Best player award renamed to honour Mokhtar Dahari

The most prized award for professional football players in the M-League has been renamed after Mokhtar Dahari in a tribute to the former striker’s legendary displays for Malaysia during his heydays in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Most Valuable Player award at the annual 100Plus-Astro Arena-FAM National Football Awards will now be known as the Supermokh MVP award, which will be fought out between last year’s winner Norshahrul Idlan Talaha and his Kelantan teammate Khairul Fahmi Che Mat and Safiq Rahim of Selangor.

The list of nominees was revealed yesterday after all the votes for the various categories were tabulated and finalised. This year, all Super League and Premier League head coaches voted for the players they felt were the best candidates for the various categories.

The winners will be revealed at a ceremony on Wednesday.

Not surprisingly, many of the players nominated are from the more successful teams this season including Super League champions Kelantan, FA Cup winners Terengganu and Malaysia Cup victors Negri Sembilan.

NOMINEES 
Best goalkeeper: Sharbinee Allawee Ramli (Terengganu), Khairul Fahmi Che Mat (Kelantan), Farizal Marlias (Negri Sembilan);
Best defender: Aidil Zafuan Radzak (Negri Sembilan), Mazuki Yusof (Terengganu),  Norhafiz Zamani Misbah (Negri Sembilan);
Best midfielder: Badhri Radzi (Kelantan),  Safiq Rahim (Selangor), Joseph Kallang Tie (Terengganu);
Best striker: Hairuddin Omar (Negri Sembilan), Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (Kelantan), Abdul Hadi Yahya (Terenegganu);
Best coach: Irfan Bakti Abu Salim (Terengganu), Norizan Bakar (Perak), M. Karathu (Kelantan);
Most promising player: Fadhli Shas, Irfan Fazail, Wan Zack Haikal Wan Noor (all Young Tigers A);
Supermokh most vauable player: Khairul Fahmi Che Mat and Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (Kelantan), Safiq Rahim (Selangor).