Brunei DPMM FC

DPMM FC

Full name	Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club
Founded	2000
Ground	Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Ground Capacity	30,000
Chairman	HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah (Crown Prince of Brunei)
Coach	Steve Kean
League	S.League
2015	1st
Home colours Away colours

Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Brunei Football Club in English, commonly known as DPMM FC) is a football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The club played in the Brunei Premier League in the early 2000s, winning the league title in 2002 and 2004. The club then decided to play in Malaysia, and joined the Malaysian Premier League as a foreign-based team in for the 2005–06 season. They won promotion to the Malaysian Super League (the top tier of Malaysian football) at the end of their first season in Malaysian football, and then finished 3rd and 10th in the following two season in the Super League. The club then left the Malaysian league and joined Singapore's S.League for the 2009 season. They won the Singapore League Cup, but were then forced to withdraw from the league competition five games before the end of the season after FIFA suspended the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam for government interference in its affairs, thus barring teams from Brunei from taking part in overseas competitions. All the club's league results for 2009 were therefore expunged. At the end of the suspension, they re-entered the S.League and won the title in 2015, just after a near-miss in 2014.

DPMM FC is owned by the Crown Prince of Brunei, His Royal Highness Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, who previously played as a goalkeeper for the team, and managed by Blackburn Rovers Steve Kean.

History

Beginnings in Brunei

DPMM FC started out as a college team in 1994, before being officially established as a commercial club in 2000. After being the most successful team in college-level football in Brunei, most of the team's talented players joined DPMM FC when it became a commercial team and the club became stronger and more established.

The club enjoyed considerable success in Brunei's domestic competitions in the early-2000s, winning the Brunei Premier League in 2002 and 2004, the Brunei FA Cup in 2004, and the Brunei Super Cup in 2002 and 2004.

Joining Malaysian league

In 2005, DPMM FC stopped playing in Brunei's domestic league and joined the Malaysia Premier League (the second tier of Malaysian football) as a foreign-based team, replacing the Brunei representative team. The club was then promoted to the top tier of Malaysian football, Malaysian Super League, where they finished in 3rd place in their first season (2006–07). In the following season (2007–08), they finished in 10th place. They then had to leave the Malaysia Super League due to the deregisteration of the Brunei Amateur Football Association by the Registrar of Societies.

Since 2004, DPMM FC had also competed annually in the Singapore Cup (a knock-out tournament which the Football Association of Singapore invites a number of teams from other countries to take part in alongside Singaporean clubs).

S.League, and suspension

After leaving the Malaysia Super League, DPMM FC joined Singapore's S.League for the 2009 season, becoming the first team in the league to play their home matches outside Singapore. The club quickly made an impact on the Singapore football scene by winning the Singapore League Cup in June 2009. They defeated the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club in the final on penalties after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. However, on 30 September that year, FIFA suspended the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam for government interference in its affairs. This meant that teams from Brunei were no longer allowed to compete in tournaments run by other national member associations. The Football Association of Singapore appealed to FIFA to allow DPMM FC to finish the S.League season, but the appeal was rejected. The results of all DPMM's league matches for 2009 were therefore expunged.

Lifting of suspension, and success in Singapore

After 20 months of being suspended, FIFA has decided to lift the suspension off Brunei Darussalam. This means that the national team as well as the football teams from Brunei Darussalam are allowed to join any football competitions under FIFA. DPMM re-entered the S.League in 2012, and became dominant after the arrival of former English Premier League manager Steve Kean in 2014. They won their first S.League championship in 2015, a year after losing ground in the final fixture of the 2014 season.^[1]

S.League and cup history

Season	League									Cup	League Cup	Top goalscorer		Managers
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P			Name	League
2009	S.League	Expelled from the league[2][3]								Quarter-finals	Winners	Mohd Shahrazen Said	8	Vjeran Simunić
2010	S.League	Banned by FIFA
2011	S.League	Banned by FIFA
2012	S.League	2	24	15	3	6	49	26	48	Round of 16	Winners	Mohd Shahrazen Said	13	Vjeran Simunić
2013	S.League	8	27	9	8	10	38	48	35	Quarter-finals	Runners-Up	Rodrigo	8
2014	S.League	2	27	15	5	7	63	30	50	Third-place	Winners	Rodrigo	24	Steve Kean
2015	S.League	1	27	15	7	5	48	26	52	Third-place	First Round	Ramazotti	21

Honours

Players

Current squad

As of 13 February 2016 ^[12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Azman Ilham Noor 2 DF Reduan Petara 3 DF Sairol Sahari 4 DF Fakharrazi Hassan 5 DF Brian McLean 6 DF Azwan Saleh 7 MF Azwan Ali Rahman 8 MF Paulo Sérgio 9 MF Hendra Azam 10 MF Nur Ikhwan Othman 11 MF Najib Tarif 12 MF Maududi Hilmi Kasmi

No. Position Player 13 MF Rosmin Kamis (Club Captain) 14 MF Helmi Zambin 16 FW Khairul Anwar Abdul Rahim 17 DF Amalul Ariffin Shah Said 18 MF Aminuddin Zakwan Tahir 19 FW Rafael Ramazotti 20 FW Adi Said 21 DF Abdul Aziz Tamit 22 FW Shahrazen Said 23 MF Yura Indera Putera 25 GK Wardun Yussof

Managers

• Ahmed El-Makki (2002–03)
• Azman Hj Eusoff (2003)
• Naka Amzar (2005–06)
• Aji Santoso (2007)
• Sandi Sejdinovski (2008)
• Vjeran Simunić (11 March 2008 – 27 October 2009)
• Yordan Stoykov (2009)
• Ranko Buketa (2010)
• Vjeran Simunić (1 October 2011 – 7 November 2013)
• Steve Kean (7 November 2013–)

References

External links

• DPMM Official Fansite
• DPMM New Official Fansite