Retired S’porean Footballer Baihakki Khaizan Slammed for Celebrating After S’pore Lost AFF Match With M’sia

How would you feel if you saw your teammate laughing at your loss? 

For many Singaporean football fans, they were up in arms. 

They felt betrayed seeing retired Lions Defender Baihakki Khaizan laughing when Singapore lost a match against Malaysia.

Who is Baihakki Khaizan

For non-football fans, Khaizan was a celebrated national football star who used to play in a centre-back position for the Singapore national team for most of his professional football career. 

Though he did dabble and play for Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai teams during contractual stints. 

He previously also played for Tampines Rover for free during the COVID-19 pandemic, walking away from a $10k salary at a Thai football club.

After almost 20 years in the game, he announced his retirement from professional football. He is now an ambassador for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) since February 2022. 

What Happened

Singapore team Lions had lost 4-1 to the Malaysian team at the 2022 Asean Football Federation Mitsubishi Electric Cup (AFF) earlier this week on 3 January 2023. 

The match occurred at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

With the devastating loss, Singapore was eliminated from the tournament. The Lions walk home empty-handed.

After the match, Khaizan was seen with a grin, supposedly celebrating the loss with Malaysian fans. Viewers caught his laugh on the national television broadcast.

Khaizan posted about the match on his TikTok account, smiling widely in the video, soaking in the atmosphere from the 87,000-strong crowd.

@i.am.baihakki Stadium Bukit Jalil 🇲🇾⚽️🇸🇬 #affmitsubishielectriccup2022 #fypシ #asean #malaysia #singapore ♬ original sound – Baihakki Khaizan

However, there was not too much to laugh about when he saw the backlash online.

Netizens’ Response

Netizens were unhappy about Khaizan’s carefree attitude regarding the loss. Some users demanded an explanation as to what he was celebrating when it came to the loss. 

Others accused him of being a spy for the Malaysian team, even if he was a FAS ambassador.

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Khaizan Apologies for his Behaviour

The considerable uproar online caught Khaizan’s attention, to which he responded through his Facebook page.

Khaizan clarified that he was laughing at an unrelated joke made by Malaysian fans when viewers saw him on camera. It was a case of unfortunate timing for him.

He explained that he was angry when the Malaysian team scored the goals, to the extent he “smashed the bottle”.

Khaizan also took to his Instagram page to further clarify with a one-minute reel, explaining it was all a misunderstanding.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Baihakki Khaizan (@i.am.baihakki)

He explained that he was “on the same page” as all Singaporean football fans. It was a case of “wrong place, wrong time” regarding the laugh seen on television.

One piece of advice I can think of for Khaizan from now on is to double-check for cameras around before laughing.

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Featured Image: Mediacorp / YouTube, Baihakki Khaizan / Facebook