Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi might be the star of the football arena, but Malaysian football legend the late Datuk Mokthar Dahari has also received international recognition from FIFA for all-time top scorers.
Fondly known as ‘Supermokh’, he had scored 89 goals in 131 appearances for Malaysia. The record is only surpassed by Iranian legend and striker Ali Daei and Portuguese star Ronaldo who shared the record as top scorers after each having scored 109 goals for their countries.
Mokthar had played for F.A. Selangor for most of his life. Arguably one of the best footballers in Malaysian football history, he first played for F.A. Selangor in the Burnley Cup, which they won. He was later asked to play for the club regularly where he became the top scorer in his first season playing for F.A. Selangor.
He helped the club win many tournaments, mainly the Malaysia Cup with 10 titles and scoring 177 goals altogether and was later selected to play for the Malaysia national team.
Mokthar helped Malaysia to win bronze in the 1974 Asian Games and two gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games in 1977 and 1979 respectively. He even scored a double winning goal for 2–0 Malaysia Selection against Arsenal F.C. in a friendly game in 1975.
He received an offer from Real Madrid C.F. but declined to join because of his patriotism to his country and native club of Selangor. Mokhtar was named the best Asian striker by the World Soccer when he was 23 years old.
Mokhtar Dahari retired in May 1986 after winning the Malaysia Cup for F.A. Selangor.
