SINGAPORE - Not for the first time in his illustrious career, local football icon Fandi Ahmad has popped up with another late winner.
On Thursday (June 11), the 58-year-old Singaporean topped the Asian Football Confederation's Greatest Eredivisie Players online poll which was launched on June 5.
The AFC had listed nine top players from the confederation to have graced the top Dutch football league and at the halfway mark, former Groningen striker Fandi was still third behind Iranian forwards Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Nijmegen and Alkmaar) and Reza Ghoochannejhad (Heerenveen and Zwolle).
However, at the final whistle with almost 30,000 votes cast, Fandi surged ahead to win comfortably with a 37 per cent majority, ousting Reza (28 per cent) and Alireza (25 per cent).
Fandi told The Straits Times: "At my age, this is a pleasant surprise. Also, many of the other nominees have won Dutch titles, and I have not.
"I'm thankful for family, friends and fans around who voted for me and remember my hard work. I've had text messages and calls from South America, Holland, and Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore where I played, so I'm very grateful for them.
"To this day, Asian players are still trying to break into Europe and there are still not many Asean footballers who have made it there. But I want to encourage them to believe the saying that the best way to predict the future is to create it."
In 1982, Fandi was a scrawny but talented 20-year-old when he went for a trial with Ajax. He turned down a three-year contract with the Dutch giants but Groningen offered a two-year deal in 1983. A three-year extension in 1987 was ultimately scuppered by work permit issues.
The AFC wrote: "Fandi Ahmad's career in Dutch football (from 1983-1985) wasn't as long as the other players in our list, but his achievements as the first Singaporean player in a major European league are remembered to this day.
"Despite the unprecedented nature of his time for FC Groningen, Fandi thrived. As a 21-year-old, he scored twice on his league debut, then found the net against Inter Milan in a Uefa Cup match three days later.
"A total 36 games, 11 goals and two years later, the forward returned to play out an excellent career in South-east Asia, finishing with 55 goals for the Singaporean national team and icon status in his country."
The other luminaries on the poll were South Korea's Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo and Huh Jung-moo (all PSV Eindhoven) and Japan's Shinji Ono (Feyenoord), while Australians Jason Culina (Ajax Amsterdam, De Graafschap, Twente and PSV) and Brett Holman (Excelsior, Nijmegen and Alkmaar) were also nominated.
