The 33-year-old would happily have continued playing, but a lack of options meant the decision to wave farewell to his career as a professional footballer was very much taken for him.
Although there's no denying that the Covid-19 pandemic has gravely affected the finances of Malaysian clubs, that was not necessarily the main reason behind his early retirement.
"Sure, footballers aged 33, 34 like me can still play [at the top level] and if given the chance I'd have continued playing," Fauzan told
Goal.
"But frankly, from what I've seen in the past five years, players aged 30 and older have grown irrelevant. It's not like how it was, when clubs would look for these more senior players first, before they signed the younger players.