Sri Pahang FC

Sri Pahang Football Club (Malay: Kelab Bola Sepak Sri Pahang) is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuantan, Pahang. They played in the Malaysia Super League until 2025, the top tier of the Malaysian football league system. Founded in 1959, it has traditionally worn a yellow home kit since. At the beginning, club's home matches were held around the city public fields and outside Kuantan, predominantly around districts of Pahang.

Sri Pahang

Full name	Sri Pahang Football Club
Nickname(s)	Tok Gajah (The Elephants)
Short name	SPFC
Founded	1959; 66 years ago (1959) (as Pahang FA) 2020; 5 years ago (2020) (as Sri Pahang FC)
Ground	Darul Makmur Stadium Temerloh Mini Stadium
Capacity	40,000 10,000
Owner	Tengku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah
2024–25	Malaysia Super League, 8th of 13 (withdrew)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The club was relegated to the Malaysia Premier League, but came back to the Malaysia Super League in 2013 after winning the play-off match against Kedah Darul Aman. Sri Pahang has won 5 Malaysia Super League title, 1 Malaysia Premier League title, 3 Malaysia FA Cup, 4 Malaysia Cup and 3 Malaysian Charity Shield.

On 20 June 2025, Sri Pahang F.C. have officially withdrawn from the 2025–26 Malaysian League season despite being granted a national licence by the MFL, citing of their serious financial problems.^[1][2]

History

Early years (1959–1979)

Pahang FA was established by Sultan Abu Bakar in 1959 to represent the state of Pahang in the HMS Beagle Cup. Construction of their home ground, Darul Makmur Stadium, was completed by the Council of Kuantan in 1970.

Rise to prominence (1980–2008)

Led by the legendary Jamal Nasir, Pahang FA won the first cup in 1983, Piala Malaysia after a win over Selangor FA, breaking the long duopoly of them and Singapore FA. Nonetheless, the most successful era was in the 1990s, when the association reached the final of Piala Malaysia 4 times. 1992 was the year when the association won the double, the Piala Malaysia and the league. Sri Pahang year was touted as the Dream Team, when several high-profile players played for them (Dollah Salleh, Zainal Abidin Hassan, Ahmad Yusof, Khairul Azman Mohamed, Abdul Mubin Mokhtar, Australian football legend, Alan Davidson and Fandi Ahmad). The association defeated Kedah FA in final stage to win the Piala Malaysia, thanks to the fastest goal in Piala's history, scored by Zulhamizan Zakaria.^[vague]

Pahang FA was also the winner of the inaugural Malaysia Super League in 2004, winning 14 matches with 5 draws and 2 losses in 21 league games. Pahang was invited to the 2005 ASEAN Club Championship in which they ended as runners-up, losing the final to Singaporean side Tampines Rovers. In 2008, many players from talented young Shahzan Muda were absorbed into Pahang FA.

Inconsistency (2009–2012)

In the 2011, Pahang played their worst ever season, finishing in 13th place with 5 wins, 7 draws and 14 losses. They were relegated to the Malaysia Premier League. While in the Malaysia Premier League, Pahang showed improvements in the 2012 Malaysia FA Cup, making it to the quarter-finals. The club was also the 2012 Malaysia Premier League runner-up, 8 points behind ATM FA, qualifying for the promotion "play-off" matches to the Malaysia Super League. Pahang than beat Kedah FA 3–2 on penalties in the final, winning promotion to the 2013 Malaysia Super League.

Rise of The Elephants (2013–2018)

Pahang had a great run in the 2013 Malaysia Cup, reaching all the way to the final where they won against Kelantan FA 1–0. Azamuddin Akil won the Best Player award, while Matías Conti become the joint top scorer. In the 2014 Malaysia Cup, Pahang made it all the way to the final in which they successfully defended it against Johor, winning 5–3. Dickson Nwakaeme became the cup top scorer with eight goals.^{[citation needed]} Pahang also won the 2014 Piala Sumbangsih against LionsXII, and the final in which Faizol Hussien levelled at 1–1, before Nwakaeme scored to seal the win for Pahang and win the cup double.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018 Pahang had another great run in the FA Cup in which they won 2–0 against Selangor FA in the final after losing 2–3 to Kedah FA in the final of the 2017 Malaysia FA Cup.^{[citation needed]}

