In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 13 November 1953
- Died
- 11 July 1991
- Birthplace
- Setapak, Selangor
- Country
- Malaysia
- Nationality
- Malaysian
- Known for
- Scoring 89 international goals and becoming the enduring face of Malaysia’s football golden era
- Full name
- Mohamed Mokhtar bin Dahari
- Nickname
- SuperMokh
- Malaysia goals
- 89 in RSSSF’s reconstruction and FIFA’s published tally
- Caps, by source
- 142 in RSSSF’s reconstruction; 138 in FAM’s 2021 FIFA Century Club announcement
- Position
- Forward
Why this life matters
Mokhtar remains the benchmark for Malaysian strikers: a prolific international scorer whose name now links elite performance, public memory and the country’s national football academy.
Timeline
Key moments
Born in Setapak
Born on 13 November and later raised in Kampung Pandan, Kuala Lumpur.
Began his Malaysia career
Entered the senior national side at eighteen and began a long association with Selangor.
Won Asian Games bronze
Helped Malaysia finish third in Tehran during one of the national team’s strongest continental campaigns.
Scored twice against Arsenal
Produced two goals for a Malaysia Selection in a famous 2–0 friendly victory.
Scored at the AFC Asian Cup
Put Malaysia ahead against China in the country’s first Asian Cup appearance.
Won two SEA Games titles
Helped Malaysia take football gold at consecutive regional games.
Scored against England B
Scored in a 1–1 draw at Stadium Merdeka; RSSSF excludes the England B fixture from its full-A count.
Malaysia qualifies without him
Malaysia won an Olympic football place in April while Mokhtar was absent from the qualifying side.
Last listed full international
RSSSF’s match-by-match reconstruction ends with a World Cup qualifier against South Korea on 19 May.
Announced retirement after Selangor cup win
A contemporary retrospective dates his retirement announcement to the May Malaysia Cup victory; later accounts report a brief return.
Died aged 37
Died on 11 July after living with motor neurone disease.
Setapak, Kampung Pandan and the first national games
Mokhtar Dahari was born in Setapak on 13 November 1953. His family moved to Kampung Pandan in 1964, and he later attended Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur. A New Straits Times retrospective traces his school football, the Selangor pathway and the nickname “SuperMokh” to the speed and force that made him a crowd favourite. Those recollections explain his public image, while match records establish the competitive chronology.
RSSSF’s game-by-game list begins with Malaysia’s 5 June 1972 match against Sri Lanka in Jakarta and records Mokhtar scoring. At eighteen, he entered an international side that would also include Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh. His first years were not one uninterrupted run of trophies: the listed fixtures include victories, defeats and regional tournaments, offering a better picture of his development than a single highlight reel.
Asian Games, Asian Cup and famous friendlies
Mokhtar played in Malaysia’s 1974 Asian Games football campaign in Tehran; the team won bronze, with the match reconstruction listing wins over South Korea and North Korea late in the tournament. He was then part of Malaysia’s 1977 and 1979 SEA Games football gold-medal teams. These were team achievements, not individual awards, and they belonged to a wider generation of Malaysian players.
His 50th-minute goal against China at the 1976 AFC Asian Cup gave Malaysia a lead before a late equaliser made the game 1–1. The Asian Football Confederation records Malaysia’s first tournament appearance and its group-stage exit; the draw was not an Asian Cup victory. On 11 May 1975, a Malaysian side beat visiting Arsenal 2–0 in Kuala Lumpur, with RSSSF crediting both goals to Mokhtar. Three years later he scored in a 1–1 draw with England B. These club and B-team fixtures helped make his reputation, but RSSSF explicitly keeps the England B match outside his full-A international record.
The 89 goals—and the cap-count difference
A match-by-match RSSSF reconstruction credits Mokhtar with 142 Malaysia appearances and 89 goals; FIFA has separately published the 89-goal figure. The appearances number is not uncontested. A 2021 Bernama report on FAM’s FIFA Century Club announcement lists him with 138 recognised caps. Rather than treating 142 as a universal FIFA total, this page names the source whenever it gives a caps figure. RSSSF explains that its list includes four 1976 Olympic qualifiers treated as full internationals by Malaysia’s association and excludes meetings with B teams and clubs.
