Typical campista playmaker great in one match, invisible in the next. The Kelantanese Shakir is dubbed “Deco” for his exquisite ball control, distribution and technique. One of the country’s most exciting young players, Shakir was immediately grabbed by MyTeam last season and featured prominently in the promotion winning campaign.
The average built midfielder from Kota Bharu received his early education in SK Mulong 1, and quickly found his niche in football. He had much encouragement in the game from his brothers and represented the school at the Under-12 level, before progressing to the District level and eventually donned the Cik Siti Wan Kembang crest in the MSSM (Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia) championships that same year.
His pursuit of excellence in the game did not miss the attention of scouts during the age group MSSM championships thus leading to a place at the Bandar Penawar Sports School in Johor when he entered Form 1. He set his sights on becoming a professional player with his farmer father and housewife mother being equally supportive of his chosen ambition. In the Sports Schools Malaysia (SSM) championship, he again impressed and was selected to play in the Nike Cup for SSM. Things got only better for the playmaker and he was selected to represent Malaysia in the Nike Cup Asean level in Bangkok, in 2001.
In 2002, Shakir moved onto Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), representing the country in the both the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-16 championships in Kuala Lumpur and the Under-17 championships in Vietnam. Upon completing his studies at BJSS, he returned to his home state at the age of 18 and began representing Kelantan as a President’s Cup player. In fact he even played in two of Kelantan’s matches in the M-League that year. At the Malaysia Games (Sukma) championships of 2004 in Negeri Sembilan, he once again represented Kelantan.
The following year Shakir moved to club side Selangor MPPJ, and trained regularly with the who’s who of Malaysian football as back then MPPJ were known as the ‘Chelsea of Malaysia’. He began his career there in the President’s Cup squad, but eventually the youngster earned his place amongst the big boys, featuring regularly for the Malaysia Cup campaign that season in which MPPJ made it to the quarter-finals. His star continued to shine in 2005, receiving a National call-up for the Under-20’s.
In 2006, Shakir who chose to remain with MPPJ, found the going tough that year as the Klang Valley outfit continued to bring in more big name players thus denying him an opportunity to play. He simply could not break into the team, growing frustrated, and only started only two games throughout the season. However it was a different scenario in the national set-up, where he progressed to the Under-21’s, also known as the Olympic squad, rising up to skippering the side and the Under-23 squad under B.Sathianathan. When the club side collapsed in financial mess later that year, Shakir was released and was immediately snapped up by MyTeam in October.
In MyTeam’s debut season in the M-League, Shakir played a big part in the heart of midfield, being involved in 16 of the 20 matches in the Premier League. It was a remarkable season for MyTeam, chugging their way up the standings to earn promotion to the Super League, finishing runner-up. Unfortunately for Shakir that good dose of success did not rub onto national colours. He lost his place in the Under-23 squad, but his exploits for MyTeam earned him a contract extension for 2007.
He will be featuring in the Super League for the second time, and hopefully aims to make a bigger impact on Malaysia’s top level. A player with great natural potential, whom needs to use his limited opportunities to prove his quality, Shakir said “I hate to be benched but I know that’s the reality of football”.
Shakir is the eight child from a family of eleven and currently resides in Bukit Jalil. |
