Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C.

Petaling Jaya Rangers Football Club or PJ Rangers is a professional football club based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.[1] Founded in 2011, the club's home ground has been in multiple different stadiums before moving to AirAsia Stadium in Petaling Jaya.[2]

Petaling Jaya Rangers
Full namePetaling Jaya Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)Rangers
Short namePJR
Founded9 August 2011 (2011-08-09) as AirAsia Allstars F.C.
6 December 2016 (2016-12-06) as Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C.
GroundAirAsia-MBPJ Stadium
Capacity25,000
OwnerAirAsia Group
ChairmanTony Fernandes
ManagerHalim Mu’azzam Ayob
CoachKhairul Anuar Jamil
LeagueSelangor Super League
2019Super League, 6th
WebsiteClub website

In 2018, they played in the third division in Malaysian football, the Malaysia FAM League after being promoted as top four from Selangor Super League in 2014.[2]

The club was formerly known as AirAsia Allstars before being rebranded in December 2016 to Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C. which was used from the 2017 season onwards.[2][3][4]

The initial uses the nickname Red Jets, which signify the clubs connection with the AirAsia Group. However, after the rebranding of the club name they were known as Rangers.

PJ Rangers regular kit colours are red and white for shirts, shorts and socks. The club's crest was rebranded along with the team name for the 2017 season.

History

Origins

Petaling Jaya Rangers Football Club was formed on 9 August 2011 as its former name AirAsia Allstars Football Club and the team competed in the Selangor state league.[2][1][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] According to AirAsia Allstars FC founder Datuk Kamarudin Meranun the initial purpose of the club was to "encourage AirAsia’s staff to excel in sports – football in particular – besides being committed to their daily work in keeping AirAsia as the best low cost airline in the world."[2] The club won the league and were promoted to play in the national league, Malaysia FAM League.

Promotion to Malaysia FAM League

The club was promoted to the Malaysia FAM League for the 2015 season after moving up from Selangor Super League.[2][1][12] For their first season in the national league, the club appointed Mohd Nidzam Jamil as the new head coach.[13][14] The club ended its first season in the national league in 7th place. After the first four matches of the 2016 season, the club replaced Nidzam Jamil with P. Maniam for the remainder of the season.[15][16] The club managed to reach the playoff for the Malaysia Premier League after finishing the season in 3rd place although did not manage to be promoted.

Rebranded as Petaling Jaya Rangers

In November 2016, the club has announced the appointment of Mat Zan Mat Aris as the new head coach with a contract of two years as the club prepared for the new season.[17][18][19][20] Mat Zan Mat Aris was the former head coach of Melaka United who achieved a back-to-back promotion from the third division to the top division. This was the sort of quality which Petaling Jaya Rangers were looking for.[17]

As part of the club vision moving forwards, the club unveiled plans for the 2017 season with a rebranding from AirAsia F.C. to Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C. in order to bring more fans and promote local community support.[1][5][6][11] The club also revealed its plans for 2017 with the focus on engaging communities.[21] The club aimed to actively engage with and serve football fans in the area.[1][5][7]

In an effort to support football development in Malaysia and in the region, Petaling Jaya Rangers announced an exclusive partnership with Queens Park Rangers (QPR) to start a football academy.[1][5][6][11] The academy aimed to nurture and train the next generation of renowned footballers to play in the top flight of Malaysian football.[1][5] Working together with the team, QPR will lent their expertise in training the players, local coaches and staff.[1][5][7][11] The club has also trained a professional groundsmen and stadium marshals too.[11]

PJ Rangers was put in Group B for the 2017 Malaysia FAM League with seven other clubs.[22] The club was knocked out from the 2017 Malaysia FA Cup in the second round after a 2–1 defeat by UiTM.[23][21] At the end of the season, PJ Rangers finished second in the league's Group B and were defeated by Shahzan Muda FC 3–1 in the quarter-finals of the knock out stage.

In the 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup season, the team again achieved second place in Group B, and qualified for the knock-out stage. PJ Rangers failed again at the penultimate stage, when they were defeated 4–3 on aggregate to Selangor United in the semi-finals. At the end of the season, the team's management announced on social media that they would not participate in the next FAM Cup season, instead rejoining the Selangor Super League state league beginning in 2019.[24]

Stadium
Main article: Petaling Jaya Stadium
Petaling Jaya Stadium

PJ Rangers home stadium is the Petaling Jaya Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.[5][6] The capacity of the stadium is 25,000.

The club has previously played in various stadiums before moving to Petaling Jaya Stadium for the 2017 season.[5][6][7][9] Early in their first season in FAM League, the club played in MPSJ Stadium, Subang Jaya before moving to UPM Mini Stadium, Serdang for the remainder of the season. For the second season in FAM League, the club once again moved to a different stadium, the Shah Alam Stadium in Shah Alam, Selangor where they played for the whole 2016 season.

The club has planned to build a permanent stadium owned by them in near future as part of club expansion plan.[6] It will be located in Petaling Jaya.[6]

Crest and colours

Crest

The original crest, adopted when the club was founded in 2011 features the logo of AirAsia as the main theme with the Allstars suffix.

