Johor declares Aug 25 a special holiday

JOHOR BARU: Johor has declared Sunday (Aug 25) a special holiday to enable its people to cheer for the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) football club in the FA Cup final match.

Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has urged the Southern Tigers fans to go to Bukit Jalil National Stadium to support the team, which will be playing against Selangor on Saturday (Aug 24) in a bid to defend its title.

“With the approval from Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the state government hereby decides to declare this Sunday a public holiday.

“I call on the entire Bangsa Johor to come in full force. Let us fill the stadium in a sea of red and blue,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Monday (Aug 19).

Onn Hafiz said JDT had won the FA Cup three times – in 2016, 2022 and 2023, added that the club was a well known name not only in Malaysia but also worldwide.

Quoting the proverb “Rome was not built in a day”, Onn Hafiz said Johor football had also gone through its ups and downs.

“It was not until Feb 16, 2012 when Tunku Ismail was appointed as Johor Football Association president that various bold strategic overhauls were initiated.

“In 2013, JDT made its debut under the new transformation initiative and the following year, success after success began to be forged starting with winning the Malaysian Super League and maintaining the championship record for a decade,” he said.

He said the club made history in 2015 for being the only East Asian team to win the AFC Cup.

“Until today, the Southern Tigers showed improvement with consistent appearances in the AFC Champions League and the club recorded another history after being able to qualify for the knockout round as the 16 best teams,” he added.