KUALA LUMPUR: National forward Faizal Saari will play in the prestigious Dutch Hockey League, which starts next month.
The 31-year-old with 226 international caps has signed with Schaerweijde Club, a newly promoted side to the Hoofklasse (Premier) Division this season.
Faizal leaves for the Netherlands on Thursday and will train at the club for four weeks before the first match. He will play about 10 matches.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) vice-president Datuk Ahmad Najmi Razak said the Dutch club approached Faizal and offered him a contract.
"The club officials were impressed with Faizal's performances in international matches and offered him a 10-month contract.
"Faizal will benefit from playing in the Dutch League as it is one of the top competitions in the world," said Najmi today.
Faizal said: "I am looking forward to playing in the Dutch League. There are many world-class players from different countries playing in the league. I will definitely learn a lot from the stint."
Faizal has played in the Australian, German and Indian leagues. His first foreign club stint was with Southern Hotshots in Australia (2011), followed by Mumbai Magicians in India (2012) and Berlin HC in Germany (2013).
National coach A. Arulselvaraj said fitness coach Tom Drowley will monitor Faizal's performance in the league.
"We also have a GPS here to monitor Faizal"s performance. We hope more players from Malaysia will get a chance to play in the Netherlands in the future. It will help our national team grow if more play in the Dutch League.
"There were 11 Argentina players in the Dutch League before the 2016 Rio Olympics, and it helped them win the gold medal.
"Faizal will play about 10 matches in the league before returning home for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in November and the Nations Cup in South Africa in December."