Sharul Nazeem bin Zulpakar or more popularly known as Afro is a young Selangor FC defender who is emerging as a local new hot prospect after successfully showing a good performance in several Super League matches recently.

During his school years, Sharul is the school’s representative in several sports such as football, takraw and volleyball however he later chose to focus only on playing ping pong.

From form 1 to form 5, he has represented his school in ping pong and his highest achievement is the 2015 runner-up at the state level in the Selangor School Sports Council (MSSS) tournament.

However, due to his deep interest in football, as soon as he finished school, Sharul participated in the selection with Prefer FC where he was listed in the team to play in the Liga Bolasepak Rakyat.

In 2017, he joined the Marcerra United FC team which played in the Liga Kuala Lumpur and the following year represented NPNG FC playing in state level leagues such as Liga Selangor organized by the Selangor FA.

Together with NPNG FC, Sharul has won two championships, namely the Selangor League and the Selangor FA Cup.

With the talent possessed by this central defender, he was absorbed into the Selangor President's squad after a good performance was shown while playing throughout the Liga Selangor competition.

Being one of the vital players of the Selangor President's Cup team in the 2019 season, he was later absorbed into the Selangor 2 team in 2020 after successfully convincing Michael Feichtenbeiner to play in the Premier League that season.

For the record, Sharul was a first -team player for all Premier League matches last season for the Selangor 2 squad with 810 minutes of play as the team captain.

The maturity of Sharul's playing style has qualified him to be promoted to one of the young players in the 25 players of Selangor FC officially in November 2020.

Wearing the number 44 jersey, he made his first appearance with the Red Giants against Kedah Darul Aman FC and has now played 90 minutes in four matches with an impressive performance.

He is very happy to finally be able to play with the main team of Selangor FC and does not want to be too happy with the praise.
"I am grateful to be given the opportunity to play and now I have played four games. All I can say is, I still have a lot to improve but for now I will use the advantages I have to play well with the team," said the 22-year-old.

"The praise given by the fans fueled my spirit to play well with the team but I do not want to be too happy with the praise and continue to give my best until the end of the league," added the player who idolized Arsenal’s center-back, David Luiz.

Sharul, who idolizes Shahrul Saad as the local defender of his choice, has the desire to play with the national team if given the opportunity and he also aspires to spread his wings to play abroad one day.

Selangor FC wishes Sharul success for the 2021 season with Selangor FC and hopefully he will continue to show an excellent performance in the Malaysian football scene. Good luck, Afro!

Demi kebanggaan!