Despite the club being founded in 2011, the words "EST 2001" featured on the crest. This was reference to the establishment of the AirAsia low-cost carrier company after Tune Air, led by Tony Fernandes, bought AirAsia from a Malaysian government-owned company in September 2001.[25][26] The crest was replaced with a new design to reflect the club's rebranding where the club adopted a colour theme of maroon and gold which was first used for the 2017 season.

  • 2011–2016 crest

Kit Colours

Home Kit: Red and white shirts as it is an iconic colour for the club.

Away Kit: Usually blue and white or various combination colours such as black.

Supporters

As part of the rebranding effort, the club changed its name to Petaling Jaya Rangers with the emphasis on engaging the Petaling Jaya community for local area support.[5][6] As of 2016, Petaling Jaya had a population of 619,925 which the club intended to engage via community programs.[27]

The club are established a youth football academy for the club with the support from QPR which was a landmark project among the local community.[5][6]

Ownership and finances

The club was founded in 2011 and owned by the AirAsia Group, a Malaysian low-cost airline headquartered in Sepang, Malaysia which is spearhead by Tony Fernandes who is also the chairman of Queens Park Rangers.[5][2][6][7][11][21] As part of ownership, the company provides all necessary budget and sponsorship for the club. The management is keen to move the club to be near their headquarters but the main focus is engaging with local community in Petaling Jaya to create a club with a local community support.[6][7]

The club also owns an amateur feeder team which is primarily made up of AirAsia staff.

The club aims to be a sustainable self-funding football club in near future and reduce its dependency on AirAsia via financial funding through other methods of corporate sponsorship, gate receipt, and merchandise.[11]

Sponsorship

In 2016 The PJ Rangers kit was supplied by Line 7.[21]

The club shirt sponsor has always been AirAsia as part of ownership deal.[21] The club also has had other shared shirt sponsors as they has been previously sponsored by GE Aviation in 2015 season.

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
2015 EGO SPORT[28] AirAsia / GE Aviation
2016 – present Line 7 AirAsia

Season by season record
Season League Top goalscorer FA Cup Malaysia Cup
/Challenge Cup
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos Name Goals
2015 FAM League 16 4 4 8 15 21 16 7th Group B DNQ DNQ
2016 FAM League 16 8 6 2 19 17 30 3rd Group A Second round DNQ
2017 FAM League 14 6 5 3 15 11 23 Quarter-finals Second round DNQ
2018 FAM League 8 4 2 2 17 9 14 Semi-finals Raslam Khan 9 Second round DNQ
2019 FAS Super League 8 3 2 3 8 8 11 6th Syamsol Sabtu 3 DNQ DNQ

Players

Current squad
As of 03 March 2019.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  MAS Amirul Ashraf Rahman
2 DF  MAS Firdaus Rahmat
3 MF  MAS Abdul Jalil Rauf
4 DF  MAS Mohd Mahathir
5 DF  MAS Mohd Naim Hashim
6 MF  MAS Rahmat Zainol
7 FW  MAS Amirul Afiq Asri
8 FW  MAS Ahmed Fadzil
9 MF  MAS Izzudin Mat
10 FW  MAS Khairul Azahar
11 MF  MAS Syamsol Sabtu
12 MF  MAS Nurariff Daniel Zulkahar
14 FW  MAS Amirul Mat Amin
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 FW  MAS Hezree Syafiq
16 DF  MAS Tuah Iskandar
17 MF  MAS Reeshafiq Alwi
18 MF  MAS Salahuddin Zambri
19 MF  MAS Abd Rahman Ghani
20 DF  MAS Mohd Firdaus Afandi
21 MF  MAS Rosli Muda
21 DF  MAS Wan Mohd Aminuddin
23 MF  MAS Shahril Izwan Abdullah
24 GK  MAS Noor Hafis Che Haron
25 DF  MAS Premanathan Karisnan
26 MF  MAS Nor Syafiq Syazwan
29 MF  MAS Hariri

Transfers

For recent transfers, see List of Malaysian football transfers 2018 and List of Malaysian football transfers 2017

Head Coaches
Year Name
2014 Asmawi Bakiri
January 2015–28 March 2016 Mohd Nidzam Jamil[13][14]
30 March–October 2016 P. Maniam[15][18][19]
November 2016–20 October 2017 Mat Zan Mat Aris[17][20]
20 October 2017–2018 Hassan Sazali Waras
2019– Khairul Anuar Jamil

Management
Updated 7 December 2016.
Position Name
Founder Kamarudin Meranun
Patron Tony Fernandes
President Riad Asmat
Deputy President Simon Lim
Vice President / Chief Finance Officer Mustaffa Ramly
Vice President II Victor William
Secretary Mohd. Fakhrurrazi Ismail
Treasurer Mustaffa Ramly
Security Officer Govindran a/l Karuppiah
Media Officers Mohd. Rizuan Bidin
Galvin Tan
Community Manager Galvin Tan
Coordinator Officer Melvin Jacob

