Petaling Jaya Rangers Football Club or PJ Rangers was a professional football club based in Petaling Jaya, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Founded in 2011, the club's main ground was the AirAsia Stadium.
In 2018, they played in the third division Malaysia FAM League after being promoted from Selangor Super League in 2014. The club was formerly known as AirAsia Allstars, before being rebranded in December 2016 to Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C.http://www.hmetro.com.my/node/187319 Belum layak jadi Presiden FAMhttps://www.utusan.com.my/sukan/bola-sepak/tony-kekal-pendirian-enggan-tanding-presiden-fam-1.417064 Tony kekal pendirian enggan tanding Presiden FAM
History Origins Petaling Jaya Rangers Football Club was formed on 9 August 2011 as its former name AirAsia Allstars Football Club and competed in the Selangor State League.http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2016/12/07/30228752/new-name-and-targets-petaling-jaya-rangers-fc-aims-to-build AirAsia FC revamps to Petaling Jaya Rangers FC as Tony Fernandes hopes to kickstart a community-based club followinghttp://www.bharian.com.my/node/220952 AirAsia FC kini dikenali Petaling Jaya Rangershttps://www.pengurusanbolasepakfam.org.my/pasukan/pialafam2016 SENARAI PASUKAN PIALA FAM 2016http://www.mstar.com.my/sukan/bola-sepak/2016/12/06/red-jets-ganti-aa-fc/ AirAsia FC Kini Dikenali Petaling Jaya Rangers FChttp://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2017/01/01/31024822/pj-rangers-aim-to-grow-with-petaling-jaya-communitys-help PJ Rangers aim to grow with Petaling Jaya community's help According to founder Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, the initial purpose of the club was to "encourage AirAsia’s staff to excel in sports – football in particular – besides being committed to their daily work in keeping AirAsia as the best low cost airline in the world." The club won the league and were promoted to play in the national league, Malaysia FAM League.
Promotion to Malaysia FAM League The club was promoted to the Malaysia FAM League for the 2015 season after moving up from the Selangor Super League.http://www.bharian.com.my/node/45479 Liga FAM: Skuad AirAsia Allstars berhajat 'terbang tinggi' For their first season in the national league, the club appointed Mohd Nidzam Jamil as the new head coach.http://www.sinarharian.com.my/edisi/utara/mohd-nidzam-ketua-jurulatih-airasia-all-stars-1.358602 Mohd Nidzam ketua jurulatih AirAsia All Stars The club ended its first season at 7th place. After the first four matches of the 2016 season, the club replaced Nidzam Jamil with P. Maniam for the remainder of the season. Air Asia AllStars Hilang Pengendalihttp://www.stadiumastro.com/ms/article/2016/12/23/air-asia-fc-diarah-bayar-baki-gaji-kepada-nidzam-jamil AirAsia FC diarah bayar baki gaji Nidzam Jamil The club managed to reach the playoff for the Malaysia Premier League after finishing the season in 3rd place, although did not manage to be promoted.
Rebranded as Petaling Jaya Rangers In November 2016, the club has announced the appointment of Mat Zan Mat Aris as the new head coach with a contract of two years.http://www.stadiumastro.com/ms/article/2016/11/05/matzan-mat-aris-sah-ke-airasia-fc Tak perlulah Melaka, Mat Zan Mat Aris sah ke AirAsia FChttp://english.astroawani.com/sports-news/mat-zan-wants-take-airasia-allstars-premier-league-2018-121633 Mat Zan wants to take AirAsia Allstars to Premier League in 2018https://www.malaysiakini.com/sukan/361773 Mat Zan kini kemudi AirAsia Allstars FChttp://www.bharian.com.my/node/209607 Mat Zan sasar bawa AirAsia Allstars ke Liga Perdana Mat Zan Mat Aris was the former head coach of Melaka United who achieved a back-to-back promotion from the third division. They unveiled plans for the 2017 season with a rebranding from AirAsia F.C. to Petaling Jaya Rangers F.C., in order to bring more fans and promote local community support. The club also revealed its plans for 2017 with the focus on engaging communities. The club aimed to actively engage with and serve football fans in the area.
