Today, Malaysians woke up to find out that history has been made. Mohd Faiz Subri was announced the winner of the prestigious FIFA Puskás Awards at the 2016 FIFA Football Awards in Zurich this morning. Faiz isn’t just the only Malaysian to have won the award, he is the only person from Asia who has ever done so.
The FIFA Puskás Award was established eight years ago to honour the year’s ‘most beautiful’ goal. Faiz, who plays for Penang FA, managed to beat two other candidates with his unbelievable free kick – that swerved in mid-air – garnering a whopping 59 percent of the votes. The other finalists were Daniuska Rodríguez from Venezuela and Johnath Marlone from Brazil.
Apart from winning the award, Faiz also managed to get a selfie with his favourite footballer at the star-studded event. Before the awards ceremony, Faiz tweeted his intention to get a selfie from 2016 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, which he managed by the end of the night.
@FIFAcom Finally,another dreams come true,with THE BEST @Cristiano
— faizsubri13 (@faizsubri131) January 9, 2017
Alhamdulillah pic.twitter.com/o03PaDm1Qp
This is certainly a big celebration and a much needed boost of confidence for Malaysian football. When else can we say a Malaysian footballer has beaten Lionel Messi and Neymar for an award that’s based on footballing merit?
You can relive the historic goal here:
For more info, visit fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards.