Until 2021, Sabah FA, also known as Sabah FA State Football Team, was one of the 14 state teams in the Malaysian football system. It was funded and managed by the SAFA. However, the Malaysian football league mandated that all the top two leagues must be professional, leading to the privatisation of SAFA and officially owned by a private company named Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd, proceeded to renamed the club as "Sabah Football Club".
History
Early years as North Borneo (1950–1963)
A photo of the North Borneo football team who were winners of the first edition of the Borneo Cup tournament in 1962, just one year before the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in which the team's homeland North Borneo became a part of the country in 1963. The North Borneo territory also changed its name to the Malaysian region of Sabah after the formation of the country and the team followed suit by changing its name to the Sabah FA State Football Team.
From the 1950s until 1963, the team represented North Borneo in the Borneo Cup, competing against SarawakFA and BruneiFA. North Borneo won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1962. Following the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963, North Borneo became part of Malaysia and was renamed Sabah. the North Borneo Football Association (NBFA) changed its name to Sabah Football Association (Sabah FA) to reflect the territory's new status.
Amateur and semi-professional era (1963–1994)
Sabah established itself as a competitive force in Malaysian football during the amateur and semi-professional eras. The team entered the Malaysia Cup in 1978 after qualifying for the competition for the first time in 1977. During the 1979 Malaysian League season, Sabah recovered from a slow start to win its remaining matches, recording several significant victories, including an 8–0 win over Sarawak FA, an 11–0 victory against PerakFA and a 6–1 win over TerengganuFA. Sabah FA finished as runners-up behind SingaporeFA and scored 49 goals in 12 matches, making it the league's highest-scoring team that season.
During the 1980s, Sabah became one of the prominent teams in Malaysian football, with players such as James Wong, Hassan Sani and Peter Rajah contributing to the team's reputation. These players led Sabah to become one of Malaysian football's most feared teams during the 80's. Sabah also hosted notable international opponents during this period. On 10 June 1981, a Sabah Invitation team played a friendly match against English club Manchester United.
Sabah continued to produce notable players in the following decade. In 1991, striker Matlan Marjan became the first Malaysian player to score twice against England in an international 'A' match, achieving the feat during Malaysia's encounter with the England national team.
When professional football was introduced by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Sabah made a reputation of being one of the Malaysian League's most competitive sides. Quality players were produced from the ranks during the 1990s, most notably Matlan who helped Sabah finish as runners-up during 1993 and 1994 Malaysia FA Cup, and who at one time was appointed as the national team captain by Claude Le Roy. The positive results were cut short by the match fixing scandal in 1994. Matlan was the one of several players found guilty. As a punishment for their involvement in match fixing, he and the other players were banned for life by FIFA and banished from the state of Sabah under the Restricted Residence Act. After the scandal, Sabah began its rebuilding process. Sabah won their first professional trophy, the 1995 FA Cup. In the 1996 season, Sabah won their first league title and went through to the final of the Cup for the first time, but were beaten by Selangor on penalties. Sabah then reached the final of the 1998 Malaysia FA Cup.
Relegation and continued cup runs (2000–2003)
The 2000 season could be considered as Sabah's worst since joining the Malaysian professional league as they were relegated to the second division, and could not get past the group stages of the Malaysia Cup. However, Sabah quickly regained its performance in the 2001 season where they finished as runners-up behind Johor FC. In the 2002 season, Sabah was lining up players of calibre such as Zainizam Marjan, Khairul Azman Mohamed and Josiah Seton, finishing third in the league and again managed to get through to the final of Malaysia Cup by beating Selangor Public Bank and Perak. Sabah however finished as runners-up yet again by losing to the same team that beat them in 1996 final, Selangor. This time, Sabah lost by golden goal scored by Amri Yahyah. In 2003, Sabah again finished third in Liga Premier One. They reached the final of Malaysia Cup. This time they lost to club-side MPPJ by 0–3, with hat-trick from Juan Manuel Arostegui.
Early years in the Malaysian Super League (2004–2007)
When the Malaysia Super League (MSL) was introduced in 2004, Sabah struggled to be competitive against other teams in the top league. Sabah only managed to stay in Super League for two seasons as they were relegated to the Malaysia Premier League (MPL) in 2005. After the relegation, Sabah continued to struggle for promotion. They lost to Pahang in the 2007 season play-off.
Return to the Super League and relegation (2008–2012)
After 6 years in the 2nd tier MPL, Australian head coach Gary Phillips was able to guide Sabah to promotion in 2010 in his first season in charge. After poor results which have affected Sabah's performance in 2011, Gary Phillips was replaced by local head coach Justin Ganai to save Sabah from relegation zone. Justin improved Sabah performance in the 2011 Malaysia Cup where the team reached the quarter-finals. He was retained as for the 2012 season but step down eventually. Sabah got relegated back to the Malaysia Premier League after losing to Kedah. Salt was added to the wound as the relegation was followed by them failing to qualify to the group stage of the 2012 Malaysia Cup.
