{{short description|Singaporean footballer}} {{Malay name|Muhammad Farhan|Zulklfli| note = on}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Farhan Zulkifli | image = | caption = | fullname = Muhammad Farhan bin Zulkifli | birth_date = {{birth date and age|2002|11|10|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Singapore]] | height = 1.62m | currentclub = [[Hougang United]] | clubnumber = 10 | position = [[Forward (association football)#Winger|Winger]] / [[Defender (association football)|Full-back]] | youthyears1 = 2017 | youthclubs1 = [[National Football Academy (Singapore)|NFA U15]] | youthyears2 = 2018 | youthclubs2 = [[Home United|Home United U16]] | youthyears3 = 2019 | youthclubs3 = [[Hougang United|Hougang United U19]] | years1 = 2019– | clubs1 = [[Hougang United]] | caps1 = 68 | goals1 = 10 | years2 = 2023-2024 | clubs2 = → [[Young Lions FC|Young Lions]] (loan) | caps2 = 22 | goals2 = 4 | nationalyears1 = 2017–2018 | nationalteam1 = [[Singapore national under-16 football team|Singapore U16]] | nationalcaps1 = 9 | nationalgoals1 = 1 | nationalyears2 = 2019– | nationalteam2 = [[Singapore national under-19 football team|Singapore U19]] | nationalcaps2 = 6 | nationalgoals2 = 0 | nationalyears3 = 2019–2021 | nationalteam3 = [[Singapore national under-23 football team|Singapore U23]] | nationalcaps3 = 6 | nationalgoals3 = 1 | nationalyears4 = 2019– | nationalteam4 = [[Singapore national football team|Singapore]] | nationalcaps4 = 8 | nationalgoals4 = 1 | club-update = 14 September 2024 | nationalteam-update = 18 November 2025 }}
'''Muhammad Farhan bin Zulkifli''' (born 10 November 2002), better known as '''Farhan Zulkifli''' or just '''Farhan''', is a [[Singapore]]an professional [[Association football|footballer]] who plays either as a [[Forward (association football)#Winger|winger]] or [[Full back (association football)|full-back]] for [[Singapore Premier League]] club [[Hougang United FC|Hougang United]] and the [[Singapore national football team|Singapore national team]]. Considered as one of the brightest talents in the country, he is known for his pace, dribbling and playmaking abilities.
==Club career==
===Hougang United=== Farhan make his career debut coming on as a substitute and scored 12 minutes into his [[2019 Singapore Premier League]] debut against [[Home United FC|Home United]] on 29 June 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dream Singapore Premier League debut for Hougang United's Farhan Zulkifli thanks to wonder goal |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-dream-singapore-premier-league-debut-for-hougang-uniteds-farhan-zulkifli|work=The Straits Times|access-date=13 October 2019|date=29 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=From NFA rejection to Singapore call-up aged 16 - Inside the meteoric rise of Hougang hotshot Farhan Zulkifli {{!}} Goal.com |url=https://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/from-nfa-rejection-to-singapore-call-up-aged-16-inside-the/6fty6aj90gxo157o8w5cyo4mq |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.goal.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Auto |first=Hermes |date=2 October 2019 |title=Football: Fleet-footed Cheetah Farhan Zulkifli on the fast track to becoming a Lion {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-fleet-footed-cheetah-farhan-zulkifli-on-the-fast-track-to-becoming-a-lion |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref> At 16 years and 231 days, he became the SPL's second-youngest ever scorer then.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Impact 0352: Bouncing back from disappointment |url=https://impact.youthopia.sg/impact_post/impact-0352-bouncing-back-from-disappointment/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=Impact |language=en}}</ref> Farhan was named in Goal Singapore's NxGn 2020 list as one of the country's biggest talents following his impressive start to life at Hougang.<ref>{{cite web |title=From Ilhan Fandi to Farhan Zulkifli - Meet the future of Singapore |url=https://www.goal.com/en-sg/lists/from-ilhan-fandi-to-farhan-zulkifli-meet-the-future-of/is3cbd9a0yhz185o5hcf7phpw|work=Goal.com}}</ref> He made a further 11 appearances for Hougang in the 2019 season.
Farhan would start both the [[2020 Singapore Premier League]] season opener and the [[2020 Singapore Community Shield]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=From Hariss Harun to Khairin Nadim - Meet Singapore Premier League's youngest debutants {{!}} Goal.com |url=https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/from-hariss-harun-to-khairin-nadim-meet-singapore-premier/9ynwg3y2tjq01obyqnk8nm5na |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=www.goal.com}}</ref> However, the [[2020 Singapore Premier League]] season hasn't been the best of years for Farhan, by his own admission. Farhan played in 12 matches and only had a solitary goal to his name.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Impact 0352: Bouncing back from disappointment |url=https://impact.youthopia.sg/impact_post/impact-0352-bouncing-back-from-disappointment/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=Impact |language=en}}</ref>
Farhan would go on to play a total of 1767 minutes in the [[2021 Singapore Premier League|2021 season]] bagging 20 appearances however, he failed to score a goal once during the [[2021 Singapore Premier League]] season.
