Zainal Abidin Hassan

Last updated

Zainal Abidin
Personal information
Full name Zainal Abidin Hassan Bin Mohd Ali
Date of birth (1961-11-09) 9 November 1961 (age 62)
Place of birth Selangor, Malaysia
Position(s) Defender . Midfielder . Striker
Team information
Current team
Penang (head coach)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1980–1982 Selangor FA
1983–1984 Pahang FA
1985–1990 Selangor FA
1991–1996 Pahang FA
1997–1999 Selangor FA
International career
1980–1997 Malaysia 180 [1] (78)
1996 Malaysia Futsal
Managerial career
2001 Malaysia U17
2004–2006 Pahang (coach)
2006–2008 Pahang (manager)
2009–2010 Kuantan Port-Shahzan Muda FC (manager)
2011–2013 Pahang (manager)
2013–2014 Pahang (assistant head coach)
2014–2015 Pahang
2016 Selangor
2017–2018 Penang
2019–2021 Melaka United
2022 Penang
2023 Immigration
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Zainal Abidin Hassan bin Mohd Ali (born 9 November 1961) is a Malaysian football head coach and former player.

Contents

Playing career

A versatile footballer who can playing in multiple positions, Zainal Abidin is well known as the best Malaysian footballer in the 80's and 90's. His football career started with Selangor FA in 1980. [2] At the age of 18 years 6 month, Zainal made his international debut in the 1980 Merdeka Tournament against Indonesia. [3] He played along with Malaysian legendary striker the late Mokhtar Dahari, R Arumugam, Soh Chin Aun and other recognised faces in Malaysian football. In 1983, Pahang FA head coach, Frank Lord responsible for changing Zainal position from defender to striker and this is where the beginning of his career began, becoming one of the most respected strikers at the local and international level. [4]

From the late 80's to early 90's, he regularly partnered with Dollah Salleh in front as they became the fierce striker for Selangor FA and Pahang FA in M-League and also the national team in SEA Games, Asian Games and Merdeka Tournament. In 1996 AFF Championship, Zainal Abidin was awarded as the MVP of the tournament captaining the national side from the centre-back position instead of his usual striking role. [5] Three years later he was awarded the AFC Century Club Award. [6]

During his international career, Zainal scored a total of 78 goals in 180 appearances for Malaysia (including non-FIFA 'A' international matches), according to Globe Soccer Awards in 2020. [7] [8] Against other nations' national 'A' teams, he scored 50 goals in 129 appearances. [9]

He also played for Malaysia national futsal team, and was in the squad that took part in the 1996 FIFA Futsal World Championship in Spain. [10] [11]

On 3 August 2021, he was inducted into the FIFA Century Club. [12] [13]

Coaching career

He retired from football in 1999 and selected to coach the Malaysian youth in 2001. In 2002, he selected as the assistant coach for Malaysia senior team. He later coached Pahang FA and brought them their first Malaysia Super League title. [14] In 2006, he guided Pahang FA to win the Malaysian FA Cup. [15] After the contract with Pahang FA ended, he reunites with his former striker partner Dollah Salleh. This time they act as manager-coach combination for Shahzan Muda FC.

In 2011, he returns to Pahang FA as assistant manager, where he works again with Dollah, who were the current head coach. The partnership lasts until the end of 2013, when they helped Pahang win the 2013 Malaysia Cup; Pahang's first Malaysia Cup after 21 years. After Dollah left Pahang to coach PDRM FA and Ron Smith was appointed as the new Pahang head coach at the end of 2013, Zainal was appointed as his assistant head coach. But after Smith's contract was not renewed in March 2014, Zainal Abidin was appointed as Smith's replacement. With Pahang, he won the Malaysia Cup in 2014 and also Malaysia FA Cup in the same year.

