Ashfaq joins Malaysian second tier team

Nov 21, 2013 - 04:25:35 | Shimaz Ali
Ashfaq celebrating a goal against Sri Lanka in this year's SAFF Championship. He has signed for Malaysian team.

Male’, MALDIVES – Maldives national team skipper Ali Ashfaq has signed for PDRM FA of Malaysian premier league, which is the second tier of Malaysia football division pyramid.

In an interview given to Sports247, PDRM FA’s newly appointed coach Dollah Salleh has said that his main target is to promote the club to the Malaysian super league.

“My first target is to win promotion (to the Super League). It is an uphill task but football is a game of surprises. If you have the will, determination and commitment to succeed,”

Dollah also revealed that Brazilian Charles Chad and Maldives’ national skipper Ali Ashfaq (both strikers) are also on board. They are expected to sign their contract together with Dollah tomorrow.

“Ali Ashfaq is a proven player and so is Bobby. I believe we will have a fairly good side to make an impact in the M-League next season.”

Ashfaq played for Brunei’s DPMM FC in the Malaysian super league in 2007 along with Ibrahim Fazeel.

Ashfaq, who has scored incredible 56 goals this season, got offers from Hong Kong, India and also DPMM FC.

Maldivesoccer.com can confirm that the salary of Ashfaq would be a wealthy one when compared with the region.

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Ahan on Nov 21
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So can someone tell us how much exactly he is getting. So at least young guys dreaming of a football career can know "how much greener" is the other side of the river.
DhiFootball on Nov 22
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Heard it was about USD 20,000 per month. Any ways i hope this is the start of the next stage in Maldivian Football i have been waiting to see for a long time now. Hope and pray that Rileys deal with a Malaysian Team goes through and Aku and Umair also gets offers from Sur next month. Wishing and praying that more international transfers takes place in the coming year and that we win the Challenge cup next year.
Ahan on Nov 22
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@Dhifootball, thanks very much. ::: This is a very good news. There are plenty of others who can give a good fight in Middle East and ASEAN leagues. I encourage them to go even for trials to those places. And for football sake, can some Maldivian take initiate to become an agent so that it will be easy to Market out talents, the players can't do this all alone!!!!!
adds on Nov 21
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second devision. im not happy
Imma on Nov 22
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Dear Ashfaq, when we encouraged you to play abroad, we meant at a team where you will be played at a more competitive level week in, week out. I'm starting to think the reason why he stayed all these days in Maldives is because of the money. Valencia and VB offered him luxurious contracts. A certain political party managed to sign him, allegedly using similar tactics. Now he's at a Malaysian club that does not have any supporters and have no history compared to the likes of Selangor, Sarawak, Kelantan etc. But of course, they have almost unlimited cash compared to the other clubs, because they are the Royal Police of Malaysia's football club.
al on Nov 22
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The teams dat came to maldives in AFC cup like selangor, are they second division clubs? If so then ok. If not, not a good move IMO.
Eleven on Nov 23
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Not a good decision at all by Ashfag but its a start for Maldivian players. This team does not feature in the AFC Cup neither a place in the AFC Champions League of 2014. Needs promotion to Malaysian Super League and if so possibiliy of football at this level which will be 2015. Ashfag will be lost in the eyes of football at the regional level in 2014, He should have signed for a club which feature in the Malaysian Super League or in the Indian league. I guess this is bad advise given to Ashfag by who ever his Manager or his Agent is.
abo on Nov 25
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A brave decision Ashfaq! I bet u would not be playing in the 2nd tier next year. Had u chose to play in the Super League, it wud b really hard for u to prove ur calibr considering the level of competitivness of the Super leage and the pressure that wud be put on ur shoulders. Many great players failed in foreign leagues not because they lacked quality n skills, but because its one thing having quality n a totally different thing to prove ur worth in a new league. I'm sure u'll prove me right soon. In my view, ur decision was brilliant. Best of luck, Dhagey!
dhan on Nov 27
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i wish if i can c ashfaq playing in that team

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