KUALA LUMPUR: National midfielder, Safawi Rasid walked away with the most coveted prize at the National Football Awards at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur tonight.
The Terengganu-born, who plays for Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT), bagged the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
Safawi's success came as no surprise following his brilliant performance last season with Super League champions JDT, the national Under-23 side and Harimau Malaya.
Safawi is now in the same league as past MVP winners: Helmi Eliza Elias (2008), Indra Putra Mahayuddin (2009), Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (2010-2012), Badhri Radzi (2013), Khairul Azhan Khalid (2014), Safiq Rahim (2015), Ahmad Hazwan Bakri (2016) and Baddrol Bakhtiar (2017).
Safawi, who joined JDT last year, also dominated the national awards by scooping two more titles - Best Midfielder and Most Promising
Player.
Two more JDT players, Farizal Marlias and Hariss Harun made the Southern Tigers proud, when they were named as Best Goalkeeper and Best Asean Player respectively.
Apart from dominating the players' category, JDT bagged four more awards: Best Team, Best Supporters, Best Social Media and Best Website.
Malaysia Cup champions Perak took two awards when Mehmet Durakovic was named as the Best Coach while skipper, Shahrul Saad won the Best Defender.
Kedah youngster, Akhyar Rashid won the Best Striker award while Selangor's Rufino Segovia got the Best Foreign Player award. Rufino also bagged the Golden Boot award after scoring 31 goals.
Roll of Honour
Most Valuable Player - Safawi Rasid (JDT)
Best Goalkeeper - Farizal Marlias (JDT)
Best Defender - Shahrul Saad (Perak)
Best Midfielder - Safawi Rasid (JDT)
Best Striker - Akhyar Rashid (Kedah)
Most Promising Player - Safawi Rasid (JDT)
Best Coach - Mehmet Durakovic (Perak)
Most Popular Player - Lee Tuck (Terengganu FC)
Best Foreign Player - Rufino Segovia (Selangor)
Best Asean Player - Hariss Harun (JDT)
Golden Boot - Rufino Segovia (Selangor - 31 goals)
Super League Top Scorer - Rufino Segovia (Selangor - 31 goals)
Super League Top Local Scorer - Shafiq Shaharudin (Kelantan - 6 goals)
Premier League Top Scorer - Casagrande (Felcra FC - 19 goals)
Premier League Local Top Scorer - Bobby Gonzales (Sarawak - 13 goals)
Best Team - JDT
Best Supporters - JDT
Best Social Media - JDT
Best Website - JDT
Fair Play Award - Melaka United