Safuwan Baharudin

This is a Malay name; the name Baharudin is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Safuwan.
Safuwan Baharudin

Safuwan with LionsXII in 2012.
Personal information
Full nameMuhammad Safuwan bin Baharudin[1]
Date of birth22 September 1991
Place of birthSingapore
Height1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionCentre-back
Youth career
2005-2009National Football Academy
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2009–2011Young Lions58(9)
2012–LionsXII52(11)
2015→ Melbourne City (loan)6(2)
National team‡
2010–Singapore43(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 April 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 November 2014

Muhammad Safuwan bin Baharudin (born 22 September 1991) is a Singapore international footballer who last played as a defender for Melbourne City in the A-League. He is known for being a technical player with good pace, excellent reading of the game well and a ball-playing defender. He also has a knack for scoring goals.

Predominantly a centre-back, his attributes and versatility also allow him to play in defensive midfield and forward.

Club career

Early years

Safuwan started out playing as a striker during his Institute of Technical Education years and as a midfielder at the National Football Academy (NFA).[2][3] Salim Moin, his NFA Under-17 coach, was credited with switching him to the centre-back position he currently plays in.

Young Lions

Safuwan began his professional football career with S.League club Young Lions in July 2009 after he was promoted from the National Football Academy Under-18s.[4]

Safuwan was one of the Young Lions players involved in an on-pitch fight with Beijing Guoan Talent players in their S.League match on 7 September 2010. He was charged by the FAS for gross misconduct and bringing the game into disrepute and was fined S$2,000 for his part in the brawl.[5]

LionsXII

In December 2011, the FAS announced that Safuwan will join the newly formed LionsXII in the 2012 Malaysia Super League. The Lions finished runners-up in their debut season.

Safuwan formed a strong understanding with Baihakki Khaizan in central defence as LionsXII won the 2013 Malaysia Super League with the competition's best defensive record. He contributed with 5 goals in 26 competitive matches. Amid interest from Thai, Indonesian and rival Super League sides including T-Team, he put pen to paper in a new two-year deal with LionsXII in November 2013.[6][7][8][9]

Safuwan capped his league performances by becoming the first male recipient of the annual Straits Times Athlete of the Year award in 2013.[10]

With the departure of regular partner Baihakki in 2014, Safuwan formed a new partnership with new LionsXII recruit Afiq Yunos. He also showed his versatility with good displays in advanced midfield and attacking roles.[11][12] Safuwan's performances up front and LionsXII's poor goalscoring form led head coach Fandi Ahmad to consider playing him as a forward in more games.[2] He started in an advanced midfield role behind striker Khairul Amri in a Super League match away to Sarawak on 15 March.[13] On 25 March, he scored a late winner over Perak to send LionsXII 5th in the league table. He scored his second goal in as many games four days later as LionsXII drew 1–1 with T-Team and followed it up with the opener off a Shahfiq Ghani cross against Sime Darby on 5 April.

Melbourne City

On 29 January 2015, it was announced that Safuwan has signed a 3-month loan contract with A-League team Melbourne City.[14]

Safuwan earned the contract after his performance at MCFC's training camp in Abu Dhabi which was held from Jan 10 to 19, said MCFC on its website. He attended the training camp as part of a development opportunity arranged with the FAS. MCFC said Safuwan impressed as both a centre back and a fullback during the club's two friendly matches in the UAE, where he played against players such as former Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic and as a substitute in the side's 1-1 draw with Ukrainian Premier League outfit FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

Safuwan made his debut for Melbourne City in the A-League on 7 February 2015 for the Melbourne Derby against Melbourne Victory. Safuwan scored his first goal for the club against Adelaide United on the 27th February 2015.[15] He scored his second goal just a couple of weeks later, against Western Sydney Wanderers to hand his side a 1-0 lead although they could not hang on to the lead and crash to a 3-2 defeat in the end.[16]

Following a spine injury sustained in a match against Wellington Phoenix, Safuwan's loan contract lapsed and was not renewed.[17]

International career

Youth

Safuwan was part of the Singapore national under-23 football team that won the bronze medal at the 2009 and 2013 Southeast Asian Games.

