KUALA LUMPUR: A top Malaysian footballer who suffered severe burns in an acid attack was discharged Saturday from a hospital where he had undergone multiple surgeries, the CEO of his club said. Selangor FC and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim suffered burns on the neck, shoulder, hands and chest in the assault at a shopping mall outside capital Kuala Lumpur on May 5. Faisal’s case was the most high-profile of separate crimes committed against four top-flight Malaysian footballers this month, which are not believed to be linked but have nonetheless shocked and angered the nation.

Selangor FC chief executive Johan Kamal Hamidon told AFP the footballer was discharged from hospital on Saturday afternoon. “We will schedule a separate media session with Faisal Halim once he is ready,” he said, without giving more details. Shahril Mokhtar, chairman of the technical committee at Selangor FC, said on Wednesday that Faisal was recovering well after a major skin graft surgery. Shahril also said the footballer could be back on the pitch as early as August.

Faisal had a three-hour skin allograft surgery on Monday which went “better than expected”, team doctor Muhammad Hazwan Khair said this week. Nicknamed “Mickey”, the 26-year-old player scored an equalizer against South Korea that was voted best goal of the 2023 Asian Cup. Malaysia’s domestic football season was slated to begin on May 10 with a curtain raiser between Faisal’s Selangor and Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT). Selangor pulled out, citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats”, but the league got underway the following day.

In early May, three days before the acid attack, another national player, Akhyar Rashid, was injured in a robbery outside his home in the eastern state of Terengganu. In a third incident, two days after the attack on Faisal, former Malaysia skipper Safiq Rahim escaped unharmed after he was threatened with a hammer and his car windscreen was smashed by two assailants. International defender Khuzaimi Piee became the fourth Malaysian footballer this month to become a victim of crime after police said Thursday his house was burgled. — AFP