IIUM’s Dinamo FC wins Garuda Cup football tournament

By Abdullah Faqots

BANGI, 12 March 2018: Dinamo FC performed astonishingly well for the Garuda Cup football tournament held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) winning almost all games short of a single defeat by their opponent.

Dinamo FC is the official football club under Indonesian Students’ Association (PPI) in IIUM. They have been actively engaged in many competitions inside or outside campus, and one competition which is always followed by them every year is Garuda cup.

Garuda cup is a yearly event consisting of several branches of competitions such as football, basketball, badminton, and dances. It is organised by the Indonesian Students Association of UKM as the main committee, at the same time as host of the event.

Five teams from five institutions participated in football – Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Sekolah Indonesia Kuala Lumpur (SIKL), Asian Pacific University (APU), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)

At the beginning of the match Dinamo FC showed its intensity by defeating the host UKM with 5-1 scores. It continued in the next game facing Asian Pacific University winning three goals without reply. They did not stop there as they beat Sekolah Indonesia Kuala Lumpur (SIKL) with 8-0. In the last phase group they failed to hold UUM as they were defeated 1-2.

However, Dinamo FC stood up at the peak of the group and UUM closely sticked them as runner-up, otherwise it brought them back to the pitch for the final round. Dinamo FC finally took revenge in the final by putting three goals without reply as full time result, all at once made them champion for the Garuda Cup 2018.

Captain of Dinamo FC, Firdaus Bin Yusni expressed his happiness to IIUMToday on winning saying, “Alhamdulillah, I’m very glad for us becoming champion this year since this winning is our come back trophy from last year’s failure, and we achieved it.”

“It is definitely not my own work alone but a collective struggle from all in the team. We have been through such a long preparation for this event and all players took it seriously so that finally we deserve to win,” he added.

Additionally, Dinamo FC’s midfielder Rizal Ramdani also commented on his team’s performance. “We are actually well-prepared, that’s what made us different from other teams. It can be seen from the goals we captured as it always ended in a high score than any other teams.”

By this victory, Dinamo FC has absolutely preserved the honour of IIUM as their alma mater among Indonesian students in Malaysia generally, and it could be a prestigious example for others among IIUM’s sports community as well as for the next generation of IIUM students. ***

Photos by Mohammad Qadry Aviasyha

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