Selangor's Statement: Six Wins and One Clear Message

Some title charges announce themselves quietly, with a narrow win here and a point salvaged there. Selangor have chosen the opposite approach. Six matches into the 2026 Malaysia Premier Futsal League, Edgar Baldasso's side have six wins, almost fifty goals scored and a clear message for the rest of the division. The most decorated club in the competition intends to reclaim the crown.

The headline is the man at the centre of it. Marlon Oliveira Araujo, the Brazilian fixo who lifted the FIFA Futsal World Cup with his country in 2024, has settled into Malaysian futsal as though he has played here for years. By the close of the opening circuits he sat top of the scoring charts with fifteen goals and had collected three Player of the Match awards, the kind of return that turns a marquee signing into a genuine talisman.

Yet to reduce Selangor's start to one player would miss the point. This is one of the most decorated clubs in the competition, MPFL champions in 2019 and 2022 and Division 1 runners-up in both 2024 and 2025, a reminder that the foundations were strong long before the World Cup winner arrived.

What Baldasso has done is add a ceiling to that base. The Brazilian winger Evandro Borges has contributed goals and assists from the flank, and the supporting cast of Malaysian players has risen to meet the standard set in training every day. The result is a team that does not simply win, it wins on its own terms, controlling matches and scoring freely against opponents of every level.

The most telling afternoon came against Johor Darul Ta'zim, the back to back champions. Evandro marked the meeting of the two heavyweights with a hat-trick, and Selangor came through a contest many had circled as the early benchmark of the season. Beating the holders, and beating them with style, is the sort of statement that lingers in a dressing room and travels around a league.

For Malaysian futsal, a Selangor side firing on every cylinder is good news rather than a closed door. A standard-setter pulls everyone upward. Opponents leave a heavy defeat knowing exactly how far they have to travel, and young Malaysian players across the division now have a clear picture of what an elite professional looks like up close. The bar has been raised, and raised in public.

There is a long road still to run. The first stage is a double round-robin, and the title is settled only in the knockout rounds, where the pressure rises and a single poor weekend can undo months of work. Selangor know this better than most, having watched Johor close out the last two seasons. The job is not done, and the team that started fastest does not always finish first.

Still, as statements of intent go, this is about as emphatic as the league has seen. Six wins from six, a World Cup winner leading the charts, the champions already beaten and a squad that looks both deep and hungry. Selangor have not just started well. They have served notice.