Mohamadou Sumareh

Mohamadou Sumareh

Sumareh with Johor Darul Ta'zim in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Mohamadou Sumareh
Date of birth	(1994-09-20) 20 September 1994 (age 29) [1]
Place of birth	Fajara, The Gambia
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Team information
Current team	Johor Darul Ta'zim
Number	26
Youth career
2011	Steve Biko
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–2015	PDRM	40	(6)
2016	Perlis	19	(5)
2017–2020	Sri Pahang	62	(12)
2020	Police Tero	4	(0)
2021–	Johor Darul Ta'zim	18	(4)
International career‡
2018–	Malaysia	33	(7)
Medal record Men's football Representing   Malaysia AFF Championship Runner-up 2018 King's Cup Runner-up 2022
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 7 October 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 January 2024

Mohamadou Sumareh (born 20 September 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim and the Malaysia national team.

He began his career at Terengganu in January 2012. Sumareh moved to Polis Di Raja Malaysia in December 2012. In December 2015 he joined Perlis, making 19 league appearances and scoring 5 goals. Sumareh's spell at Perlis didn't last long and in December 2016 he joined Pahang, making 98 league appearances and scoring 17 goals in 5 years. Sumareh joined current club Johor Darul Ta'zim in February 2021. In terms of personal accolades, Sumareh has a single Malaysian Midfielder of the Year award to his name.

Born in the Gambia, he obtained Malaysian citizenship through naturalization in 2018 and has played for their national team since. He has been nicknamed "Keliboy" by Pahang fans. ^[2]

Sumareh hot form performances throughout the 2019 season earns him the Malaysia Football League 'Best Midfielder Award'.

Early years

Sumareh was born in Fajara, the Gambia. His family moved to the capital Banjul after his birth.

In 2006, Sumareh went to Malaysia at the age of 12, following his father who worked as a businessman and began living here three years later. From then on, he learned a lot about the country, especially in the local culture and also in football. ^[3] He trained at the Kuala Lumpur Youth Soccer (KLYS) academy as a teenager. ^[4] Sumareh was offered the chance to join the Steve Biko academy in Gambia in late-2010. However, he was not offered a professional contract. ^[5]

In late 2011, Sumareh attend a trial with Terengganu. He was registered for 2012 Malaysian League season by the Terengganu management but they decided to cancel his name from registration. ^[6]

Club career

PDRM

In 2013, Sumareh signed for Malaysia Premier League club PDRM on a two-year contract. He made his first-team debut and his only season appearances on 7 January 2013 against Betaria in a 5–0 win at (Hang Jebat Stadium). He also scored in his debut match but it cut short with an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season. ^[7]

He returned from injury and played a vital part of PDRM 2014 season. He succeeded in helping PDRM to become the 2014 Malaysia Premier League champions, thus promoted to the Super league for 2015 Malaysia Super League.

Perlis

Sumareh signed for Perlis on a one-year contract after the end of the contract with PDRM. ^[8] He made his Perlis debut on 26 February 2016 against Sime Darby in the Malaysia Premier League, with a 1–1 away draw.

Sri Pahang

Sumareh playing for Sri Pahang in 2019

After helping Perlis reach in the sixth place in Premier League, Sumareh joined Sri Pahang on a free transfer in December 2016 after signing a two-year deal with the Super League club. He made his club debut on 21 January 2017 in Super League Match against Perak away, which resulted in a 1–1 draw. His first Super League goal came on his Darul Makmur Stadium debut on 27 January 2017, in the 14th minute with a 5–0 victory against T–Team. ^[9]

Police Tero

On 7 September 2020, Sumareh moved to Thailand to signed for Thai League 1 club, Police Tero. He make his debut for the club on 30 October 2020 in a league match against Suphanburi.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

On 9 February 2021, Sumareh joined Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim. ^[10] On 28 June 2021, he make his AFC Champions League debut against Korean side Pohang Steelers.

On 7 October 2022, he made his 100th Malaysia Super League appearances against his former club Sri Pahang.

International career

In October 2018, Sumareh was called up for the Malaysia national team central training from 8 October to prepare for two international friendly matches against Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan. ^[11] He is the first player called to the Malaysia national team since the 1960s, who was neither born in Malaysia nor have any of his ancestors Malaysian-born or having Malaysian citizenship. ^[12]

He made his debut on 12 October 2018, in a warm-up match against Sri Lanka. In that match, he came on as a substitute and scored his first international goal in a 4–1 victory. ^[13] He later scored again in a 3–0 win against Maldives on 4 November 2018. A day later, Sumareh was selected to the 23-man squad for the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup. ^[14]

On 5 September 2019, Sumareh scored a crucial last-minute goal against rivals Indonesia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match in which Malaysia won the match 2–3 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. On 15 November 2019, he also scored the decisive goal that helped Malaysia win against Thailand 2–1 at the Bukit Jalil Stadium.