Senior

Safuwan made his international debut for Singapore at the age of 18 in a King's Cup match against Thailand on 17 January 2010.[3][18]

Safuwan contributed with impressive displays as the senior team won the 2012 ASEAN Football Championship in a record fourth title. He found himself increasingly paired with Baihakki Khaizan with regular centre-back Daniel Bennett gradually phased out of the national team set-up.

National team coach Bernd Stange believes Safuwan's best position to be eventually in defensive midfield. He stated, "With hard work, he can become a great defensive midfielder. By sitting in front of the defence, he can utilise all of his qualities – namely stamina, speed, football intelligence, finishing and brilliant heading ability."[19]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 7 February 2015[20][21][22][23][24]
Club Season S.League Singapore Cup Singapore
League Cup		 Asia Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Young Lions 2009 16130000—161
2010 26145000—314
2011 3212———164
Total 589500000639
Club Season Malaysia
Super League		 Malaysia
FA Cup		 Malaysia Cup Asia Total
LionsXII 2012[25] 23322041—194
2013[26] 21151072—2619
2014[27] 21172100—3021
Total 442351113006014
Club Season A-League FFA Cup Asia Total
Melbourne City FC (loan) 2014–15[28] 52——52
Career Total 105201011140012624

International

International goals

No Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1[29] 7 June 2013 New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos  Laos 0–3 2–5 Friendly

Honours

Club

LionsXII

International

Singapore

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "FAS names 2014 LionsXII squad list". LionsXII. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dan Guen Chin (11 February 2014). "Fandi may play Safuwan as forward". Today.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lim Say Heng (27 December 2011). "Gritty Safuwan wants to repay father's sacrifices". The New Paper.
  4. ↑ David Lee (3 January 2013). "Safuwan has little rest for four years". The New Paper.
  5. ↑ "Young Lions, Beijing Guoan players banned, fined". AsiaOne. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Shamir Osman (30 August 2013). "Safuwan set to leave". The New Paper.
  7. ↑ "LionsXII Defender Safuwan Baharudin Tilting Towards Malaysia Switch". VoxSports. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  8. ↑ David Lee (10 November 2013). "Safuwan wants to help LionsXII retain MSL title". The New Paper.
  9. ↑ Dan Guen Chin (24 October 2013). "Safuwan turns down T-Team offer". Today.
  10. ↑ Wang Meng Meng (28 February 2014). "Footballer Safuwan Baharudin is the new Straits Times Athlete of the Year". The Straits Times.
  11. ↑ Ali Kasim (29 January 2014). "Safuwan shows versatility with classy midfield show". The New Paper.
  12. ↑ "Stunning second-half fightback salvages draw at Larkin". LionsXII. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  13. ↑ David Lee (15 March 2014). "Safuwan the striker". The New Paper.
  14. ↑ "Football: Safuwan Baharudin signs for Melbourne City FC on loan". Channel News Asia. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  15. ↑ Channel News Asia (28 February 2015). "Safuwan wins Melbourne City FC Man of the Match award". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  16. ↑ Shanjayan Muniappan (11 March 2015). "Safuwan scores again, but Melbourne City lose". Today. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Melbourne City (24 April 2015). "Injured Safuwan Baharudin returns to Singapore". Melbourne City Website. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  18. ↑ Fabius Chen (20 December 2012). "Fitting farewell for Raddy". The Straits Times.
  19. ↑ Chua Siang Yee (4 March 2014). "Safuwan positioned for success". The Straits Times.
  20. ↑ "Safuwan Baharudin". National Football Teams. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "S.League – fixtures & scores". sleague.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Singapore Cup – fixtures & scores". sleague.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "League Cup – fixtures & scores". sleague.com. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  24. ↑ "A-League Fixtures and Results". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  25. ↑ "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2012 season". LionsXII. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  26. ↑ "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2013 season". LionsXII. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  27. ↑ "LionsXII fixtures and results for 2014 season". LionsXII. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  28. ↑ "Melbourne City Fixtures and Results for 2014–15 season". Melbourne City. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  29. ↑ "Stange's Lions go on rampage against Laos". Goal.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.