Kedah Darul Aman F.C.

Kedah Darul Aman

Full name	Kedah Darul Aman Football Club
Nickname(s)	Sang Kenari (The Canaries) [1] Hijau Kuning (Green and Yellow) [2]
Short name	KDA
Founded	2021;4 years ago (2021), as Kedah Darul Aman
Ground	Darul Aman Stadium MPKP Mini Stadium
Capacity	32,387 5,000
Owner	Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar [3]
CEO	Mohamad Faidhi Mohd Rohdzi
Head coach	Azzmi Aziz
League	Malaysia A1 Semi-Pro League
2025–26	TBD
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Kedah Darul Aman Football Club (Malay : Kelab Bola Sepak Kedah Darul Aman) is a professional football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah. The club competes in the Malaysia A1 Semi-Pro League, the second tier of Malaysian football. They are the first club in the history of Malaysian football to win two consecutive trebles, in 2006–07 and 2007–08, guided by Azraai Khor Abdullah. ^[4] The club is managed by Darulaman Football Club Sdn Bhd, currently owned by Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar.

Kedah Darul Aman has won 3 Malaysia Super League titles, 4 Malaysia Premier League titles, 5 Malaysia FA Cups, 5 Malaysia Cups and 3 Piala Sumbangsih titles. In 2021, the club changed its name from Kedah FA to Kedah Darul Aman. ^[5]

History

The football club was founded in 1924 by Tunku Yaacob ibni Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah as president, though they only had limited success until the appointment of Ahmad Basri Akil as manager in 1985. ^[6] Under Ahmad Basri Akil, the club qualified for six Malaysia Cup final matches in a seven-year period between 1987 and 1993; and won two Malaysia Cup titles, one league title and one FA Cup title. ^[6]

The club experienced a lean period in the 1980s and 1990s, but enjoyed a revival in the new millennium by achieving back-to-back domestic trebles under Azraai Khor. ^[7] The club also reached 111th position in IFFHS club world ranking between 1 August 2007 to 31 July 2008. ^[8] However, the club experienced a dip in performances thereafter as a result of the loss of their influential import players; including Nelson San Martín, Cornelius Huggins and Marlon James. Problems with the new management team also led to Azraai Khor's departure.

Kedah were relegated to the second-tier of Malaysian football, the Malaysian Premier League, after losing 3–2 in the playoff final to Sri Pahang in a penalty shootout during the 2012 Malaysia Super League season. Marijo Tot was hired to replace Wan Jamak in an attempt to bring the club back to Malaysia Super League during the 2013 Malaysia Premier League season, which also saw the return of former Kedah's talisman, Nelson San Martín. In the 2014 Malaysia Premier League season, Kedah signed Billy Mehmet, who made an immediate impact by helping the club reach the semi-final of the 2014 Malaysia Cup, winning the first leg 3–1, but ultimately lost the second leg 5–1. Billy Mehmet ended the season as the club's top goal scorer in the 2014 Malaysia Premier League as well as the club's top goal scorer in all competitions. Mehmet was also the second highest goal scorer in all competitions at all levels in Malaysian professional football.

Aidil Sharin era (2019–2022)

On 8 October 2018, Kedah appointed Singaporean head coach, Aidil Sharin Sahak for the 2019 Malaysia Super League season. On his first match as head coach on 2 February 2019, Kedah won 2–0 against PKNP with goals coming from Shakir Hamzah and Jonathan Bauman goal. On 8 March 2019, Aidil Sharin experienced his first defeat in charge of Kedah as the club fell to a 1–0 defeat at the hands of Sri Pahang. Kedah finished in fourth position in the Malaysia Super League in Aidil Sharin first season in charge, one position higher than the previous season. On 27 July 2019, Aidil Sharin led Kedah to win the 2019 Malaysia FA Cup as Fadzrul Danel scored in the dying minute in extra time securing a 1–0 win over Perak in the final. On 26 October 2019, Kedah reached the final of the 2019 Malaysia Cup following a massive 8–8 aggregate against Sri Pahang seeing Kedah through on away goals rules, However Kedah was beaten 3–0 by Johor Darul Ta'zim in the decisive game at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

