MECCA, June 11 — Former JDT player Asraruddin Putra Omar has migrated to Saudi Arabia to find happiness and to deepen his religious knowledge.

The former national player did not sign any contract with any club in Saudi Arabia.

Asraruddin Putra, 35, who never announced his retirement from the football arena after sustaining injuries to his left leg while with JDT, said he is currently living in a Malay village in Ajyad Hill here.

"It’s been my dream since I was a child, when I saw people going to Makkah for umrah, I want to live here either in Mecca or Medina,” he told reporters when met here.

Asraruddin Putra said he found out about the village through his acquaintances after performing umrah for the second time in 2022, before deciding to live there.

According to Asraruddin Putra, he returned to Mecca at the beginning of this year and stayed here for three months by renting a house in the Malay village, about three kilometres from the Masjidil Haram.

The player who had undergone trial training with the giant Dutch football club, PSV Eindhoven also met his soul mate Tengku Nurliyana Tengku Azlan, a nurse from Gong Badak, Terengganu who works in a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

They both tied the knot on May 13 in Shah Alam, Selangor, before returning to Mecca, three days later. — Bernama