'New experience, new challenge': Goalie Hassan Sunny on penalty shootout against Tharman in President's Challenge

He may have hung up his gloves and retired from international football, but we haven't seen the last of Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny yet.

On Sunday (Oct 6), he'll be facing President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in a penalty shootout for President's Challenge Night 2024.

"It's definitely very important giving back to the community," the 40-year-old told AsiaOne in a recent interview.

"I feel that we do have lots of people coming to watch our games at the National Stadium, so it's our duty as professional football players to give back to the community through charity events."

Previously, Hassan earned the admiration of Chinese fans after his goalkeeping performance in the Singapore-Thailand World Cup Qualifier led to China advancing instead of Thailand.

When they sent money to the nasi padang stall he owns after its QR payment code was shared widely, Hassan donated $10,000 of the money to Muhammadiyah Welfare Home.

"When you receive money that does not belong to you, you have to donate it," he said then.

So when President's Challenge came up with the idea of the president taking penalties against Hassan for charity, the goalie told us he was "more than happy".

"It will be a new experience facing the President himself, and on stage," he said. "New experience, new challenge."

Though he declined to tell us if he'll be playing typical penalty shootout mind games with Tharman, Hassan said his goal was just to "have fun".

'Give an opportunity to the younger ones'

Hassan took a trip down memory lane with us, sharing that he first started playing football in primary school and was initially a left-midfielder before switching to goalkeeper at 14.

When he got into the National Football Academy Under-16s, that's when Hassan felt that it could be an actual career.

"I felt that there was a pathway to continue my football journey," he explained.

Hassan shared that a highlight of his football career was facing off against Indonesia.

"We didn't get the results we wanted, but performance-wise, I think everyone in the country was satisfied with the performance by the players," he said.

In the 2021 AFF Championship semi-finals, the Red Lions fought a hard battle against Indonesia, facing red cards until they were down to just eight men and losing in extra time.

The lowest point of Hassan's career was when he injured his knee in 2011, the bane of many-a footballer.

He was out for nearly a year, and when he was cleared to play "probably five weeks after [he] recovered", the injury recurred and he had to go back to surgery.

"Altogether, I was out for almost two years, so two years without football was the most challenging time in my life," he said.

"But, having said that, it changed my life in terms of how I take care of my diet, my football life."

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After 115 caps for Singapore, Hassan announced his retirement from international football in an Instagram post on Aug 18, coincidentally just before his own favourite goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer.

Hassan still plays for Albirex Niigata (S) in the Singapore Premier League (and Neuer for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga).

"I'm 40 this year, and we don't have a big pool of talent when it comes to goalkeepers, so I've been playing for more than 20 years," he said.

"Maybe it was time for me to call it a day and give an opportunity to the younger ones to come up and experience international football."

He added that it didn't "look good" for someone at his age to still play for the national team.

"They have to start somewhere," he continued. "It may not be a smooth start for them, but sooner or later they'll improve and become better on this journey."

The President's Challenge Night 2024 will also feature Ronan Keating (formerly of Boyzone), local singers Rahimah Rahim and Deborah Choi, and Zoe Tay in collaboration with music and theatre company Bhaskar's Arts Academy.

It will air Oct 6 at 7.30pm on Channel 5, Mewatch, Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube and Mediacorp's TikTok page. All proceeds from the President's Challenge Donation Drive will aid the 65 benefitting organisations backed by President's Challenge 2024.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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