Sabah F.C. (Malaysia)

This article is about the Malaysian professional football club. For the Azerbaijan professional football club, see Sabah FC (Azerbaijan).

Sabah
Kelab Bola Sepak Sabah
Full nameSabah Football Club
Nickname(s)The Rhinos
Tambadau (former)
Founded1950; 74 years ago (1950), as North Borneo Football Association
2021; 3 years ago (2021), as Sabah Football Club (officially owned by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd.)[1]
GroundLikas Stadium
Capacity35,000[2]
Owner companySabah Football Club Sdn Bhd[1]
(Company Reg No. :1383683U)[3]
OwnerKaoru Maori
Head coachSinichi Kudo
LeagueMalaysia Super League
2023Malaysia Super League, 3rd of 14
Websitehttps://sabah-fc.com/
Current season

Active departments of
Sabah FC


Football
Football (Women's)
Football U-20 (Men's)

Football U-18
(Men's)
Football U-16
(Men's)

Sabah Football Club (Malay: Kelab Bolasepak Sabah) is a Malaysian professional football club owned by Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd, with company registration number 1383683U. The club represents the state of Sabah in Borneo, Malaysia, and competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian professional football. Their home matches are played at the 35,000-capacity Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah.

Sabah FA (at that time) won the Malaysia FA Cup in 1995, the Malaysian Premier League (top tier) in 1996, and the Malaysia Premier League (second tier) in 2019. In 1995, Sabah FA also advanced to the second round of the Asian Cup Winners' Cup after defeating An Giang of V. League 3–1 on aggregate. They lost to Bellmare Hiratsuka (now Shonan Bellmare) of J1 League 1–7 on aggregate.

Until 2021, Sabah FA, also known as Sabah FA State Football Team, was one of the 14 state teams in the Malaysian football system. It was funded and managed by the Sabah Football Association (SAFA) and relied mostly on state government grants. However, the Malaysian football league mandated that all teams in the top two leagues must be professional clubs by 2021, leading to the privatisation of SAFA and its separation from state football association, and then finally leading to the existence of the Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd, a private independent company with the company registration number, 1383683U.

  1. ^ a b Zainal, Zulhilmi (6 October 2020). "All Malaysian league clubs complete initial privatisation process, seven receive conditional licence". Goal.com. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Football stadiums of the world – Stadiums in Asia [Likas Stadium]". Fussball Tempel. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  3. ^ "SABAH FOOTBALL CLUB SDN BHD CTOS". CTOS. Retrieved 9 September 2020.