Chow Chee Keong
Chee Keong playing for South China
Personal information
Date of birth (1948-11-26)26 November 1948
Place of birth Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date of death 21 February 2018(2018-02-21) (aged 69)
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1967–1968 Bedford Town (0)
1970 HK Rangers (0)
1970–1971 Jardine (0)
1971–1974 South China (0)
1974–1977 Tung Sing (0)
1977–1979 South China (0)
1981 South China 0 (0)
1981–1982 HK Rangers 0 (0)
International career
1965–1985 Malaysia 38[1] (0)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese仇志強
Simplified Chinese仇志强
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Chow Chee Keong (26 November 1948 – 21 February 2018)[2] was a Malaysian football goalkeeper who played in Hong Kong.

Career

His nickname in Hong Kong was Asian Steel Gate (Chinese: 亞洲鋼門) and Crazy Sword (Chinese: 神經刀). He was a Malaysian Chinese. In 1963, he represented the Malaysian in under-20 level as a 13-year-old. Two years later, he joined the Malaysian national football team as a 15-year-old. At that point, he was the youngest ever Malaysian international player. He was briefly on the playing staff at Bedford Town FC. From 1966 to 1970, he was voted by the Asian Football Confederation as the best goalkeeper for 5 straight times.[3][4][5]

In 1968, he came to Hong Kong with a Chinese Malaysian selection side and many Hong Kong clubs took notice of him. Two years later, he joined Hong Kong Rangers for three guest matches. Then, he joined Jardine for a salary of HK$2,500 per month[6] which was the Hong Kong record at that time. However, a year later, Jardines withdrew from the Hong Kong football league system. So he moved to South China where his career started to take off. For his three seasons with South China, he won many trophies and personal awards. In 1974, he moved to Tung Sing. His salary was HKD 7000 per month plus housing. In 1977, he returned to South China. A year later, he started to play in both Hong Kong league and the Malaysian league simultaneously. In 1979, he left Hong Kong, but returned in 1981. He spent a short time again with South China before moving to Hong Kong Rangers. In 1982, he finally returned to Malaysia and played for Malaysian national football team for three years before retiring from football.

Retirement

He became a golfer after retiring from football. In 1991, he finally earned a coaching license. He first started to teach in Malaysia. In 1995, he moved to a golf club in Shenzhen, China. In 1997, he returned to South China as a golfing instructor.

Honours

Club

South China
Winners (3): 1971-72, 1973-74, 1977-78
Winners (1): 1971-72
Winners (1): 1971-72

International

Malaysia
Winners (1): 1968[7]

Individual

  • AFC Asia's best goalkeeper: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970[3]
  • AFC Asian All Stars: 1968[8]
  • Between The Sticks-Top 10 Asian & Oceanic goalkeepers of all time (5th place): 2020[9]
  • IFFHS Men Best Malaysian Goalkeeper of the Century (1901-2000)[10]
  • IFFHS Men’s All Time Malaysia Dream Team: 2022[11]

References

  1. ↑ Mamrud, Roberto. "Chow Chee Keong - International". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Careem, Nazvi. "Hong Kong mourns 'Crazy Sword' Chow Chee Keong – earned more than Europeans and once arrived at a game by helicopter". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 AFC President offers condolences on passing of Malaysian legend Chow Chee Keong Archived 26 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Asian Football Confederation(AFC)
  4. ↑ "When Malaysian goalkeeper Chow Chee Keong earned the respect of Pele". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "11 Pemain Bola Sepak Malaysia Berbangsa Cina Yang Bertaraf Legenda" (in Malay). Semuanya Bola. Archived from the original on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  6. ↑ Francis, Tony (29 January 1970). "Chee Keong decides to turn pro". The Straits Times. Singapore. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via Singapore National Library.
  7. ↑ (Updated) Chow Chee Keong, the Malaysian football legend passes away [NSTTV] Archived 5 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine, New Straits Times(NST)
  8. ↑ 서울선 6월26일亞洲올·스타蹴球팀 巡訪경기. Naver.com (in Korean). Kyunghyang. 22 February 1968. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "Top 10 Asian & Oceanic goalkeepers of all time". Between The Sticks. 19 April 2020. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  10. ↑ "IFFHS - MEN COUNTRIES BEST PLAYERS AND GOALKEEPERS OF THE XXth CENTURY". IFFHS. 10 May 2021. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  11. ↑ "IFFHS MEN'S ALL TIME MALAYSIA DREAM TEAM - 123". IFFHS. Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
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