Ups and downs (2019–2025)

In 2021, Pahang FA was rebranded as Sri Pahang Football Club. Sri Pahang sees hope during the 2024–25 Malaysia Cup where they defeated Selangor 4–3 on aggregate in the round of 16. During the second leg of the quarter-final match on 22 December 2024, Manuel Hidalgo scored a hat-trick against Perak in a 3–3 draw which saw Sri Pahang advance to the semi-final with a 4–3 aggregate. In the semi-finals second leg, Kpah Sherman scored in extra time to bring the aggregate to 3–2 which saw Sri Pahang advance to the 2025 Malaysia Cup final, which they eventually lost.

On 20 June 2025, Sri Pahang officially withdraw from Super League.

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Period	Manufacturer	Main sponsor	Other sponsors
1989–1990	Schwarzenbach	Dunhill	Genting Malaysia Berhad
1991	Puma
1992–1998	Diadora
1999–2000	Mikasa
2001–2003	Kronos
2004–2005	Adidas
2006–2007		TM
2008	Hummel
2009–2010	Lotto
2011		ZON Hotel
2012		Resorts World Genting	Aras Kuasa
2013	Stobi		Chili's
2014–2016	Puma	Aras Kuasa	Resorts World Genting
2017	Jako
July 2017–2018	Fila
2019–2020	Umbro		Football Republic
2021–2023	Hakka.Clo	Visit Pahang, Invest Pahang	Extra Joss
2024–2025	Voltra Pro	Invest Pahang	Arwana Ekspres

Stadium

Darul Makmur Stadium has been the home ground of the club since 1970.

Sri Pahang was based at Darul Makmur Stadium in Kuantan, Pahang. The capacity of the stadium is 40,000 and also has a running track.^[3] It was opened in 1970, while capacity was increased in conjunction with Kuantan hosting the Sukma Games in 1996 and 2012.

Players (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 Zarif Irfan 3 DF  MAS Adam Nor Azlin 4 MF  MAS Asnan Ahmad 5 DF  SRB Aleksandar Cvetković 6 DF  MAS Syazwan Andik 7 DF  MAS Aiman Asyraf 9 FW  LBR Kpah Sherman 11 FW  UKR Mykola Ahapov 13 DF  MAS Ashar Al Aafiz Abdullah 15 DF  ARG Stefano Brundo 16 FW  MAS Ezequiel Agüero 18 GK  MAS Azfar Arif

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  MAS Azam Azih 23 DF  MAS Azwan Aripin 25 GK  MAS Wan Mohd Syazmin (on loan from Kedah Darul Aman) 26 MF  MAS T. Saravanan 27 DF  MAS Fadhli Shas 29 DF  MAS Azrif Nasrulhaq Badrul Hisham 35 FW  MAS Syaahir Saiful Nizam 38 MF  MAS Adam Alif Mustapa 44 DF  MAS Hasnul Zaim 55 MF  MAS David Rowley 88 MF  MAS Manuel Hidalgo (on loan from Johor Darul Ta'zim)

From Under-23s

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 — MF  MAS Nasyrullah Zaki — MF  MAS Adam Malique

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  MAS Aqil Arazi — FW  MAS Lokman Bah Din

Club officials (2025)

Position	Nat	Staff
Technical director		Tajuddin Noor
Team manager		Dollah Salleh
Head coach		Vacant
Assistant coach		Ahmad Yusof
		Ahmad Shaharuddin
Team coordinator		Jalaluddin Jaafar
Analyst		Rudie Imran Masih
Goalkeeper coach		Omar Salim
Fitness coach		Azmi Ibrahim
Team doctor		Shah Rezal Sujit
Physiotherapist		Adam Zuhairy Zafri
		Mohd Riduan Amin
Masseur		Muhd Hazeem Mustafar Kamal
		Mohd Suhaimi Ramli
Security officer		Muhammad Keny Anyie
Kitman		Ahmad Faizal Ibrahim
		Suffian Sulaiman
Under-23's team manager		Jalaluddin Mohd Deli
Under-23's head coach		Mohd Yazeed Hamzah
Under-23's assistant coach		Shahrizan Salleh
Under-20's head coach		Mohd Shukri ismail
Under-20's assistant coach		Mohd Ali Tahar
Under-20's goalkeeper coach		Zakaria Abu Bakar
Under-20's fitness coach		Mohd Kaizai Zainulddin
Under-20's physiotherapist		Amirul Afiq Lokiman
Under-20's masseur		Muhd Azrie Amirudin
Under-18's head coach		Hamdan Mohamad
Under-18's assistant coach		Mohd Hazrani Hazim
Under-18's goalkeeper coach		Muhd Zyuraimi Abdul majid
Under-18's fitness coach		Mohd Rosidi Mohamad Abdullah
Under-18's physiotherapist		Mumtazah Putra

