Mohamadou Sumareh


Mohamadou Sumareh is a Malaysian-Gambian footballer who plays for Pahang in the Malaysia Super League. He is nick-named "keliboy" by Pahang fans because of his slimy and smooth dribbling, as well as ball trickery. He also plays for the Malaysia national team.

Early years

Sumareh was born in Fajara, Gambia. Sumareh's family moved to Banjul after his birth.
Sumareh went to Malaysia at the age of 12, following his father who worked as a businessman and began living here three years later. From the age of 15, he has learned a lot about Malaysia, especially the culture in the local community and in football. He trained with the Kuala Lumpur Youth Soccer academy as a teenager.

Club career

Steve Biko

After displaying some talent, he was offered the chance to join the Steve Biko academy in Gambia in late-2010. However, he was not offered a professional contract.

Royal Malaysia Police

A year later, Sumareh travelled to Malaysia and signed for Malaysia Premier League club PDRM on a two-year contract. He made his first-team debut on 7 January 2013, in a match against Betaria, with a 5–0 win at home. In 2014, he succeeded in helping PDRM to become the 2014 Malaysia Premier League champions, thus promoted to the Super league for next season.

Perlis

Sumareh signed for Perlis on a one-year contract after the end of the contract with PDRM. He made his Perlis debut on 15 February 2016 against UiTM in the Malaysia Premier League, with a 1–0 loss at home.

Pahang

After helping Perlis reach in the sixth place in Premier League, Sumareh joined Pahang on a free transfer on December 2016 after signing a two-year deal with the Super League club. He made his club debut on 21 January 2017 in Super League Match against Perak away, which resulted in a 1–1 draw. His first Super League goal came on his Darul Makmur Stadium debut on 27 January 2017, in the 14th minute with a 5–0 victory against T–Team.

International career

In October 2018, Sumareh was called up for the Malaysia national team central training from 8 October to prepare for two international friendly matches against Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan. He is the first player called to the Malaysia national team since the 1960s, who was neither born in Malaysia nor have any of his ancestors Malaysian-born or having Malaysian citizenship.
He made his debut on 12 October 2018, in a warm-up match against Sri Lanka. In that match, he came on as a substitute and scored his first international goal in a 4-1 victory. He later scored again in a 3-0 win against Maldives on 4 November 2018. A day later, he was selected to the last 23-man squad for the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup. In 5 September 2019 he scored a crucial last-minute goal against Indonesia in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Malaysia won the match 2-3 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta. In 15 November 2019, he also scored the decisive goal that helped Malaysia win against Thailand 2-1 at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lampur and kept Malaysia's hopes for World Cup qualification alive.

Personal life

Sumareh received his Malaysian citizenship in April 2018 after staying in the country for more 5 years. He is a former student of Maz International School in Shah Alam and SEGi College.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

International goals

No.DateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
112 October 2018Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka13–14–1Friendly
23 November 2018Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia33–03–0Friendly
311 June 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia143–05–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
45 September 2019Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia151–13–22022 FIFA World Cup qualification
55 September 2019Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia153–23–22022 FIFA World Cup qualification
614 November 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia182–12–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
--Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-----

Honours

Club

; PDRM
;Pahang
Malaysia