Aidil Sharin also became the first Singaporean head coach to manage a non-Singaporean team in the AFC Champions League when he guided Kedah into the 2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs round in which they thrash Hong Kong club, Tai Po 5–1 in the preliminary round 2 and thus seeing them advance to face FC Seoul in the play-off round which subsequently ended up as a 4–1 defeat at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

New ownership and going full privatised

Prior to the 2021 season, the club changed its name from Kedah FA to Kedah Darul Aman ^[5] On 25 November 2021, Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar has been appointed by the President of the Kedah Football Association, Dato' Seri Haji Muhammad Sanusi Md. Nor as the chairman of Kedah Darul Aman. Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar is an entrepreneur in various fields as well as leading several large national agencies and in time to develop financial sustainability, governance and governance, facilities, infrastructure as well as the quality of players and coaching as a more dynamic strategy to attract more business opportunities in the modern era of football. As the majority shareholder, Mohd Daud Bakar wants to develop a world-class training center recognized by the World Football Federation (FIFA) with a RM20 Million budget expressed by Mohd Daud Bakar during the press conference after the Ceremony to Introduce Official Sponsors and Partners of Kedah Darul Aman on 9 February 2022. In addition to being a training center, it will also become one of the new tourist attractions in Kedah.

On 17 October 2022, it was announced that Kedah Darul Aman had parted ways with Aidil Sharin. He departed Kedah Darul Aman with a record of 55 wins, 20 draws, and 35 defeats in 110 games with a win percentage of 50%. During the four years tenure as head coach, Aidil Sharin guided Kedah to several highs, including emerging as 2019 Malaysia FA Cup champions, 2019 Malaysia Cup runners-up, 2020 and 2021 Malaysia Super League runners-up as well as reaching the 2022 AFC Cup ASEAN Zone semi-finals. On the same day, his assistant and also Kedah legend, Victor Andrag was named as interim coach guiding the club in the upcoming 2022 Malaysia Cup which commence on 26 October 2022.

On 6 December 2022, former Terengganu head coach, Nafuzi Zain was appointed to guide Kedah Darul Aman for the upcoming 2023 Malaysia Super League season. In January 2023, Kedah Darul Aman started their 2023 season heading to Turkey for a week pre-season training camp in Antalya playing a couple of friendlies match against FC Nasaf, Shakhter Karagandy, FC Maktaaral and Metalist Kharkiv before returning home. On 26 August 2023, Kedah Darul Aman ended Johor Darul Ta'zim winning streak in the league with goals from Ifedayo Olusegun and Manuel Ott to take the 2–0 lead for Kedah Darul Aman before the opposition come back to take the lead to 2–3 however in the dying minute in the game, Amirbek Juraboev scored the equaliser to settled for a draw which was considered a huge upset for the away side.

Club culture

Supporters

Kedah Darul Aman lineup in 2008

The song 'Biar Jasa Jadi Kenangan', once again idealised and written by Ahmad Basri Akil and recorded by a Malaysian musician Freddie Fernandez, is the anthem of the club, and has been sung by the crowd since 9 September 1987 after the club reached their first Malaysia Cup semi-final match since 1940.^{[ citation needed ]}

Rivalries

Penang are the biggest rivals of the club. Kedah's fans considered their main rivalries to be with (in order) Penang, Perlis and Perak. Matches against fellow northern region sides Tambun Tulang, Kuala Muda Naza, Kedah United, Sungai Ara, PBAPP, SDMS Kepala Batas, Perak YBU and Kedah FA state football team have only taken place intermittently, due to the clubs often being in separate divisions.

Northern Region Derby

Northern Region Derby is the name given to football matches that involves Kedah Darul Aman and Penang. ^[9] Both them are located in the north of Malaysia. Bandaraya Stadium and Darul Aman Stadium are packed by fans from both clubs during the derby matches. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere, with numerous banners unfolded before the start of the game.

Stadium

Full house at the Darul Aman Stadium during Kedah vs Johor Darul Ta'zim II in 2015

Kedah Darul Aman has been mostly based at the Darul Aman Stadium. Opened by the Sultan of Kedah, Dziaddin Mukarram Shah I in 1962, it has a capacity of 32,387 spectators.

Kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2004	Lotto	Dunhill
2005		Celcom, Modenas
2005–06	Line 7 [10]
2006–07		TM, PKNK [11]
2007–08
2009	Lotto
2010
2011		PKNK
2012	Line 7
2013
2014
2015	Warrix	PKNK, Sada, Naza, Firefly
2016		Bina Darulaman Berhad (BDB), PKNK, Sada, Cosmic
2017	aL by Al-Ikhsan [12]	ECK Development Berhad (ECK), Bina Darulaman Berhad (BDB), PKNK, Sada, Cosmic
2018		ECK Development Berhad (ECK), PKNK, Sada, Cosmic
2019	Lotto	Menteri Besar Sdn Bhd (MBI), PKNK, Sada
2020		Chenang Bay, [13] Menteri Besar Sdn Bhd, PKNK
2021		Widad Langkasuka, [14] Menteri Besar Sdn Bhd, PKNK
2022		DXN, Menteri Besar Sdn Bhd, PKNK
2023		Bin Zayed Internacional, Langkawi Pure
2024	ALX by Al-Ikhsan	Arab Street, SuperbestPower, Weststar

Crest and colours

Kedah Darul Aman's traditional colours are red and black, but the home kit's colours have been green and yellow since 1988. The colours were the result of the former Kedah Football Association Deputy President, Ahmad Basri Akil's request for a different set of colours for the home kit. The colours of green and yellow were chosen as they referenced the state's nickname of Jelapang Padi or Paddy field. ^[15]

The current club crest were announced by Ahmad Basri Akil alongside the club's official colours of green and yellow in 1988. Green dominates the background; the side of the crest shows 11 joint bordered lines which signify the 11 districts of the Kedah state. At the centre of the crest is a ball and Allamanda flowers; as the flower is green and yellow in colour, with the team motto (Malay : Biar Jasa Jadi Kenangan) written in yellow.

Controversies

During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, A Malaysian man was denied entry to Al-Bayt Stadium while wearing a 2021 Kedah Darul Aman away jersey with Chenang Bay written on it and a colourful checkered design. The man named, Zulfadli Ahmad Tajudin, told Dari Tepi Padang that he flew all the way from Muar, Johor, to experience the World Cup but was left disappointed by the ordeal he had to face with security. Zulfadli was detained for over 30 minutes who initially had no idea why he was being questioned by the stadium's security officials which suspect him of supporting the LGBTQ+ community due to the jersey he was wearing. Zulfadli went on to say that the officials photographed his jersey before sending the images to the stadium's management to interrogate him further. After seeing the photos Zulfadli had shown, security was still unsatisfied with his answer and asked him to wait for a response from stadium management, later the management let him off and gave him the permission to watch the football game that night.

Players

Current squad

As of 1 August 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   MAS Aqil Syahmi Azizan 3 DF   MAS Danish Haikal Abdullah 4 DF   MAS Hazrie Balqief Zulhadi 5 MF   MAS Nur Hilal Amin 7 MF   MAS Amil Haikal Rozmi 10 FW   MAS Sharul Aiman Zuraidi 13 DF   MAS Syanas Haikal Shamizan 14 MF   MAS Afif Daniel Abdul Hadi 16 DF   MAS Iqmal Hazim Supian 17 MF   MAS Hairil Syazwan Kamis 18 GK   MAS Nabil Hadif Norhelmi 19 MF   MAS Faris Hafiy Mad Nazir

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF   MAS Muhammad Zaim Hilmi 23 MF   MAS Auni Danish Aimar 27 FW   MAS Che Aizil Azrien 30 DF   MAS Zamri Pin Ramli (captain) 35 MF   MAS Adam Syakirin Yusri 41 DF   MAS Fakhrullah Ahmad Shukri 55 MF   MAS Iman Safwan Mohd Harris 66 MF   MAS Haziq Hakimi Nor Hisham 71 FW   MAS Syobirin Mohamad Zuhri 79 GK   MAS Afiq Aiman Ridzuan 81 DF   MAS Eirwan Zarief Radjebi

Source: ^[16]

Staff and management

Senior officials

Position	Name
Owner	Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar
Chief Executive Officer	Shahrul Samsudin
Honorary treasurer	Ruzaini Radzi
Chief of business development	Mohamad Faidhi Bin Mohd Rohdzi