Management

Owners:^[4] YAM Tengku Abdul Rahman Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Mustafi Billah, Raja Dato' Shaharudin bin Raja Jalil Shah, Rizal bin Che Hashim

President: YAM Tengku Abdul Rahman Ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah Al-Mustafi Billah

Deputy president: Muhammad Safian Ismail

Board of directors: Raja Dato' Shaharudin bin Raja Jalil Shah, Rizal bin Che Hashim

Chief executive officer: Suffian Awang^[4]

List of head coaches

Years	Nat	Name	Achievements
1994–1996		Yunus Alif	– 1995 Liga Perdana – 1999 Liga Perdana 1
1997–1998		Jorgen Erik Larsen
1999		Alan Davidson
1999–2000		Fuzzeimi Ibrahim
2001–2002		Yunus Alif
2003		Ralf Borges Ferreira
2004–2006		Zainal Abidin Hassan	– 2004 Malaysia Super League
2007		Ahmad Yusof
2008		Zainal Abidin Hassan
2009		Tajuddin Noor
2010–2013		Dollah Salleh	– 2013 Malaysia Cup
December 2013–March 2014		Ron Smith	– 2014 Piala Sumbangsih
March 2014–December 2015		Zainal Abidin Hassan	– 2014 Malaysia FA Cup – 2014 Malaysia Cup
December 2015–March 2016		Ahmad Shaharuddin Rosdi
March 2016–December 2016		Razip Ismail
December 2016–December 2020		Dollah Salleh (2)	– 2018 Malaysia FA Cup
December 2020–March 2021		Thomas Dooley
March 2021–December 2021		Dollah Salleh (3)
January 2022–July 2022		Christophe Gamel
July 2022–January 2023		Dollah Salleh [interim] (4)
January 2023–May 2025		Fandi Ahmad

Team managers

Years	Nat	Name
1999		Talib Sulaiman
2000–2003		Jamal Nasir Abdul Nasir Ismail
2004–2005		Shahiruddin Abdul Moin
2006–2007		Zainal Abidin Hassan
2008		Omar Othman
2009–2017		Che Nasir Salleh
2018–2021		Suffian Awang
2021–2022		Che Nasir Salleh
2023–2025		Dollah Salleh

Club records

• 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	Liga Super	21	14	5	2	48	29	+19	47	1st	–	Semi-finals	Semi-finals
2005		21	10	5	6	37	29	+8	35	2nd	–	Quarter-finals	1st round	AFC Cup	Group stage
2005–06		21	7	6	8	21	24	−3	27	7th	–	Group stage	Champions	–	–
2006–07		24	7	6	11	32	41	−9	27	9th	–	Group stage	2nd round	AFC Cup	Group stage
2007–08		24	8	6	10	26	31	−5	30	8th	–	Group stage	Semi-finals	–	–
2009		26	5	2	19	32	63	−31	17	13th	–	Group stage	1st round
2010		26	10	3	13	31	50	−19	33	8th	–	Quarter-finals	1st round
2011		26	5	7	14	19	36	−17	22	13th		Play-off	Semi-finals
2012	Liga Premier	22	14	4	4	60	29	+31	46	2nd	–	Quarter-finals	2nd round
2013	Liga Super	22	10	5	7	36	32	+4	35	5th		Champions	Semi-finals	–	–
2014		22	11	4	7	36	30	+6	37	3rd	Champions	Champions	Champions
2015		22	13	5	4	43	29	+14	38[a]	3rd	Runner-up	Semi-finals	Semi-finals	AFC Cup	Quarter-finals
2016		22	6	6	10	25	40	−15	24[b]	9th	–	Group stage	3rd round	–	–
2017		22	12	4	6	44	26	+18	40	2nd	–	Quarter-finals	Runner-up	–	–
2018		22	9	7	6	35	21	+14	34	4th	–	Quarter-finals	Champions	–	–
2019		22	12	7	3	37	21	+16	43	2nd	–	Semi-finals	Semi-finals
2020		11	4	2	5	18	18	0	14	8th	–	not held	not held
2021		22	4	6	12	23	37	-14	18	10th	–	Group Stage	not held
2022		22	8	4	10	33	31	+2	28	7th	–	Round of 16	Quarter Final
2023		26	13	6	7	44	33	+11	45	5th	–	Quarter Final	Second round
2024–25		24	7	8	9	35	39	-4	29	7th	–	Runner-up	Round of 16

