Safawi Rasid


Safawi Rasid is a Malaysian footballer who plays for Malaysia Super League team Johor Darul Ta'zim and Malaysia national team. He mostly plays as a winger but he is also able to play as a striker. He is known for his free kick ability to curl the ball.

Early life

Safawi lives in Kampung Bukit Chatak, Dungun and attended school at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Dungun, Dungun, Terengganu in 2010 before moving to Sekolah Sukan Bukit Nenas, Marang, Terengganu to improve his football talent until 2014. He had played football for his school team since his first year of being a secondary school student.
Safawi has 13 siblings and most of them are involved with sports such as sepak takraw, football and hockey. He is the ninth sibling, and the pride of the Dungun people.

Club career

Youth career

By 2011, T-Team had established a football academy all over six Terengganu cities, Dungun, Marang, Besut, Kemaman, Setiu and Kuala Terengganu by their 2011 head coach, Jibang Marzuki. All the football academy players must be below 18 years old and Jibang Marzuki managed to hold a game for each team every week in order to ensure each player was in their best performance before going to T-Team Football Club pre-selection at the end of the year.
Safawi Rasid, who was only 15 years old when he joined the Dungun T-Team Football Club Academy, always made the first-eleven for his team on each game. He used to play as a central midfielder and loved scoring long-range shots with his left-foot. His manager at the time, recalls going to his house and forcing him to attend training as he believed that Safawi had a bright future ahead. Since then, Safawi represented Terengganu's football team each year for the MSSM tournament.
When he was 16 years old, he moved to Sekolah Sukan Bukit Nenas to improve his football skills, 66 kilometres away from home. Due to his fantastic talent at the Sports School League, T-Team coach, Rahmad Darmawan selected him to attend training with the first team. Safawi quickly impressed Rahmad and soon became an integral part of the first team.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

In December 2016, it was announced that Safawi had agreed to sign with champions Johor Darul Ta'zim. He was assigned the number 29.

2017

On 7 February 2017, Safawi featured in the 2017 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs against Gamba Osaka which his side lost 0–3. On 27 January 2017, Safawi made his league debut in a 3–1 win over Felda United after coming off from the bench.
On 15 July 2017, he scored his first goal in the Malaysian Super League for his new club in a 3–1 victory against Sarawak. At the end of the season, Safawi picked up his first Malaysia Super League and 2017 Malaysia Cup medal, helping Johor Darul Ta'zim win their 4th consecutive league title and first Malaysia Cup in their history.

2018

During the 2018 AFC Cup group stage, Safawi showed an impressive performance in a 3–0 victory over Persija Jakarta, scoring a stunner along the way. On 17 March, he scored his first hat-trick in a 2–3 victory in the third round of the 2018 Malaysia FA Cup against UiTM. On 14 April 2018, he scored his first goal of the Malaysian Super League season against PKNS.

International career

Safawi Rasid made his debut for the Malaysia Under-22 in the 2016 Nations Cup. In August 2016, Safawi Rasid was called up to the Malaysian national team for the match against Indonesia. He made his debut for the senior team in the match as a starter, as Malaysia lost 0–3. He was then called up again for the 2016 Causeway Challenge against rivals, Singapore, which ended 0–0.
Before the start of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, Safawi Rasid was omitted from the final 23-man squad. The demotion of Safawi from Ong Kim Swee was heavily criticized by Malaysian football fans despite veteran striker, Safee Sali managing to be in the squad despite having a poor season earlier with Johor Darul Ta'zim.
During the 2017 Southeast Asian games, Safawi was selected for the 20-man squad by Ong Kim Swee. He scored the first goal of the tournament with a stunning volley from a cross by his fellow countryman Matthew Davies in a 2–1 victory against Brunei. Safawi scored his second goal of the tournament during the 3–1 victory against Myanmar. Despite receiving the silver medal after losing 1–0 during the final against Thailand, Safawi was one of the best players of the tournament and showed consistent performances throughout the tournament.
On 10 November 2017 Safawi scored his first international goal in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification against North Korea national football team.
During Football at the 2018 Asian Games - Men's tournament at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia. Safawi was also selected for the 20-man squad by Ong Kim Swee. On 17 August, when Malaysia was playing against South Korea, he scored twice to secure a 2-1 win in their second the group match.
In November 2018, Safawi was called up to the Malaysia national squad for the 2018 AFF Championship. Safawi scored one goal in the tournament, against Vietnam in the final first leg.

Career statistics

Club

International Appearances

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
110 November 2017New I-Mobile Stadium, Buriram, Thailand
1–4
1–4
2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
213 November 2017New I-Mobile Stadium, Buriram, Thailand
1–4
1–4
2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
33 November 2018Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2–0
3–0
Friendly
411 December 2018Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2–22–22018 AFF Championship
52 June 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1–02–0Friendly
67 June 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia4–07–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
77 June 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia5–17–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
89 November 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1–01–0Friendly
919 November 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1–02–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification
1019 November 2019Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2–02–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Malaysia Under-23

Honours

Club

JDT
Malaysia U-23
Malaysia