 Irfan playing for Singapore in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Irfan bin Fandi Ahmad[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 13 August 1997 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Singapore | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Port | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 17 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 2012–2013 | National Football Academy | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | Hércules | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Barnechea | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Universidad Católica | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Universidad Católica | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Young Lions | 9 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Home United | 25 | (6) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Young Lions | 18 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
| 2019–2024 | BG Pathum United | 97 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024– | Port | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2015–2019 | Singapore U22 | 7 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2014–2019 | Singapore U23 | 32 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016– | Singapore | 48 | (2) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:06, 27 April 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:33, 21 March 2024 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Irfan bin Fandi Ahmad (born 13 August 1997), better known as Irfan Fandi or just as Irfan, is a Singaporean professional footballer who plays primarily as a centre-back for Thai League 1 club Port FC and the Singapore national team.[2]
Earlier in his career, he played as a striker and a winger before switching to the centre-back position. In 2013, he was listed as one of Goal.com's Top 20 Southeast Asian Rising Stars.[3] In 2014, Irfan was also named as one of the top 40 best young talents in world football on The Guardian.[4][5]
Irfan began his footballing career by going through the youth system at the National Football Academy (NFA), with subsequent stints and trials at various clubs before debuting as a professional at the age of 18 at top tier Chilean Primera División side Universidad Católica in 2015.[6] Although Irfan was offered a two-year contract by the club, he rejected it to return to Singapore. For the next three years, Irfan played for local clubs the Young Lions and Home United.[A] Around this time, he went on trials with Dutch Eredivisie side Groningen and Portuguese Primeira Liga side Braga, rejecting a contract offer from the latter.
In 2018, Irfan signed for Thailand's BG Pathum United prior to the 2019 Thai League 2 season, where he was instrumental to the club's immediate promotion back to the Thai League 1 and soon after when the club become the Champions of Thailand during the 2021–22 Thai League 1 season – becoming the first Singaporean to win Thailand's top tier league trophy.[7] During their title winning season, Irfan led BG Pathum's defence with the club only losing a single game the entire season, while conceding just 11 goals in 24 matches and keeping 15 clean sheets.[8]
Irfan made his senior international debut for Singapore in 2016, with a single goal as a centre-back coming against Turkmenistan in 2017, and earning 38 caps as of 2022. He has represented his country at various international tournaments, including the 2018 and the 2020 AFF Championships.
- ^ "IRFAN FANDI AHMAD". Singapore Sports Council. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Profile: Singapore Men's National Team for AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022". Football Association of Singapore.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
risingwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Blight, Garry (14 October 2014). "Next Generation 2014: 40 of the best young talents in world football". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ Singh, Bryna. "Fandi's son, Irfan, named one of 40 best young talents in world football". The Straits Times. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
- ^ Sari, Haiqal (15 March 2015). "Giving back: Irfan and Ikhsan Fandi turn mentor to young kids". The New Paper. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ Lee, David (6 March 2021). "Football: Irfan Fandi becomes first Singaporean to win Thai top tier, eyes move to bigger leagues". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=upper-alpha> tags or {{efn-ua}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=upper-alpha}} template or {{notelist-ua}} template (see the help page).