Source:^[5][6]

1. Pahang was deducted 6 points due to involvement in the delay in the process of solving the problem of salary and compensation by the former imports 2013 season, Mohamed Borji.
2. Pahang has been awarded 3 points free from the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) after offenses committed by the Football Association of Kedah (Kedah FA) putting the suspended player during the match against Pahang on August 3, 2016.

AFC Club ranking

As of 2 July 2017^[7]

Current Ranking	Team	Points
94	Selangor FA	9.951
95	Ayeyawady United	9.878
96	Naft Al-Wasat	9.704
97	Al-Suwaiq	9.643
98	Pahang FA	9.617

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1988–89	Asian Club Championship[8]	Qualifying round group 5	Royal Thai Air Force	1–2		2nd out of 5
			Niac Mitra	0–0
			Bandaran KB	5–1
			Geylang International	2–1
		Semifinal League group B	Al-Sadd	0–2		5th out of 5
			Al-Ittifaq	1–4
			Mohammedan SC	2–1
			April 25	0–2
1993–94	Asian Club Championship[9]	Preliminary Round	Thai Farmers Bank FC	Withdrew
1995	Asian Club Championship[10]	First Round	Cảng Sài Gòn	Walkover
		Second Round	Ilhwa Chunma	2–3	0–2	2–5
2005	AFC Cup[11]	Group E	Home United	3–3	1–2	3rd out of 4
			New Radiant	1–0	1–1
			Happy Valley	3–1	1–1
2005	ASEAN Club Championship	Group A	Hoàng Anh Gia Lai	4–0		1st out of 4
			FC Zebra	8–0
			Nagacorp	3–0
		Semi Final	DPMM FC	1–0
		Final	Tampines Rovers	2–4	Runners-up
2007	AFC Cup[12]	Group F	Osotsapa	0–4	0–4	4th out of 4
			Mohun Bagan	1–2	0–2
			Tampines Rovers	1–4	0–2
2015	AFC Cup[13]	Group G	Yadanarbon	7–4	3–2	2nd out of 4
			Global	0–0	0–0
			South China	0–1	1–3
		Round of 16	Persipura Jayapura	Forfeited, 3–0 win awarded to Pahang
		Quarterfinal	Istiklol	3–1	0–4	3–5

Honours

Domestic

League

• Division 1/Liga Super
  • Winners (5): 1987, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2004
  • Runners-up (6): 1984, 1991, 1998, 2005, 2017, 2019
• Division 2/Premier League
  • Runner-up: 2012

Cup

• Malaysia Cup
  • Winners (4): 1983, 1992, 2013, 2014
  • Runners-up (5): 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2024–25
• Malaysia FA Cup
  • Winners (3): 2006, 2014, 2018
  • Runners-up (2): 1995, 2017
• Piala Sumbangsih
  • Winners (3): 1992, 1993, 2014
  • Runners-up (5): 1985, 1988, 1995, 2007, 2015

Others

• eMFL Malaysia Cup
  • Winners (1): 2024–25

Continental

• ASEAN Club Championship
  • Runner-up (1): 2005

See also

• List of Malaysia Football Chairman