Current coaching staff
Updated 7 March 2019.
Position Name
Team Manager Dato’ Halim Mu’azzam Bin Dato’ Ayob
Assistant Manager Galvin Tan
Head Coach Khairul Anuar Jamil
Assistant Coach Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yaakob
Goalkeeping Coach Muzaffar Shah Dzulkifli
Fitness Coach
Physiotherapist Muhammad Hafizzudin Mohd Ramli
Kit Man Muhd Zukri Abd Hamid
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See also
  • Queen's Park Rangers

References
  1. http://www.fourthofficial.com/2016/41082/airasia-fc-unveil-plans-for-2017-set-to-be-renamed-as-petaling-jaya-rangers/ AirAsia FC unveil plans for 2017, set to be renamed as Petaling Jaya Rangers
  2. http://www.fourfourtwo.com/my/features/airasia-allstars-stand-what-we-believe-football-says-datuk-kamarudin AirAsia Allstars stand for what we believe in football, says Datuk Kamarudin Archived 2016-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
  3. http://www.hmetro.com.my/node/187319 Belum layak jadi Presiden FAM
  4. https://www.utusan.com.my/sukan/bola-sepak/tony-kekal-pendirian-enggan-tanding-presiden-fam-1.417064 Tony kekal pendirian enggan tanding Presiden FAM
  5. http://www.thestar.com.my/sport/football/2016/12/07/airasia-fc-change-name-to-petaling-jaya-rangers/ AirAsia FC change name to Petaling Jaya Rangers
  6. http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2016/12/07/30228752/new-name-and-targets-petaling-jaya-rangers-fc-aims-to-build AirAsia FC revamps to Petaling Jaya Rangers FC as Tony Fernandes hopes to kickstart a community-based club following
  7. http://www.bharian.com.my/node/220952 AirAsia FC kini dikenali Petaling Jaya Rangers
  8. https://www.pengurusanbolasepakfam.org.my/pasukan/pialafam2016 SENARAI PASUKAN PIALA FAM 2016
  9. http://www.mstar.com.my/sukan/bola-sepak/2016/12/06/red-jets-ganti-aa-fc/ AirAsia FC Kini Dikenali Petaling Jaya Rangers FC
  10. https://www.thesukan.com/air-asia-fc-kini-dengan-nama-barunya-petaling-jaya-rangers/ Air Asia FC Kini Dengan Nama Barunya, Petaling Jaya Rangers
  11. http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2017/01/01/31024822/pj-rangers-aim-to-grow-with-petaling-jaya-communitys-help PJ Rangers aim to grow with Petaling Jaya community's help
  12. http://www.bharian.com.my/node/45479 Liga FAM: Skuad AirAsia Allstars berhajat 'terbang tinggi'
  13. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/edisi/utara/mohd-nidzam-ketua-jurulatih-airasia-all-stars-1.358602 Mohd Nidzam ketua jurulatih AirAsia All Stars
  14. "Mohd Nidzam Is New Head Coach Of AirAsia All Stars FC". Mynewshub. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  15. http://www.duniasukan.com/air-asia-allstars-hilang-pengendali/ Air Asia AllStars Hilang Pengendali
  16. http://www.stadiumastro.com/ms/article/2016/12/23/air-asia-fc-diarah-bayar-baki-gaji-kepada-nidzam-jamil AirAsia FC diarah bayar baki gaji Nidzam Jamil
  17. http://www.stadiumastro.com/ms/article/2016/11/05/matzan-mat-aris-sah-ke-airasia-fc Tak perlulah Melaka, Mat Zan Mat Aris sah ke AirAsia FC
  18. http://english.astroawani.com/sports-news/mat-zan-wants-take-airasia-allstars-premier-league-2018-121633 Mat Zan wants to take AirAsia Allstars to Premier League in 2018
  19. https://www.malaysiakini.com/sukan/361773 Mat Zan kini kemudi AirAsia Allstars FC
  20. http://www.bharian.com.my/node/209607 Mat Zan sasar bawa AirAsia Allstars ke Liga Perdana
  21. http://www.fourthofficial.com/2017/43418/pjrangers-tony-fernandes-plans-revolutionise-football-petaling-jaya/ PJRangers-How Tony Fernandes plans to revolutionise football in Petaling Jaya
  22. http://www.fam.org.my/news/keputusan-penuh-undian-piala-fam-piala-presiden-piala-belia-2017 Keputusan Penuh Undian Piala FAM, Piala Presiden & Piala Belia 2017
  23. http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2017/02/15/32695572/uitms-only-advantage-was-their-foreign-players-pj-rangers 'UiTM's only advantage was their foreign players' - PJ Rangers' Mat Zan
  24. https://www.bharian.com.my/sukan/bola/2018/11/495584/pj-rangers-tarik-diri-saingan-piala-fam
  25. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-11647205 How Air Asia founder Tony Fernandes' dream came true
  26. http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2001&dt=0907&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_01.htm DRB-HICOM jual AirAsia
  27. http://www.mbpj.gov.my/en/mbpj/profile/background Official Portal of Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)
  28. http://www.my-soccer.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1114
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