Mohd Faiz's family to travel business class to attend Puskas Award

Penang striker Mohd Faiz Subri who shot to fame globally with his gravity defying free kick that was shortlisted for FIFA's Puskas Award and his family will attend the award presentation in style.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has booked business class tickets for his wife and two children to attend the FIFA awards ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland on Jan 9.

FAM secretary general Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin in a statement said the FAM would foot the bill for three business class tickets for his wife, Norzawanis Hashim, 29, and his two children, Akif Fayyadh, 4, and Muhammad Aqil Zayyan (eight months).

They will be accompanied by FAM deputy president Datuk Seri Afandi Hamzah.

"The decision to pay for the tickets was in appreciation of Mohd Faiz's historic feat, becoming the first ever Malaysian player to be nominated for FIFA's Most Spectacular Goal of the Year award," said the statement.

He said FAM had already received an official letter from FIFA, outlining the details of the programme and activities for the awards ceremony.

Mohd Faiz scored the wonder goal in Penang's 4-1 demolition of Pahang in a Super League match on February 16.

FIFA through its official website www.fifa.com had on Dec 2, announced that Mohd Faiz's wonder goal was among the three shortlisted for the Puskas Award while the others in the running are Corinthians Club's (Brazil) Marlone, 24 and Venezuela's Daniuska Rodriguez, a woman player.

The Award rewards the best goal scored during the period from 30 September 2015 to 30 September 2016 inclusive, regardless of championship, gender or nationality.

The award is in honor of Ferenc Puskas, the striker for Real Madrid team of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and central member of the highly successful Hungarian side of the same era.

Leading players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar Jr and James Rodriguez have won the award since it was introduced in 2009. - BERNAMA