Return of foreign players and rebuilding (2013–2018)
Sabah started their 2013 season back in the Malaysia Premier League as their main defenders Ronny Harun and Mafry Balang left and Rozaimi Abdul Rahman was loaned out to Harimau Muda A. 2013 season was led by Northern Irishman head coach David McCreery and they end up in 5th place, but lost the Malaysia Cup play-off 0–4 to Negeri Sembilan at Shah Alam Stadium. McCreery left at the end of the season. The year 2014 saw a major changes in the team's sponsorship by which local brand Carino was signed as their kit supplier and Ararat Sports plus BSA as their sponsor. During this season, former Sabah player Milomir Šešlija become their head coach, replacing McCreery in the hot seat. They finished 8th out of 12 in the MPL, missed the Malaysia Cup group stage for third consecutive seasons and also got out of the FA Cup in the early stage.
Just after 2014 season finished, another major change was made by which George O'Callaghan was signed as their technical director. Sabah FA successfully signed twice African 'Player of The Year' El Hadji Diouf and his compatriot Abdoulaye Faye, followed by Irish-born Libyan footballer, Éamon Zayed and Singaporean Fazrul Nawaz. Fazrul and O'Callaghan were released early in the season few weeks before Malaysia Premier League kick off. Fazrul was replaced by Joel Chianese during the mid-season transfer window, and O'Callaghan by Brisbane Roar ex-coach Mike Mulvey in February 2015. Diouf's dissatisfaction grew with Sabah FA management plans, along with his dismissal during few of Sabah's matches thus allowing youngster Leopold Alphonso and Rawilson Batuil to play. Promising start of 2015 season ended with disappointment at 7th place, missing Malaysia Cup automatic slot. TC Goh, Mulvey and big name players such as Diouf, Zayed, Faye, Chianese and Rozaimi Abdul Rahman left at the end of the season due to no contract renewal.
Starting from the 2021 season, all clubs competing in the Malaysia Super League must be privatised as required by the FAM. Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd was formed in order to fulfill the condition. Verdon Bahanda was appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the club on 12 November 2020. Therefore, Sabah FA was renamed to Sabah Football Club as the new club name, and the rhino once again became the official mascot of the club.
Return to continental competition (2022–2024)
Sabah finished third in the 2022 Malaysia Super League, which saw them return to the continental club competition since 1995–96 and make their debut in the 2023–24 AFC Cup in Group H with Haiphong, Hougang United and PSM Makassar. On 21 September, they played their first fixture against Hougang United in a 3–1 home win. In the next fixture, Sabah faced PSM Makassar away, where they won 5–0 with Saddil Ramdani bagging a hat-trick of assists. Their journey ended in the ASEAN Zonal semi-final, where they faced Macarthur FC and were ultimately defeated 0–3.
Recent developments (2025–present)
In preparation for the 2025–26 season, Sabah strengthened its squad by signing New Zealand international Dane Ingham from Newcastle Jets and Dean Pelekanos from Western Sydney Wanderers. These signings formed part of the club's efforts to reinforce its squad for domestic competition. The club also saw itself return to Adidas as the club's apparel partner in 2016.
Team image
Supporters group
Bola Sepak Sabah
Football Fans of Sabah
Kelab Penyokong Sabah Rhino
North Borneo Ultras (NBU)
Sabah Football Fans Club
SabahRhinos.com since 1997
Tawau City Hoodlum (TCH)
The Rhinos Troops
Sabah Diehard
The Voice of Rhinos#12
RedBois City (RBC)
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
Bola Rhinos Official
Rivalries
Historically, since 1970 until 2019, Sabah's grand old neighboring rivals was Sarawak FA (later renamed as Sarawak FC) also referred to as The Grand Borneo Derby. Since 2020 Malaysian football era, Sabah’s neighboring rivals are DPMM FC and Kuching City with these matches commonly referred to as the Borneo Derby.
Mascot
Sabah FA first mascot was the rhinoceros since mid-1990s. In 2010 the SAFA rebranded the mascot to hawk. which was controversial as Kuala Lumpur FA at that time was also known as the Hawks. Sabah FA reinstated the Rhinoceros mascot starting from 2015. In 2019, Sabah FA once again rebranded the mascot as Tambadau. Following the 2021 privatisation process,Sabah FC was chosen as the new club name and the rhinoceros once again became the official mascot.
Broadcasting
Malaysia Super League and other cup matches are broadcast live on Astro Arena and on the Astro Go and Sooka streaming platforms, while radio coverages regular season matches on RTM Sabah FM 89.9 in Malay language.
Ownership and finances
In November 2020 following the privatisation of the club, Sabah displayed the club's new official logo which was chosen following a competition. During the time, Sabah Football Club Sdn Bhd in its statement informed that the logo was created by an individual named Firzaruddin Zainal Abiddin. Apart from fulfilling the design requirements, the logo was chosen by the most fans.
Likas Stadium is the current official main home ground for Sabah. It has a capacity of 22,000, making it the 8th largest football stadium in Malaysia in terms of seating capacity. It has been the home stadium of Sabah since its opening in 1983.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
↑Mustapa Lakawa; Mohd Yunus Yakkub (18 January 2015). "Sabah singkir Callaghan, Fazrul"[Sabah gets rid of Callaghan, Fazrul]. Kosmo! (in Malay). Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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