training Field is the club's official training facility located beside the Shah Alam Stadium. The facility is founded by the Football Association of Selangor with the purpose to serve as a training ground for the Selangor FA team.

Coverage

Selangor's domestic and international matches (depending on the location and the broadcast station) are broadcast either live or delayed on Malaysian free-to-air and satellite television channels. All broadcasting rights are controlled by MP & Silva.

Publishing and internet media

A Selangor state government owned subsidiary company named Media Selangor, that consists of two types of branches, SelangorKini for Newspaper Publishing and TVSelangor for the Internet and Social Media, owns all the rights in publishing news and media in Selangor, since the subsidiary company is owned by the Selangor State Government.

Crest and colours

The crest is shaped as a shield, while the emblem on the upper part of the crest is derived from the Selangor State Council coat of arms. The colour characteristics on the crest is the main colour of the state of Selangor which symbolizes Bravery for red and Royalty for yellow.

Supporters

Ultrasel is the official supporters group of Selangor. Wherever Selangor play, the group will be there to support. They always gather at the Gate 2 stand in Stadium Shah Alam which they nicknamed it the Green Curva Nord. Accompanied by the drumline, they will stand and chant passionately for the entire game and wave huge flags occasionally.

Anak Selangor Fan Club is the second largest supporters group of Selangor. The fan club was formed by a group of loyal Selangor FA fans from many states that always gather up when the Red Giants are playing soccer. The main colours for these supporter is red and yellow, which is the official colour for all the fan clubs in Selangor. The fan club's target is to create a football academy with the help and support of former Selangor players such as Shahril Arshad, Jamsari Sabian and many more large names.

Other small fan clubs that's considered as a regular in the Shah Alam Stadium is the Selangor Soccer Fan Club and Selangor Citizen Fan Club

Rivalries

Selangor has a historical derby with Singapore FA known as the 'Malayan El'Clasico' while matches with Kuala Lumpur FA were known as the Klang Valley Derby.

The rivalry arises from the numerous times the two teams have battled for the Malaysia Cup title. With 57 titles between them (33 for Selangor and 24 for Singapore) this fixture has become known as one of the finest Malaysia Cup match-ups in history.

Manufacturers

From the 1970s to 2016, the Selangor team kit was manufactured by various of companies including Admiral, Puma, Adidas, Lotto and Kappa. Since 2016, the official Selangor FA kit has been manufactured by Lotto. The home kit's design has a red base and a yellow diagonal line. The away kit features design of a yellow base and white and yellow camouflage on the bottom of the jersey. The alternate kit has a black base, with light green shirt-sleeves and light green, grey and white-colored camouflage on the bottom of the jersey.