Selangor remained central to his club identity. He was a leading player in the state’s 1986 Malaysia Cup-winning side, according to local retrospectives. Fame also created a historical trap around the 1980 Moscow Olympic qualification: Malaysia beat South Korea to win a place, but a later review of contemporary coverage says Mokhtar was absent from that qualifying squad during a temporary national-team retirement. He should not be credited with the decisive James Wong goal or listed as a participant simply because he was the best-known forward of the era.
Retirement, illness and a living academy name
RSSSF’s full-international list ends with a 19 May 1985 World Cup qualifier against South Korea. A New Straits Times account says Mokhtar announced his retirement from football after Selangor’s Malaysia Cup win in May 1986; a later newspaper summary reports that he briefly returned in 1987. For that reason the 1986 announcement is not presented here as a definitively final appearance in every competition.
Mokhtar died on 11 July 1991, aged thirty-seven, after motor neurone disease. The National Sports Council still lists the Mokhtar Dahari National Football Academy among its facilities and describes it as an elite pathway within the national youth-development programme. His name therefore appears in a working institution as well as in supporters’ memories. The academy’s existence is documented; whether it produces another player with his impact is a question for later generations, not a result that the name itself guarantees.
Sources for this section: [1] · [10] · [11] · [4] · [5] · [12]
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Mokhtar Dahari
- Who was Mokhtar Dahari?
- Mokhtar Dahari was a football forward for Malaysia and Selangor. Mokhtar remains the benchmark for Malaysian strikers: a prolific international scorer whose name now links elite performance, public memory and the country’s national football academy.
- What is Mokhtar Dahari best known for?
- Mokhtar Dahari is best known for scoring 89 international goals and becoming the enduring face of Malaysia’s football golden era.
- When and where was Mokhtar Dahari born?
- Mokhtar Dahari was born on 13 November 1953 in Setapak, Selangor.
- When did Mokhtar Dahari die?
- Mokhtar Dahari died on 11 July 1991.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Soh Chin Aun
Read about a defender who shared Malaysia’s 1970s campaigns and captained its 1980 Olympic qualifying side.
- Santokh Singh
Compare another member of the 1974 Asian Games bronze-medal generation.
- James Wong Chye Fook
See who scored Malaysia’s decisive 1980 Olympic qualifying goal while Mokhtar was absent.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics FoundationMohamed Mokhtar Dahari — international appearances and goals
The Arsenal and England B results belong to his wider football record, not the 142-match RSSSF full-A list. Its last listed match is in 1985; the 1986 retirement announcement and later reported return are separate events.
- 2. FIFAInternational goalscorers in FIFA’s Lukaku retrospective
- 3. Asian Football ConfederationMoments and Milestones: The 1976 AFC Asian Cup
- 4. ASEAN Football FederationRemembering SuperMokh 25 years later
- 5. National Sports Council of MalaysiaNational Sports Council facilities — Mokhtar Dahari Academy
- 6. Olympic Council of AsiaMalaysia’s 1974 Asian Games football bronze
- 7. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics FoundationArsenal FC tour of South East Asia, 1975
- 8. BernamaFAM and FIFA Century Club figures reported in 2021
Bernama’s account of FAM’s 2021 FIFA Century Club announcement lists 138 recognised caps. RSSSF’s named, match-by-match reconstruction totals 142 and explains its inclusion of four 1976 Olympic qualifying matches. Neither figure is silently presented as a universal count.
- 9. Utusan MalaysiaWhy Mokhtar was absent from the 1980 Olympic qualifying team
The 1980 Olympic qualifying side won its place without Mokhtar; this retrospective describes him as temporarily retired from the national team. No unverified injury explanation is supplied.
- 10. New Straits TimesSuperMokh: Remembering our greatest footballer
- 11. New Straits TimesGoogle unveils Super Mokh doodle
- 12. National Sports Council of MalaysiaNational Football Development Programme and academy overview
