Ali Imran bin Alimi (born 2 February 1998) is a Malaysian footballer who plays as a centre-back.[4]

Ali Imran
Personal information
Full name Ali Imran bin Alimi[1]
Date of birth (1998-02-02) 2 February 1998 (age 26)
Place of birth Kuala Pilah, Malaysia
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Youth career
2016–2017 Felda United U-21
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2019 Felda United 4 (0)
2020 Sarawak United 2 (0)
2022 PIB FC 8 (0)
International career
2013–2014 Malaysia U16[2][3] 13 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Malaysia
AFF U-16 Youth Championship
First place 2013 Myanmar
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 July 2018
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 30 September 2018

Ali Imran was born in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan but raised in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. He began his football career in 2013 at Sekolah Sukan Tunku Mahkota Ismail in Bandar Penawar, Johor where he studied for 3 years and continued his career development at Malaysia Pahang Sports School in Gambang, Pahang, graduating with a Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia at the end of 2015.

Club career edit

Youth edit

As soon as he graduated from Malaysia Pahang Sports School, Ali Imran signed with Felda United U21 team in 2016 [5] to compete in the President Cup Malaysia. In the 2016 Sukma Games in Sarawak, Ali Imran was one of the players representing the Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur football team. The team struggled their way up to the finals only to be defeated by the back-to-back Sukma Football champion, Perak with a 2–0 score.[6]

Felda United edit

Few months through the season in 2017, the former head coach of Felda United, B. Sathianathan, promoted Ali Imran alongside Danial Amier Norhisham, to the first-team squad where he was initially registered with the number 31 jersey. He had to train among senior players which are more experienced and professional. Stepping into his second season with the team in 2018, he registered with his lucky number, the number 5.

He made his debut for Felda United in the Malaysia Cup on 9 September 2017 in a game against Perak. In that match, he came on as a substitute for Azriddin Rosli, and Felda lost 1–2.[7] On 27 July 2018, Ali made his first league appearance for Felda United, starting the game in the final match of 2018 Malaysia Premier League, where the team became champions of the league.[8] In the 2019 Super League, Ali made his first appearance of the season on 3 March 2019 on the last minute of the game against Petaling Jaya City, as a substitute for Jocinei Schad.[9]

Sarawak United edit

Moving into 2020, Ali Imran signed a contract with a reformed club from East of Malaysia, Sarawak United,[4] that is currently playing for the second division of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Premier League. Ali Imran decided to shake things up by ditching his favourite number 5 and chose to have the number 24 on his jersey. He made his first appearance for Sarawak United in their first Premier League match against Penang FA, as a substitute for Ashri Chuchu, that has gotten himself an injury in the 26th minute and Ali Imran continued to fight till the last second of the match.[10]

International career edit

Ali Imran began his international career at a young age of 15 years old for Malaysia Under-16 in 2013 for the AFF U-16 Youth Championship and continued on his journey in the following year for the AFC U-16 Championship,[11] both under Malaysian U-16 coach S. Balachandran.

2013 AFF U-16 Championship edit

In 2013, Ali Imran was named to join the Malaysia U-16 for the 2013 AFF U-16 Youth Championship in Myanmar. The team started off the championship by being listed in Group B to play against 4 other participating teams, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos and Philippines. The team ended up being placed on top of the table with 2 wins and 2 draws with Indonesia following close with points tied, but differed in goal difference.

On 31 August 2013, the team knocked Vietnam out in the semi-finals with a tight win of 1–0 to advance to the finals. On 2 September 2013, the 2013 AFF U16 Youth Championship finals kicked off with Malaysia U-16 going head on against Indonesia. Both teams battled out to win the title but the game ended with a draw that lead to a penalty shoot-out that puts Malaysia U-16 as the winner of the Championship with a 3–2 score against Indonesia[12]

2014 AFC U-16 Championship edit

On 6 April 2014, the draw for the competition was held in Bangkok, Thailand settling Malaysia U-16 in Group A with other qualified teams which included South Korea, Thailand and Oman. The team secured their target to merge into quarter finals[11] with 6 points alongside South Korea that scored a big win with 9 points. On 14 September 2014, the team had to intensely face Australia in the quarter finals to be eliminated with a narrow defeat of 2–1.[13] The team was devastated, however Malaysia achieved the best quarter-final appearance in its history of AFF U-16 Championship up to this date.

2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games edit

On 24 May 2017, Ali Imran was listed among 26 players that was called up to join the Malaysia U-22 Southeast Asian Games Project Training Camp in preparation for the SEA Games.[14] The training camp was held at Wisma FAM from 29 May to 23 June 2017. They flew to Xiangtan, China on 8 June 2017 their first friendly match on 10 June 2017 against China U-22 and travelled to Guangzhou on 11 June 2017 for another 2 friendly matches before flying back to Malaysia on 16 June 2017.[15] However sadly, as soon as the flight touched down, Malaysia U-22 coach, Ong Kim Swee announced that Ali Imran and Kalaiharasan Letchumanan were dropped from the team and will no longer join the training camp.[15][5]

Career statistics edit

Club edit

As of 1 March 2020[16]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Felda United 2017 Malaysia Super League 0 0 1[a] 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2018 Malaysia Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2019 Malaysia Super League 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Total 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Sarawak United 2020 Malaysia Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Career total 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
  1. ^ Appearances in Malaysia Cup

Honours edit

Club edit

Felda United

International edit

Malaysia U-16

References edit

  1. ^ Player Profile Soccer Way. Retrieved 25 August 2018
  2. ^ AFF U-16 Youth Championship 2013 against Laos AseanFootball.Org, 3 September 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2018
  3. ^ Malaysia AFC U-16 Championship Malaysia Football Dimos, 20 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2018
  4. ^ a b CLDN (3 February 2019). "Sarawak United FC: Apa yang kita tahu setakat ini". SarawakCrocs.com. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b The Malaysian Side, one match away from a World Cup Archived 27 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine Vijhay Vick, 22 December 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2018
  6. ^ SUKMA 2016 - Perak Rangkul Emas Bagi Acara Bola Sepak Berita Nasional RTM, 31 July 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Perak tewaskan Felda United ungguli carta kumpulan B". SemuanyaBola. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Senarai Pemain Penang vs Felda United". Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  9. ^ Felda United vs Petaling Jaya City Stadium Astro. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Barisan Pemain Pulau Pinang lwn Sarawak United Fc | Liga Perdana Malaysia 2019 | Stadium Astro". www.stadiumastro.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  11. ^ a b AFC U-16 Championship 2014 Ajitpal Singh, 4 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2015
  12. ^ a b AFF U-16 Malaysia Lifts First Ever Crown 2013 AseanFootball.org, 3 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2018
  13. ^ The AFC U-16 Championship 2014; Australia vs Malaysia The AFC Hub, 14 September 2014. Retrieved by 25 August 2018
  14. ^ Ong Kim Swee Takes Malaysia U-22 To China ESPN, 8 June 2017. Retrieved by 25 August 2018
  15. ^ a b SEA Games 2017 Call Up List for training camp Football Association of Malaysia, 2017. Retrieved by 25 August 2018
  16. ^ "Ali Imran Alimi Statistics". StadiumAstro.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  17. ^ Felda United Crowned as Malaysia Premier League Champions 2018 Zulhilmi Zainal. Retrieved 25 August 2018