Back in business after injury hell, Ilhan Fandi hopes to shine in Singapore-Hong Kong match

SINGAPORE – The glint in his eyes and the cheeky smile are back on Ilhan Fandi’s face, but there is also a look of resolve as he seeks to rebuild his football career, which was sent into a tailspin by injury.

Ahead of Singapore’s opening Asian Cup qualifier against world No. 155 Hong Kong at the National Stadium on March 25, the 22-year-old forward told The Straits Times: “It was very hard to not be playing first-team football for more than a year, so it feels good to be playing regularly again.”

In 2022, Ilhan had the world at his feet.

He won the Singapore Premier League (SPL) with Albirex Niigata, grabbing 18 goals and four assists in 24 league and cup games. Besides being named in the SPL Team of the Year, he also picked up the SPL Young Player of the Year and Goal of the Year honours.

Still 20 then, he was signed by second-tier Belgian side KMSK Deinze and touted as the next big thing.

With the Lions, he had scored twice in seven appearances before his world came crashing down. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during a 0-0 draw against Vietnam in an Asean Championship group match on Jalan Besar’s artificial turf.

It took him nine months to get back to competitive football in 2023, but despite scoring eight times in 15 games for the Deinze Under-21s in the Reserve Pro League, he tasted just five minutes of action with the senior team who failed to secure promotion to the top division.

Ilhan, who has 15 caps, said: “It’s hard to change a team that was doing well. I trained well and kept improving, but I wasn’t given many chances to play for the senior team.

“It tested my mentality a lot... I started to be sad and became negative. But I’m fortunate to be surrounded by my family, good friends and good people, who helped provide me with positive energy to keep me smiling.”

Citing a need to enjoy his game again, the lanky attacker joined Thailand’s BG Pathum United on a four-year deal in July 2024 after turning down Deinze’s two-year contract offer. It turned out that he had also dodged a bullet as the Belgian club were declared bankrupt by a local court in Ghent barely five months later.

“Everything happens for a reason and I believe I am physically and mentally stronger than I was before my injury,” said Ilhan, who has five goals and four assists in 22 games for Pathum as they sit third in the 16-team Thai League 1.

“I’m doing very well at BG now. We have a new coach Anthony Hudson, who puts a lot of trust in me and sees me as a game changer. That said, I understand I’m competing with a lot of top professionals and have to work hard for my chance to play.

“I believe eventually, I can still play in Europe again or in Japan if I continue to do well.”

His immediate goal is to help the 160th-ranked Lions rebound from the disappointing 1-0 defeat by minnows Nepal in the March 21 friendly and get off to a good start in their Asian Cup Group C qualifying campaign, which will also feature world No. 126 India and 185th-ranked Bangladesh.

Only the group winners will advance to the continental showpiece in Saudi Arabia in 2027.

While Ilhan is scoring again at club level, he has not found the net for Singapore in his last nine games.

With older brother Ikhsan Fandi out with a hamstring injury and Song Ui-young tending to his ailing mother, the national team have looked over-reliant on Shawal Anuar (43 caps, 17 goals) and Faris Ramli (89 caps, 15 goals) to score.

Ilhan said: “Faris and I like to get on the ball, while Shawal likes to run behind the defence, so hopefully we can click against Hong Kong and make things happen.

“Injuries have not been kind to my brothers Irfan, Ikhsan and I, but we will definitely be back together to help the country soon. For now, I just have to focus on what I can do for the team.

“We were not good enough against Nepal, and we needed to go back to training to fix what has to be fixed. I take full responsibility for not helping the team win.

“There is a lot of room for improvement, but we won’t stop working.”

When asked about the Lions’ poor scoring record of just one goal in their last four games, national coach Tsutomu Ogura said: “I don’t think only the forwards should score. If we defend well, create good build-ups, pass well, we have a higher percentage of scoring.

“I told the players that an international football career is shorter than a club football career. They play fewer games for the country than their clubs and I want them to play each national team game like it’s their last.”