Soh Chin Ann

Datuk Wira Soh Chin Ann (or Soh Chin Aun due to misspelling by Malaysian media; ; born 28 July 1950) is a Malaysian former footballer who played as a defender. He was affectionately known as Tauke or Towkay (Boss) by his teammates and fans. RSSSF and IFFHS recognised Soh as the player with the most international caps in men's football with 219 caps. He formerly held the record of all-time most appearances in FIFA international recognised matches with 195 caps, before being overtaken by Kuwait's Bader Al-Mutawa in 2022.

Club career
Soh started his football career with Malacca in 1969. He joined Selangor in 1971 and played for them until 1978 winning six Malaysia Cup titles. He returned to star for Malacca in 1979 and won the League Cup title in 1983 but was inactive for two years due to a one-year suspension in 1985. He captained Malacca in 1988 which was also his last appearances in the domestic league.

National team
At the age of 19, Soh earned his full international caps for Malaysia at the 1969 King's Cup. In 1971, when he played in the Olympic qualifier in Seoul, South Korea, he was the youngest member of the national team at the age of 21. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and playing all three group games. He also was the captain of the team that qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Malaysia did not participate in boycott of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. However, because of his contribution for helping Malaysia to qualify for the Olympics, he was awarded the Ahli Mangku Negara by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He later took part in the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, where his Malaysia was eliminated from the group stage, yet Malaysia produced one of the finest performance ever under his leadership, with the team gaining a famous 1–1 draw over powerhouse South Korea; Soh gained fame as well for having an exceptional tournament, allowing him to be named into the Team of the Tournament by the AFC, the first Southeast Asian to receive such honour, a record which would stand until the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Malaysia Selection
On 11 May 1975, Soh is part of the Malaysia Selection that played against Arsenal FC in a friendly match which his team won by 2–0 at Merdeka Stadium.

Retirement
He retired from international football in 1984 and made 250 international appearances as recorded by Football Association of Malaysia. Asian Football Confederation recognised his achievements and included him into AFC Century Club in February 1999.

Post-playing career
He was appointed as the chairman of the referees' committee on 13 March 2007. He was the team manager (not head coach) of Malaysia national football team from 2007 until 2009.

Political career
He once tried to make it in politics by contesting to be the Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka representing Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) of Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1986 but he suffered a defeat of 17,606 votes to Lim Guan Eng of Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Personal life
In 2016, he made a cameo appearance in Ola Bola as Soh Chin Aun, a character based on himself in the 1980 Moscow Olympics qualification campaign.

International

 * ''Scores and results list Malaysia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ann goal.

Honours
Selangor
 * Malaysia Cup: 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978

Malacca
 * Malaysian League: 1983

Malaysia
 * Asian Games Bronze Medal: 1974
 * SEA Games: 1977, 1979
 * Merdeka Tournament: 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979
 * King's Cup: 1972, 1976, 1978
 * Jakarta Anniversary Tournament: 1970

Individual
 * AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 1980
 * AFC Asian All Stars: 1982
 * MasterCard Asian/Oceanian Team of the 20th Century: 1998
 * AFC Century Club: 1999
 * OCM Hall of Fame: 2004
 * Asian Football Hall of Fame: 2014
 * Goal.com The best Malaysia XI of all time: 2020
 * IFFHS Men's All Time Malaysia Dream Team: 2022

Records
 * Malaysia national football team all-time most appearances: 219
 * The first men's footballers to reach 200 or more international caps (according to RSSSF and IFFHS): 219
 * 20th century most international caps in men's football (1901–2000): 219
 * The first Asian footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team: 108
 * The first footballers to reach 100 or more international wins for national team (1969–1984): 108

Order
 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia :
 * MY Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara (Defender of the Realm) - SMN.svg Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (1980)
 * Pahang :
 * MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Knight Companion - DIMP.svg Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (2000)
 * Selangor :
 * [[File:MY-SEL Order of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah - lower classes - DSIS - SIS - AIS.svg|50px]] Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) – Dato' (2016)
 * Malacca :
 * MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca.svg Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2021)