Club officials

Position	Name
Team manager	Muhammad Faqrul Asyraf Bin Mohd Faizol
Head coach	Azzmi Aziz
Assistant coach	Kamal Daut
Goalkeeper coach	Abdul Rashid Johari
Fitness coach	Ahmad Nizan Ariffin
Team doctor	Tan Cheng Liang
Physio	Sajidur Rahman Habibur Rahman
Team staff	Muhammad Faiz Shamsudin Nik Mohd Nor Azam Nik Aziz
Media officer	Khairil Ajhar Jaafar

List of former coaches (KDA era)

Years	Name
2018–2022	Aidil Sharin
2022	Victor Andrag (interim)
2023–2024	Nafuzi Zain
2024–2025	Victor Andrag (interim)

Club records

As of 2025–26 season

Note:

• Pld = Played, W = Won, D = Drawn, L = Lost, F = Goals for, A = Goals against, D = Goal difference, Pts= Points, Pos = Position

  1st or Champions  2nd or Runner-up  3rd place  Promotion  Relegation

Season	League										Cup			Asia
	Division	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	D	Pts	Pos	Charity	Malaysia	FA	Competition	Result
2004	Super League	21	4	3	14	30	45	−15	15	7th	—	Runner-up	2nd round	—	—
2005	Premier League	21	13	7	1	44	11	+33	46	2nd	–	Quarter-finals	2nd round	–	–
2005–06		21	13	3	5	39	22	+17	42	1st	–	Group stage	1st round	–	–
2006–07	Super League	24	17	4	3	54	21	+33	55	1st	–	Champions	Champions	–	–
2007–08		24	18	2	4	55	24	+31	56	1st	Runner-up	Champions	Champions	AFC Cup	Quarter-finals
2009		26	16	3	7	45	28	+17	51	3rd	Runner-up	Group stage	2nd round	AFC Cup	Round of 16
2010		26	10	8	8	34	23	+11	38	5th	–	Semi-finals	Runner-up	–	–
2011		26	13	6	7	25	20	+5	45	4th	–	Group stage	2nd round	–	–
2012		26	7	7	12	27	38	−11	28	12th	–	Group stage	Semi-finals	–	–
2013	Premier League	22	13	3	6	38	19	+19	42	4th	–	Group stage	2nd round	–	–
2014		22	11	5	6	43	25	+18	38	4th	–	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	–	–
2015		22	14	6	2	47	26	+21	48	1st	–	Runner-up	3rd round	–	–
2016	Super League	22	11	7	4	30	26	+4	37 [a]	3rd	–	Champions	Semi-finals	–	–
2017		22	9	8	5	45	33	+12	35	4th	Champions	Runner-up	Champions	–	–
2018		22	9	5	8	37	36	+1	32	6th	Runner-up	Group stage	3rd round	–	–
2019		22	9	7	6	37	29	+8	34	4th	—	Runner-up	Champions	–	–
2020		11	7	1	3	20	13	7	22	2nd	Runner-up	—	—	ACL Cup	Play-off round
2021		22	13	4	5	44	28	+16	43	2nd	Runner-up	Quarter-finals	—	AFC Cup	—
2022		22	8	3	11	32	41	-9	27	8th	—	Round 16	Second round	AFC Cup	Zonal Semi Finals
2023		26	17	2	7	52	29	+23	53	4th		Round 16	First round	—
2024–25		24	6	6	12	21	51	-30	21	11th		Round 16	Semi-final
2025–26	A1 Semi-Pro League	30										TBD	TBD

Source: ^{[17] [18]}

1. Kedah Darul Aman F.C. was found guilty of naming a suspended player to play against Pahang on 3 August 2016. The Football Association of Malaysia awarded three points to Pahang and deducted three points from Darulaman FC for the incident.