2022 for Farhan could be called his breakout year as he managed to make 18 appearances for the team and scoring 1 goal during the 5–1 thrashing of [[Young Lions FC|Young Lions]]. Farhan also played a crucial role in [[Hougang United FC|Hougang United]]'s triumph over [[Tampines Rovers FC|Tampines Rovers]] in the [[2022 Singapore Cup|2022 Singapore Cup Finals]], helping his team stun [[Tampines Rovers FC|Tampines Rovers]] 3–2 to clinch the cup.<ref>{{Cite web |last=cue |date=19 November 2022 |title=Football: Hat-trick hero Krajcek hails late brother after helping Hougang beat Tampines in S'pore Cup final {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-krajcek-hat-trick-helps-hougang-beat-tampines-3-2-to-win-their-first-singapore-cup |access-date=16 December 2022 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>
==== Young Lions (loan) ==== On 12 July 2023, Farhan joined [[Young Lions FC|Young Lions]] on loan from Hougang United as he is undergoing his compulsory [[National service in Singapore|National Service]]. He was named the club vice-captain ahead of the [[2024–25 Singapore Premier League]] season.
In November 2024, Farhan completed his National Service and returned to Hougang United.
==International career== Farhan was first called up to the [[Singapore national football team|Singapore national team]] in 2019, for the friendly against [[Jordan national football team|Jordan]] on 5 October and the [[2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)|2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers]] against [[Saudi Arabia national football team|Saudi Arabia]] and [[Uzbekistan national football team|Uzbekistan]] on 10 and 15 October respectively.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-fleet-footed-cheetah-farhan-zulkifli-on-the-fast-track-to-becoming-a-lion|title=Football: Fleet-footed Cheetah Farhan Zulkifli on the fast track to becoming a Lion|date=2 October 2019|work=The Straits Times|access-date=13 September 2019|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tnp.straitstimes.com/sports/singapore-football/singapore-coach-tweaks-squad-s-arabia-uzbekistan-games|title=Singapore coach tweaks squad for S. Arabia, Uzbekistan games|date=27 September 2019|work=The New Paper|access-date=13 September 2019|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.goal.com/en-sg/news/from-nfa-rejection-to-singapore-call-up-aged-16-inside-the/6fty6aj90gxo157o8w5cyo4mq|title=From NFA rejection to Singapore call-up aged 16 - Inside the meteoric rise of Hougang hotshot Farhan Zulkifli|work=Goal.com}}</ref>
In 2022, Farhan was called up to the national team for the [[2022 AFF Championship]] tournament. He make his international debut against causeway rival, [[Malaysia national football team|Malaysia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tan |first=Amanda |date=20 December 2022 |title=Five players in Singapore squad to take part in AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 for the first time |url=https://youthopia.sg/read/five-players-in-singapore-squad-to-take-part-in-aff-mitsubishi-electric-cup-2022-for-the-first-time/ |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=youthopia.sg |language=en-US}}</ref>
On 14 November 2024, Farhan scored his first goal for Singapore during a friendly match against [[Myanmar national football team|Myanmar]] where he opened up the account in the 5th minute.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-14 |title=That Singapore were not happy with first win under Ogura is the biggest positive |url=https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/42387376/that-singapore-not-happy-first-win-tsutomu-ogura-biggest-positive |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Career statistics==
===Club=== {{updated|10 October 2021.}}<ref>{{Soccerway|farhan-zulkifli/615919|access-date=15 April 2019}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan="2"|Club !rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|Cup !colspan="2"|Continental !colspan="2"|Other !colspan="2"|Total |- !Division !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals !Apps !Goals |- | rowspan="7" |[[Hougang United]] |[[2019 Singapore Premier League|2019]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |9||1||3||0||0||0||0||0||12||1 |- |[[2020 Singapore Premier League|2020]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |13||1||0||0||1||0||0||0||14||1 |- |[[2021 Singapore Premier League|2021]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |20||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||20||0 |- |[[2022 Singapore Premier League|2022]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |18||1||6||1||0||0||0||0||24||2 |- |[[2024–25 Singapore Premier League|2024–25]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |12||3||4||0||0||0||0||0||16||3 |- |[[2025–26 Singapore Premier League|2025–26]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |15||2||4||3||0||0||0||0||19||5 |- ! colspan=2 |Total !87!!7!!17!!3!!1!!0!!0!!0!!105!!8 |- |rowspan="3"|[[Young Lions FC|Young Lions]] |[[2023 Singapore Premier League|2023]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |7||0||3||1||0||0||0||0||10||1 |- |[[2024–25 Singapore Premier League|2024–25]] ||[[Singapore Premier League]] |11||3||0||0||0||0||0||0||11||3 |- ! colspan=2|Total !18!!3!!3!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!21!!4 |- ! colspan=3 | Career total !105!!10!!20!!4!!1!!0!!0!!0!!126!!16 |} '''International goals''' {| class="wikitable" !# !Date !Venue !Opponent !Score !Result !Competition |- |1. |14 November 2024 |[[National Stadium, Singapore|Singapore National Stadium]], Singapore |{{fb|MYA}} |1–0 |3–2 |[[Exhibition game|Friendly]] |}
== Honours ==
=== Club === '''Hougang United''' * [[Singapore Cup]]: [[2022 Singapore Cup|2022]]
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farhan Zulkifli}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:2002 births]] [[Category:Singaporean men's footballers]] [[Category:Men's association football midfielders]] [[Category:Singapore Premier League players]] [[Category:Young Lions FC players]] [[Category:21st-century Singaporean sportsmen]] [[Category:Tampines Rovers FC players]]