Petaling Jaya Rangers announced an exclusive partnership with Queens Park Rangers (QPR) to start a football academy. The academy aimed to nurture and train the next generation of footballers. Working together with the team, QPR lent their expertise in training players and staff. PJ Rangers were put in group B for the 2017 Malaysia FAM League, with seven other clubs. The club was knocked out from the 2017 Malaysia FA Cup in the second round after a 2–1 defeat by UiTM.http://www.goal.com/en-my/news/3896/malaysia/2017/02/15/32695572/uitms-only-advantage-was-their-foreign-players-pj-rangers 'UiTM's only advantage was their foreign players' - PJ Rangers' Mat Zan At the end of the season, PJ Rangers finished second and were defeated by Shahzan Muda FC 3–1 in the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
In the 2018 Malaysia FAM Cup season, the club again achieved second place in group B and qualified for the knockout stage. PJ Rangers failed at the penultimate stage when they were defeated 4–3 on aggregate to Selangor United. At the end of the season, the management announced that they would not participate in the next FAM Cup season, instead rejoining the Selangor Super League in 2019.
Stadium
PJ Rangers home stadium was the Petaling Jaya Stadium in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. In 2015 Malaysia FAM League, the club played in MPSJ Stadium, Subang Jaya, before moving to UPM Mini Stadium, Serdang for the remainder of the season. For the second season, the club once again moved, to the Shah Alam Stadium.
Crest and colours The original crest, adopted when the club was founded in 2011 featured the logo of AirAsia as the main theme with the Allstars suffix. Despite the club being founded in 2011, the words "EST 2001" featured on the crest. This was reference to the establishment of the AirAsia company after Tune Air, bought it from a Malaysian government-owned company in September 2001.http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2001&dt=0907&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Korporat&pg=ko_01.htm DRB-HICOM jual AirAsia The crest was replaced with a new design to reflect the club's rebranding with a colour theme of maroon and gold for the 2017 season. The logo was designed by Rafizi Ibrahim, a freelance graphic designer who hails from Petaling Jaya himself. His winning design was chosen through a logo competition held in 2016 and was personally chosen by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes himself"
Supporters As part of the rebranding effort, the club changed its name to Petaling Jaya Rangers with the emphasis on engaging the Petaling Jaya community via community programs.http://www.mbpj.gov.my/en/mbpj/profile/background Official Portal of Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)
Ownership and finances The club aimed to be a sustainable self-funding entity and reduce its dependency on AirAsia via financial funding through other methods of corporate sponsorship, gate receipt, and merchandise.
Sponsorship In 2016 The PJ Rangers kit was supplied by Line 7. The club has also had other shared shirt sponsors, as they have been previously sponsored by GE Aviation in 2015 season.
PeriodKit manufacturerShirt sponsor2015EGO SPORTAirAsia / GE Aviation2016Line 7AirAsia
Season by season record SeasonLeagueTop goalscorerFA CupMalaysia Cup/Challenge CupDivisionPWDLFAPtsPosNameGoals2015FAM League164481521167th, group BDNQDNQ2016FAM League168621917303rd, group ASecond roundDNQ2017FAM League14653151123Quarter-finalsSecond roundDNQ2018FAM League842217914Semi-finalsRaslam Khan9Second roundDNQ2019FAS Super League832388116thSyamsol Sabtu3DNQDNQ
Players (2019)
Transfers For recent transfers, see List of Malaysian football transfers 2018 and List of Malaysian football transfers 2017
Head coaches Year Name 2014 Asmawi Bakiri January 2015–28 March 2016 Mohd Nidzam Jamil 30 March–October 2016 P. Maniam November 2016–20 October 2017 Mat Zan Mat Aris 20 October 2017 – 2018 Hassan Sazali Waras 2019 Khairul Anuar Jamil
Management (2016) PositionName Founder Kamarudin Meranun Patron Tony Fernandes President Riad Asmat Deputy President Simon Lim Vice President / Chief Finance Officer Mustaffa Ramly Vice President II Victor William Secretary Mohd. Fakhrurrazi Ismail Treasurer Mustaffa Ramly Security officer Govindran a/l Karuppiah Media officers Mohd. Rizuan Bidin Galvin Tan Community manager Galvin Tan Coordinator Melvin Jacob
Coaching staff (2019) PositionName Team manager Dato’ Halim Mu’azzam Bin Dato’ Ayob Assistant manager Galvin Tan Head coach Khairul Anuar Jamil Assistant coach Mohd Fauzi Mohd Yaakob Goalkeeping coach Muzaffar Shah Dzulkifli Physiotherapist Muhammad Hafizzudin Mohd Ramli Kitman Muhd Zukri Abd Hamid
References