In 2016, Zainal Abidin made his return to Selangor as head coach, replacing Mehmet Durakovic. [16] This was not without controversy, as negotiations between Zainal and Selangor was made public when Durakovic was still Selangor coach, [17] and Durakovic contract was terminated even after he won the 33rd Malaysia Cup title with Selangor in 2015. [18] Zainal however was sacked in August the same year, after poor performances by the team in the Super League and Malaysia Cup. [19]

Zainal Abidin next coached Penang FA from May 2017 until September 2018. In November 2018, he was unveiled as the new head coach of Melaka United. [20] After two years with Melaka, he returned back to coach Penang again for a short period of time in 2022 season. [21]

Personal life

Zainal Abidin's father is of Kenyan descent. [22] [23] His oldest brother Khalid Ali and oldest son Mohd Zaiza is also a Malaysian footballer. [24] [25]

Zainal has been married to Zalina binti Zaini since 1985 and they have five children. [26] In 2023, he married his second wife, Malaysian singer Fyna Jebat. [27] However, their marriage only lasted a few months as Zainal divorced his second wife and ended their marriage later this year. [28]

Career statistics

Scores and results list Malaysia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zainal Abidin Hassan goal.
List of international goals scored by Zainal Abidin Hassan [9]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
113 November 1981 Bangkok, ThailandFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 2–3 1981 King's Cup
24 June 1983 Singapore Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 1–1 1983 SEA Games
35 June 1983SingaporeFlag of Brunei.svg  Brunei 5–01983 SEA Games
4
519 September 1983 Kota Bharu, MalaysiaFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 7–0 1983 Merdeka Tournament
6
7
810 October 1983 Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia 3–1 1984 Olympic Games qualification
9
1016 October 1983SingaporeFlag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 1–11984 Olympic Games qualification
1120 October 1983SingaporeFlag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 2–01984 Olympic Games qualification
1228 October 1983Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 2–01984 Olympic Games qualification
1318 April 1984SingaporeFlag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 2–11984 Olympic Games qualification
1412 August 1984Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 1–0 Ovaltine Cup
1518 August 1984SingaporeFlag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 1–1Ovaltine Cup
1624 August 1984Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 1–01984 Merdeka Tournament
1726 August 1984Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 2–21984 Merdeka Tournament
1829 August 1984Kota Bharu, MalaysiaFlag of Liberia.svg  Liberia 3–11984 Merdeka Tournament
19
20
214 September 1984Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 5–11984 Merdeka Tournament
2211 October 1984 Calcutta, IndiaFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 5–0 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification
23
2414 October 1984Calcutta, IndiaFlag of India.svg  India 1–21984 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2518 October 1984Calcutta, IndiaFlag of North Yemen.svg  North Yemen 4–11984 AFC Asian Cup qualification
26
2731 March 1985Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 5–0 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
28
29
3013 October 1985SingaporeFlag of Brunei.svg  Brunei 4–0 1985 Merlion Cup
3110 December 1985Bangkok, ThailandFlag of the Philippines (light blue).svg  Philippines 6–0 1985 SEA Games
32
3314 December 1985Bangkok, ThailandFlag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 2–21985 SEA Games
3424 July 1986Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of India.svg  India 3–01986 Merdeka Tournament
35
3627 July 1986Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 2–01986 Merdeka Tournament
371 August 1986Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan 2–11986 Merdeka Tournament
387 April 1988Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan 4–0 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification
39
407 June 1989SingaporeFlag of Nepal.svg    Nepal 3–0 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification
4128 August 1989Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 1–0 1989 SEA Games
428 August 1992 Jakarta, IndonesiaFlag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia 1–1 1992 Independence Cup
435 May 1993Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaFlag of Macau.svg  Macau 9–0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
445 June 1993SingaporeFlag of Brunei.svg  Brunei 3–1 1993 SEA Games
4511 June 1993SingaporeFlag of Laos.svg  Laos 9–01993 SEA Games
4610 December 1995 Lamphun, ThailandFlag of Cambodia.svg  Cambodia 9–0 1995 SEA Games
476 June 1996 Shah Alam, MalaysiaFlag of India.svg  India 5–2 1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
48
498 September 1996SingaporeFlag of Thailand.svg  Thailand 1–1 1996 AFF Championship
5031 March 1997 Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaFlag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh 1–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

As a player

Selangor FA

Pahang FA

Malaysia

Individual

As a head coach

Pahang FA

Selangor FA

Individual

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRole
1989 Kolej 56 [37] Footballer

Television series

YearTitleRoleTV channelNotes
2000Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu (Season 29)Himself TV3

See also

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