You Shall Not Pass; - Meet Syahmi Yunof

By: Haseena Syazlin

Syahmi, a KT Rovers football player.

Syahmi Yunof is a football player who is currently playing for Kuala Terengganu Rovers Football Club, or popularly known as KT Rovers in the Malaysia M3 League from the third-tier division in Malaysian football. The sixth child of seven siblings from Kuala Terengganu, Syahmi spent years watching his favourite team, FC Barcelona thrilled and excites the fans from all around the world.

Syahmi became a fan of the sport since he was seven, but he first dove into the football world as a player when he was twelve. He was actively representing his school in football tournaments since he was 15. He was also a part of Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Malaysia (MSSM), as well as Majlis Sukan Sekolah Daerah (MSSD).

Syahmi who was 17 at that time was a part of the Terengganu Young Titans Football Academy. In 2016, he played for Terengganu FC U-19 in the youth football competition for under-19 players in Malaysia called the Malaysian Youth Cup. Two years later, he played for Selangor United in the President Cup, which is a developmental football competition in Malaysia for the under-21 players before joining KT Rovers this year in the Malaysia M3 League.

“Back in school when I first started playing, I was actually a midfielder. It was one year later when I decided to play as a goalkeeper. I wanted to be able to use my whole body and to fly on the pitch.”

“One game at a time, I got more and more comfortable with the position. Since then, there was no turning back and now I cannot imagine playing anywhere else on the pitch.” Syahmi revealed.

I wanted to be able to use my whole body and to fly on the pitch,” - Syahmi Yunof

Syahmi believes that it takes a special individual to be a goalkeeper. He stated that a goalkeeper has to have a dominant persona on top of having a commanding presence with good communication skills.

“People know that the goalkeeper is important, but most of them don’t really know why,” he said.

To him, goalkeepers are crucial as there are no other players on the pitch that has a spotlight shone so brightly on them. Goalkeepers need to be consistent and be an error-free footballer as no number of brilliant saves counts when they commit an error. No other moments of brilliance from other players on the pitch can be wiped out by an error like how easily it can be done to a goalkeeper.

Syahmi has been a fan of FC Barcelona since he first fell in love with football. He stated that Barcelona’s Tiki-Taka is what draws him into supporting the La Liga club. When asked about his favourite local team, Syahmi revealed that he is a major fan the Southern Tigers, Johor Darul Ta'zim FC (JDT) as admires JDT attacking style.

Syahmi believes that JDT’s Farizal Marlias is currently the best goalkeeper in the country, a four-time winning FAM Football Awards for the Best Goalkeeper Award. Idolizing Farizal, Syahmi hoped that can join the JDT squad one day and be able to practice and play alongside his hero. Syahmi is also a big fan of England’s Jordan Pickford who is currently Everton FC first choice goalkeeper.

“Being a footballer has always been a dream of mine. There is just something about this sport that is so special, I couldn’t put a word to it. I admired the art behind it and immediately got hooked into football,” Syahmi said.

“Hence, to be able to turn this passion of mine into a profession, it is a dream come true. It can’t get any better than this, can it? I could not imagine doing something else as a career,” he added.

Syahmi hopes that the quality of the Malaysian football can be improved and he aims to bring the country’s football to a higher level, one step at a time.

“We can start by dominating the Southeast Asia, to dominating Asia and then hopefully to dominating the world one day!” he said.