Sumareh also represent the nation at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup held in Qatar. He played in Malaysia group stage match against Jordan and Bahrain on 15 and 20 January 2024 respectively.

Personal life

Sumareh received his Malaysian citizenship in April 2018 after staying in the country for more 5 years. ^[15] He is a former student of Maz International School in Shah Alam and SEGi College. ^[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 26 October 2022 ^[17]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
PDRM	2013	Malaysia Premier League	1	1	–		–		1	1
	2014	Malaysia Premier League	19	2	2	0	8	0	29	2
	2015	Malaysia Super League	20	3	2	0	6	3	28	6
	Total		40	6	4	0	14	3	58	9
Perlis	2016	Malaysia Premier League	19	5	2	0	–		21	5
	Total		19	5	2	0	–		21	5
Pahang	2017	Malaysia Super League	21	6	6	4	8	1	35	11
	2018	Malaysia Super League	17	3	7	1	8	0	32	4
	2019	Malaysia Super League	21	3	5	2	6	1	32	6
	2020	Malaysia Super League	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		62	12	18	7	22	2	102	21
Police Tero	2020–21	Thai League 1	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	Total		4	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Johor Darul Ta'zim	2021	Malaysia Super League	11	3	–		8	0	19	3
	2022	Malaysia Super League	7	1	1	0	1	0	9	1
	2023	Malaysia Super League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		18	4	1	0	9	0	28	4
Career total			143	27	25	7	45	5	213	39

International

As of 25 January 2024

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Malaysia	2018	10	2
	2019	9	4
	2021	3	0
	2022	8	1
	2023	1	0
	2024	2	0
Total		33	7

As of match played 8 June 2022. Malaysia score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sumareh goal. ^[18]

International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition

No.	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 October 2018	Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka	1	Sri Lanka	3–1	4–1	Friendly
2	3 November 2018	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	3	Maldives	3–0	3–0
3	11 June 2019		14	East Timor	3–0	5–1	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	5 September 2019	Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia	15	Indonesia	1–1	3–2	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
5					3–2
6	14 November 2019	Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	18	Thailand	2–1	2–1
7	11 June 2022		28	Bahrain	1–0	1–2	2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Honours

Club

PDRM

• Malaysia Premier League: 2014 ^[19]
• People's Cup: 2015 ^[20]

Pahang

• Malaysia FA Cup: 2018, runner-up 2017

Johor Darul Ta'zim

• Malaysia Super League: 2021, 2022, 2023
• Malaysia FA Cup: 2022, 2023, 2024
• Malaysia Cup: 2022, 2023
• Malaysia Charity Shield: 2022, 2023

International

Malaysia

• AFF Championship runners up: 2018

Individual

• 2018 AFF Championship: Best Eleven ^[21]
• Malaysia Football League 'Best Midfielder Award': 2019

References

1. Mohamadou Sumareh - NFT
2. "Sumareh, ada yang tidak puas hati? | Stadium Astro". www.stadiumastro.com. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
3. "Sumareh, ada yang tidak puas hati?". 4 October 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
4. "Sumareh's gaffe throws eligibility into question". 4 October 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
5. MOHAMADOU SUMAREH THANKS TMJ AND MFL FOR ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY - Malaysia Football League, 3 October 2018.
6. Kisah Sumareh didaftar dan disingkir Terengganu pada 2012 - La Bola Malaya, 9 February 2021.
7. Sumareh rehat tiga bulan - Harian Metro (KLIK), 16 January 2013.
8. "Mohamadou Sumareh Taring Singa Utara". mstar. 29 January 2016.
9. "Pahang vs. T–Team". Soccerway. 27 January 2017.
10. "Sumareh wings his way to join Super League champs JDT". Bernama. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
11. "Senarai 24 Pemain ke kem latihan pusat Skuad Harimau Malaya bermula 8 October 2018". FAM.org. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
12. Firdaus Hashim (13 October 2018). "Sumareh proves he's a deadly tiger on Harimau Malaya debut". New Straits Times. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
13. "Jaringan kilat Sumareh benam Sri Lanka". SinarHarian. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
14. "Malaysia release final 23-man squad for 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup". Fox Sports Malaysia. 4 November 2018. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
15. "Sumareh can join National Team". NST. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
16. "Gambia national coach not angry with Sumareh's move to play for Malaysia". NST. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
17. Mohamadou Sumareh at Soccerway. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
18. "Sumareh, Mohamadou". National Football Teams. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
19. "PDRM crowned MPL champions; FELDA seal promotion". Football SEA. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
20. "PDRM wins People's Cup-::maldivesoccer.com:- Maldives' first soccer website". www.maldivesoccer.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
21. Scott. "2018 AFF Suzuki Cup Best XI". www.affsuzukicup.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019.

External links

• Mohamadou Sumareh at Soccerway