Thanabalan a/l Nadarajah (born in 1943) was a Malaysian former footballer. He is remembered for his contribution during the Merdeka Tournament in 1968. Malaysia won the trophy by beating Burma 3–0 in the final. Thanabalan scored one of the three goals. Thanabalan scored 20 international goals in 46 appearances for Malaysia.Malaysia - Record International Players - RSSSF.Nadarajah Thanabalan - International Appearances, RSSSF.

Career Overview As a player, he mainly played for Selangor FA in the Malaysia Cup competition. He together with the late Abdul Ghani Minhat, M. Chandran and Abdullah Yeop Noordin among the squad players that helped Selangor to become runners-up in the 1967 Asian Champion Club Tournament.

He was also one of the three players who had scored four goals in a Malaysia Cup final after Lee Ah Loke(1952) and Abdul Ghani Minhat(1963) in 1968.

On 23 September 2011, he was awarded the special award by Ex-State & Ex-National Footballers Association of Malaysia for being a top scorer in the final of the Malaysia Cup competition.

In 2013, he was inducted in Olympic Council of Malaysia's Hall of Fame.

Career statistics International Scores and results list Malaysia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Thanabalan goal. + List of international goals scored by Thanabalan NadarajahNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—5-21964 Merdeka Tournament2Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia—3-31965 Merdeka Tournament3—4—5Bangkok, Thailand—1-21966 Asian Games6Hong Kong—1-31968 AFC Asian Cup qualification7Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—3-01967 Merdeka Tournament8—9Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —1-01967 Merdeka Tournament10Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —1-31967 Merdeka Tournament11Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—2-8Friendly Match 12Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —2-11968 Merdeka Tournament13Ipoh, Malaysia —4-01968 Merdeka Tournament14—15Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —4-11968 Merdeka Tournament16Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —1-11968 Merdeka Tournament17Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —3-01968 Merdeka Tournament18Bangkok, Thailand—5-01968 King's Cup19—20Rangoon, Burma —2-11969 SEAP Games

Honours Selangor Malaysia Cup (7): 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971 Malaysia FAM Cup (5): 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1968 Asian Club Championship runner-up: 1967

International Malaya U-20 AFC Youth Championship runner-up: 1960

Malaysia Merdeka Tournament: 1968

References