Johor Darul Ta’zim One Game From 109-Match World Record

Johor Darul Ta’zim can establish a world record for consecutive unbeaten league matches when they open their Malaysian Super League season against Kuching on Friday. The Guardian reported that avoiding defeat would extend JDT’s run to 109 matches, moving them beyond the benchmark set by Ivory Coast club Asec Mimosas 32 years ago.

JDT’s current 108-match unbeaten league sequence began in April 2021. The club enters the new campaign under Spanish coach Xisco Muñoz, the former Watford manager who took charge last summer after coaching spells in Georgia, Cyprus and Slovakia. Xisco told The Guardian that the margin between making history and falling short remains narrow despite JDT’s sustained dominance.

The southern Malaysian club have won 12 consecutive domestic league titles. Their rise accelerated after the Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim, bought the club in 2013. JDT now play at the 40,000-seat Sultan Ibrahim Stadium and have developed a staff structure that includes chief executive Luis García, the former Liverpool midfielder, and academy director Javier Ribera, who arrived from Valencia.

JDT have also begun to make progress outside Malaysia. Last season they reached the Asian Champions League quarter-finals, the furthest a Malaysian club has advanced in the competition, before losing to Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli. Xisco said the club’s next objective is to compete at a higher level in Asia while continuing to win domestically.

Managing several competitions has led JDT to maintain a 40-player squad. Xisco uses competitive 11-against-11 training matches to prepare a team accustomed to controlling domestic games for situations in which it must defend. Asian travel adds another challenge, with some Champions League trips requiring journeys of 10 to 12 hours each way.

The squad also features 24-year-old Malaysia international Arif Aiman, who scored in JDT’s recent 3-3 friendly draw with Chelsea. The immediate focus, however, is Kuching and the chance to turn a five-year unbeaten run into a standalone global record. JDT do not need to win on Friday, but a draw or victory would take the sequence to 109 league matches without defeat.