Malaysia football star gets acid attack days after attack on teammate. football news

A Malaysian national football player suffered second-degree burns after being sprayed with acid in an attack at a shopping mall over the weekend, a sports official said. National team player Faisal Halim suffered burns to his neck, shoulders, arms and chest during the attack on Sunday in the Petaling Jaya district outside the capital Kuala Lumpur, according to Najwan Halimi, a sports official in Selangor state. Faisal, 26, is a winger at Selangor Football Club.

“I strongly condemn this violence and urge the police to bring the perpetrators to justice,” Najwan said in a statement late Sunday.

Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan was quoted by private television station Astro Awani as saying on Monday that a male suspect had been arrested, although it did not reveal a motive.

A photo that went viral online shows a shocked Faisal sitting on a bench in brown pants with burn marks on his body.

The attack came three days after another national player, Akhyar Rashid, was injured in a robbery outside his home in the eastern state of Terengganu.

According to local media reports, 25-year-old Akhyar was hit with an iron rod by two unidentified suspects and suffered injuries on his head and leg, which required stitches.

Local police chief Azali Noor said the suspects fled after taking Akhyar’s money.

Football Association of Malaysia president Hamidin Mohd Amin said he was “disturbed and saddened” by both attacks.

“Malaysians pray that Akhyar and Faisal recover quickly and get back to work,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)