Selangor to attempt breaking Redknapp's Guinness World Record

Selangor will attempt to break Jamie Redknapp's Guinness World Record for the highest altitude football dropped and controlled at the Shah Alam Stadium this Saturday.

In conjunction with this year's Selangor Football Day, Red Giants midfielder Abdul Halim Saari and new signing Brendan Gan will try to control a ball dropped from the height of 65m during half-time of the 2019 Selangor Champions League final between Kingstown Klang and Batu Dua.

Pahang star Mohamadou Sumareh is also slated to make an appearance and take on the challenge.

Congratulations to Jamie Redknapp (UK) - a new record for the highest altitude football dropped and controlled: 38 m 92.4 cm on the set of @SkyOne's A League Of Their Own @ALOTO with assistance from @RomeshRanga ⚽️ ? #ALOTO pic.twitter.com/ClfYqlc0Ku
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) September 6, 2018

The current Guinness record of 39m was set by the former Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur star on the set of A League Of Their Own in 2018.

It surpassed the previous official record of 34m achieved by former Arsenal winger Theo Walcott a year earlier.

Prominent footballers and freestylers had attempted the challenge over the years, including Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and F2 Freestylers duo Jeremy Lynch and Billy Wingrove.

John Farnworth, who set the original Guiness World Record of 32m in 2016, currently holds the unofficial best record of 41m.

Dr. Johan Kamal Hamidon, secretary-general of Football Association of Selangor (FAS), said the world record attempt was in line with expectations of president Tengku Amir Shah ibni Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Raja Muda of Selangor.

"Since the inception of the Selangor Football Day, Tuanku Raja Muda's brainchild, in 2017, we have always made it our objective to ensure that the event is a notch higher than the previous year. That is the challenge His Highness has set to us.

"Apart from the Selangor Champions League final, Selangor's third kit launch and a meet and greet session with Selangor players, this year's edition will see us attempt a world record challenge, where a couple of our players will give a shot at controlling a ball dropped from the highest altitude.

"It is something fresh and exciting for not only our fans but Malaysian football fans, in general, to look forward to.

"It's going to be fun all football day and the players are prepared and relishing it," he said.