Raihan Rahman

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Rahman is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Raihan.

Raihan Rahman

Raihan with LionsXII in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Muhammad Raihan bin Abdul Rahman [1]
Date of birth	(1991-02-07) 7 February 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth	Singapore
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder / Defender
Youth career
	Sengkang Punggol
	National Football Academy
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009–2011	Young Lions	16	(0)
2012–2013	LionsXII	11	(0)
2013	Young Lions	22	(1)
2014–2015	LionsXII	9	(0)
2016	Hougang United	8	(2)
2017–2019	Balestier Khalsa	50	(6)
2020–	Tanjong Pagar United	63	(1)
International career‡
2012	Singapore	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 July 2022 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16 October 2012

Muhammad Raihan bin Abdul Rahman (born 7 February 1991), better known as Raihan Rahman or just Raihan, is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays either as a midfielder or defender.

Club career

Young Lions

Raihan began his professional football career with Under-23 side Young Lions in the S.League in 2009.

LionsXII

It was announced in 2011 that Raihan would be joining the newly formed LionsXII to compete and participate in the 2012 Malaysia Super League. However, he left the club in the mid transfer window in 2013.

Young Lions

After he left the club, he signed for the Under-23 team, Young Lions

LionsXII

Raihan then later returned to the LionsXII at the end of the 2013 S.League season and was stayed in the club for 2 years, from 2014 to 2015. However, injuries meant that Raihan only made 9 appearances for the LionsXII in all competitions. ^[2]

Hougang United

Following the disbandment of the LionsXII, Raihan signed for Hougang United for the 2016 S.League season. While clubs like Warriors FC and Geylang International were rumoured to be interested in his services, he chose Hougang because they were his first club, having trained with Sengkang Punggol as a 15 year old. ^[2] Despite some fine performances, he was released by the Cheetahs at the end of the season.

Balestier Khalsa

Raihan came close to retiring before it was announced on Balestier Khalsa's Facebook and Instagram page on 5 January 2017 that he would be joining the Tigers ahead of the 2017 S.League campaign. ^[3] He made his debut for the club against Warriors and scored a debut goal by a penalty. He scored his second goal for the Tigers through a stupendous free kick, handing his side a 2-1 win against Brunei DPMM FC in the Tigers' 5th league game of the season. ^[4]

His injury in a match against Hougang United in 2018 rendered him unable to continue playing in the season, causing Head Coach Marko Kraljevic to find replacements. ^[5]

International career

Raihan is a versatile player that can play both in defence as well as in midfield. By the age of 20, Raihan had been involved in many international tournaments at youth levels, including a bronze medal in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games. Raihan made his international debut in 2010 against Poland in a 6-1 loss. ^[6] In 2011, he received another call-up to the national team as Radojko Avramović named him in the 33-man provisional squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. ^[7] He was in the starting line up for the first time against Jordan on 12 November 2011. He made his third appearance in a 4-0 loss against Syria on 15 November 2013. ^[8]

Due to injuries, Raihan did not get any call ups from 2015 onwards.

Controversy

In 2017, Raihan was charge for an act of misconduct for allegedly using a racial slur by Jordan Webb during an off-the-field altercation. Webb claimed Raihan had called him a "n*****" in the 75th minute of the match. “I heard it loud and clear, 1,000 per cent. Raihan wouldn’t be able to sit here to my face and say he didn’t” said Webb in the newspaper report. Raihan was cleared of all charges by the Football Association of Singapore Disciplinary Committee (DC) and demanded an apology from Webb. K Bala Chandran, chair of the DC, noted that the evidence was inconclusive and the members of the DC had "doubts over what happened". ^[9]

Others

Singapore Selection Squad

He was selected as part of the Singapore Selection squad for The Sultan of Selangor’s Cup to be held on 6 May 2017. ^[10]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 2 July 22. Caps and goals may not be correct.

Club	Season	S.League		Singapore Cup		Singapore League Cup		Asia		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Young Lions	2009	12	0	-	-	1	0	—		13	0
	2010	6	0	-	-	-	-	—		6	0
	2011	4	0	—		—		—		4	0
	Total	22	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	23	0
Club	Season	Malaysia Super League		Malaysia FA Cup		Malaysia Cup		Asia		Total
LionsXII	2012 [11]	7	0	0	0	1	0	—		8	0
	2013 [12]	4	0	1	0	0	0	—		5	0
	Total	11	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	13	0
Club	Season	S.League		Singapore Cup		Singapore League Cup		Asia		Total
Young Lions	2013	18	1	1	0	3	0	—		22	1
	Total	18	1	1	0	3	0	0	0	22	1
Club	Season	Malaysia Super League		Malaysia FA Cup		Malaysia Cup		Asia		Total
LionsXII	2014 [13]	9	0	1	0	0	0	—		10	0
	2015	??	??	??	??	??	??	—		??	??
	Total	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	0
Club	Season	S.League		Singapore Cup		Singapore League Cup		Asia		Total
Hougang United	2016	21	2	1	0	4	0	Not qualified		26	2
	Total	21	2	1	0	4	0	0	0	26	2
Balestier Khalsa	2017	21	4	1	1	3	1	—		25	6
	2018	5	0	0	0	0	0	—		5	0
	2019	16	0	0	0	0	0	—		16	0
	Total	42	4	1	1	3	1	0	0	46	6
Tanjong Pagar United	2020	11	0	0	0	0	0	Not qualified		11	0
	2021	8	0	0	0	0	0	Not qualified		8	0
	2022	24	1	3	0	0	0	Not qualified		27	1
	2023	1	0	0	0	0	0	Not qualified		1	0
	Total	44	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	47	1
Career Total		167	8	8	1	12	0	0	0	187	9

• Young Lions and LionsXII are ineligible for qualification to AFC competitions in their respective leagues.
• Young Lions withdrew from the Singapore Cup and Singapore League Cup in 2011 due to scheduled participation in the 2011 AFF U-23 Youth Championship.

References

1. "U23 Young Lions". Football Association of Singapore. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
2. "S.League memories revived as ex-LionsXII star Raihan joins Hougang". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
3. "Raihan out to prove his worth with Balestier". FourFourTwo. 18 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
4. "Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
5. "Balestier coach Kraljevic rues Raihan Rahman's season-ending injury - FOX Sports Asia". 24 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
6. "Poland v Singapore, 23 January 2010". 11v11.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
7. "Courtsyounglions.com". www.courtsyounglions.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
8. "Singapore - R. Abdul Rahman - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". sg.soccerway.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
9. Aziz, Sazali Abdul. "Balestier midfielder Raihan cleared of misconduct charge, Latest Singapore Football News - The New Paper". www.tnp.sg.
10. "SINGAPORE SELECTION SQUAD FOR THE SULTAN OF SELANGOR'S CUP REVEALED - The Football Association of Singapore". www.fas.org.sg. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
11. "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2012 season". LionsXII. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
12. "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2013 season". LionsXII. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
13. "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2014 season". LionsXII. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.

External links

• Raihan Rahman's Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 21 January 2013)
• Raihan Rahman at National-Football-Teams.com
• Raihan Info at archive.today (archived 19 January 2013)