Soh Chin Ann

In this Chinese name, the family name is Soh (苏).

Yang Berbahagia Datuk Wira Soh Chin Ann DCSM DSIS DIMP AMN (or Soh Chin Aun due to misspelling by Malaysian media;^[1] simplified Chinese: 苏进安; traditional Chinese: 蘇進安; pinyin: Sū Jìn'ān; born 28 July 1950) is a Malaysian former footballer who played as a defender.^[2] He was affectionately known as Tauke or Towkay (Boss) by his teammates and fans. RSSSF and IFFHS formerly recognised Soh as the player with the most international caps in men's football with 219 caps,^[3][4] before being overtaken by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo in 2025. He formerly held the record of all-time most appearances in FIFA international recognised matches with 195 caps, before being overtaken by Kuwait's Bader Al-Mutawa in 2022.^[5][6][7]

Yang Berbahagia Datuk Wira
Soh Chin Ann
DCSM DSIS DIMP AMN

Soh in 2020
Personal information
Date of birth	(1950-07-28) 28 July 1950 (age 75)
Place of birth	Alor Gajah, Malacca, British Malaya
Position(s)	Centre-back
Youth career
1969	Malacca
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1969–1970	Malacca
1971–1978	Selangor
1979–1985	Malacca
1988	Malacca
International career
1969–1984	Malaysia	195	(13)
Managerial career
1989	Malacca
Medal record Men's football Representing  Malaysia Asian Games 1974 Tehran Team SEA Games 1977 Kuala Lumpur Team 1979 Jakarta Team 1971 Bangkok Team 1975 Bangkok Team 1983 Singapore Team 1973 Singapore Team
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Soh started his football career with Malacca in 1969. He joined Selangor in 1971 and played for them until 1978 winning six Malaysia Cup titles.^[8] He returned to star for Malacca in 1979 and won the League Cup title in 1983 but was inactive for two years due to a one-year suspension in 1985. He captained Malacca in 1988 which was also his last appearances in the domestic league.^[9][10]

International career

National team

At the age of 19, Soh earned his full international caps for Malaysia at the 1969 King's Cup.^[11] In 1971, when he played in the Olympic qualifier in Seoul, South Korea, he was the youngest member of the national team at the age of 21. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and playing all three group games.^{[12][13][14][15]} He also was the captain of the team that qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Malaysia did not participate in boycott of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.^[16] However, because of his contribution for helping Malaysia to qualify for the Olympics, he was awarded the Ahli Mangku Negara by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.^[17] He later took part in the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, where his Malaysia was eliminated from the group stage, yet Malaysia produced one of the finest performance ever under his leadership, with the team gaining a famous 1–1 draw over powerhouse South Korea; Soh gained fame as well for having an exceptional tournament, allowing him to be named into the Team of the Tournament by the AFC, the first Southeast Asian to receive such honour, a record which would stand until the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.^[18][19]

Malaysia Selection

On 11 May 1975, Soh was part of the Malaysia Selection that played against Arsenal FC in a friendly match, which the team won 2–0 at the Merdeka Stadium.^[20][21]

Retirement

He retired from international football in 1984 and made 250 international appearances as recorded by Football Association of Malaysia.^[22][23] Asian Football Confederation recognised his achievements and included him into AFC Century Club in February 1999.^[24][25][26]

Post-playing career

He was appointed as the chairman of the referees' committee on 13 March 2007. He was the team manager (not head coach) of Malaysia national football team from 2007 until 2009.^[27]

Political career

He once tried to make it in politics by contesting to be the Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka representing Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) of Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1986 but he suffered a defeat of 17,606 votes to Lim Guan Eng of Democratic Action Party (DAP).^[28]

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
1986	P113 Kota Melaka		Soh Chin Ann (MCA)	16,967	32.92%		Lim Guan Eng (DAP)	34,573	67.08%	52,840	17,606	76.54%

Personal life

In 2016, he made a cameo appearance in Ola Bola as Soh Chin Aun, a character based on himself in the 1980 Moscow Olympics qualification campaign.^[29]

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[30]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Malaysia	1969	3	0
	1970	12	0
	1971	19	1
	1972	16	3
	1973	20	1
	1974	12	0
	1975	19	0
	1976	16	2
	1977	17	1
	1978	16	0
	1979	17	1
	1980	19	1
	1981	8	1
	1982	0	0
	1983	8	1
	1984	17	1
Total		219	13

Scores and results list Malaysia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ann goal.^[30]

List of international goals scored by Soh Chin Ann

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 May 1971	Bangkok, Thailand	Brunei		8–0	1972 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2	29 July 1972	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	South Korea		1–2	1972 Merdeka Tournament
3	20 September 1972	Seoul, South Korea	Khmer Republic		1–0	1972 President's Cup
4	22 September 1972	Seoul, South Korea	Thailand		1–1	1972 President's Cup
5	28 July 1973	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Khmer Republic		1–0	1973 Merdeka Tournament
6	12 August 1976	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	India		5–1	1976 Merdeka Tournament
7	20 August 1976	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Japan		2–2	1976 Merdeka Tournament
8	29 July 1977	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Indonesia		5–1	1977 Merdeka Tournament
9	9 May 1979	Bangkok, Thailand	North Korea		1–1	1980 AFC Asian Cup qualification
10	2 November 1980	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Morocco		1–2	1980 Merdeka Tournament
11	17 April 1981	Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Singapore		1–2	Ovaltine Cup
12	19 September 1983	Sultan Muhammad IV Stadium, Kota Bahru, Malaysia	Nepal		7–0	1983 Merdeka Tournament
13	3 April 1984	Christchurch, New Zealand	New Zealand		1–6	Friendly

Honours

Selangor

• Malaysia Cup: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978

Malacca

• Malaysian League: 1983

Malaysia

• Asian Games Bronze Medal: 1974
• SEA Games: 1977, 1979
• Merdeka Tournament: 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979
• King's Cup: 1972, 1976, 1978
• Jakarta Anniversary Tournament: 1970

Individual

• AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 1980
• AFC Asian All Stars: 1982^[31]
• MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998^[32]
• AFC Century Club: 1999^[24][25][26]
• OCM Hall of Fame: 2004^[33]
• Asian Football Hall of Fame: 2014^[34][35]
• Goal.com The best Malaysia XI of all time: 2020^[36]
• IFFHS Men's All Time Malaysia Dream Team: 2022^[37]

Records

• Malaysia national football team all-time most appearances: 219^[38]
• The first men's footballers to reach 200 or more international caps (according to RSSSF and IFFHS): 219^[3][4]
• 20th century most international caps in men's football (1901–2000): 219^[3][4]
• The first Asian footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team: 108^[39][40]
• The first footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team (1969–1984): 108^[39][40]

Order

• Malaysia :
  • Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (1980)
• Pahang :
  • Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (2000)^[41]
• Selangor :
  • Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) – Dato' (2016)^[42]
• Malacca :
  • Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2021)^[43]

See also

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
• List of progression men's association football caps record