Faiz Subri made Malaysia proud as the runaway winner of the 2016 FIFA Puskas Award for his goal in a league match last year.
The 29 year old Penang footballer garnered nearly 60% of the votes and received the award during the FIFA Football Awards 2016 in Zurich on Monday. His goal reportedly received more votes than the two other short-listed goals of 24 year old Corinthians midfielder Marlone of Brazil and 17 year old Venezuela national women’s player Daniuska Rodriguez.
The trio made the top 3 after receiving the most number of online votes from the public from an initial list of 10 players which included Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazilian Neymar.
Faiz’s free-kick in the 4-1 win against Pahang in a Super League match at the City Stadium on Feb 16, last year, produced a wicked swerve that goalkeeper Mohd Nasril Nourdin could only watch as the ball went into the net.
All votes from the first round were added to the votes from the second round to find the overall winner.
The Puskas award was established in 2009 with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Neymar among its previous winners. Faiz Subri even bumped into Sir Alex Ferguson at the glittering awards ceremony graced by many famous personalities and football icons.
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