Honours

Domestic

League

• Division 1/Premier 1/Super League (3): 1993, 2006–07, 2007–08
  • Runners-up (6): 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2020, 2021
• Division 2/Premier 2/Premier League (4): 1992, 2002, 2005–06, 2015
  • Runners-up (1): 2005

Cup

• Malaysia FA Cup (5): 1996, 2007, 2008, 2017, 2019
  • Runners-up (1): 2010
• Malaysia Cup (5): 1990, 1993, 2007, 2008, 2016
  • Runners-up (9): 1940, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2019
• Piala Sumbangsih (3): 1991, 1994, 2017
  • Runners-up (6): 1997, 2008, 2009, 2018, 2020, 2021

Youth

• Malaysian President's Cup (3): 1991, 2000, 2003
  • Runners-up (1): 2018
• Malaysian Youth Cup (1): 2017

Double

Season	Titles won
1993	Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1, Malaysia Cup
2017	Malaysian Charity Cup, Malaysia FA Cup

Treble

Season	Titles won
2007	Malaysia Super League, Malaysia FA Cup, Malaysia Cup
2008	Malaysia Super League, Malaysia FA Cup, Malaysia Cup

Kedah Darul Aman's former assistant coach Muhamad Radhi Mat Din said, ^[19]

To achieve the treble in two consecutive seasons will take another 100 years or more to come by! It takes a Herculean effort to achieve a double treble. The path to the pinnacle required a lot of sacrifices and commitment from the players, team management and the club.

Continental record

All results (home and away) list Kedah Darul Aman's goal tally first.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1994–95	Asian Club Championship	First round	Ilhwa Chunma	1–5	3–5	4–10
2008	AFC Cup	Group stage	Home United	4–1	1–5	2nd out of 4
			South China	3–0	3–1
			Victory	1–0	1–1
		Quarter-final	Al-Muharraq	1–2	0–5	1–7
2009	AFC Cup	Group stage	Chonburi	0–1	1–3	2nd out of 4
			Eastern	2–0	3–3
			Hanoi ACB	7–0	1–3
		Round of 16	Binh Duong	2–8
2020	AFC Champions League	Preliminary Round 2	Tai Po	5–1
		Play-off round	FC Seoul	1–4
2021	AFC Cup	Group H	Persipura Jayapura	Cancelled
			Saigon
			Lion City Sailors
2022	AFC Cup	Group G	Bali United	0–2		1st out of 4
			Kaya–Iloilo	4–1
			Visakha	5–1
		ASEAN Zonal Semi-final	PSM Makassar	1–2

Performance in AFC competitions

• AFC Champions League : 1 appearance
  • 2020: Play-off round
• AFC Cup : 2 appearances
  • 2008: Quarter-final
  • 2009: Round of 16

See also

• Association football portal
• Malaysia portal

• List of Kedah FA honours and achievements
• List of Kedah FA players

References

1. "Kedah Darul Aman Nama Baharu Skuad Lang Merah". Vocket FC. 21 October 2020.
2. "Kedah MB: No more Red Eagles, just Hijau Kuning". The Star Malaysia. 1 October 2020.
3. "Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar Kini Pemilik Saham Terbesar KDA" [Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar is now the largest shareholder of KDA FC] (in Malay). Vocket FC. 6 September 2022. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
4. "Azraai's double treble with Kedah stands out in Malaysian football history". Sports247. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
5. Ismail, Izzali (21 October 2020). "Skuad Lang Merah dikenali Kedah Darul Aman FC". Berita Harian. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
6. "Sejarah Bola Sepak Kedah - Sejarah Perkembangan" (in Malay). Memori Kedah. 17 February 2011. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
7. "Statistik: Kenali 5 Ketua Jurulatih Paling Berjaya Di Liga-M Sejak 1994" (in Malay). Axello.net. 2 December 2020. Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
8. "IFFHS Club World Ranking Top 350 (1st August 2007 - 31st July 2008)". Iffhs.de. 9 August 2008. Archived from the original on 9 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
9. "Late Goal Rescues Kedah Point in Northern Malaysia Derby". Football Tribe. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
10. Line 7
11. PKNK
12. Al-Ikhsan
13. Chenang Bay
14. Widad Group
15. "Our History".
16. "KDA FC Players". FAM. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
17. "Summary - Super League - Malaysia - Results, fixtures, tables and news". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
18. "Malaysia 2016". Rsssf.com. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
19. Noh, Dasheer (26 August 2008). "Radhi: Difficult to win double treble again". The Star . Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Official website of Kedah League
• Galerihijaukuning.com