UPB-MyTeam F.C.

For information about the reality TV series, see MyTeam (Malaysian TV series).

UPB MyTeam FC
Full name MyTeam Football Club
Nickname(s) "The Revolution"
Founded 2006
Ground Stadium Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur
Ground Capacity 25,000
League Malaysia Super League

UPB MyTeam Football Club is a defunct Malaysian football club which formerly competed in the top tier of Malaysian football, the Malaysia Super League. The team's home stadium was the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The club as it exists today was the result of a merger of UPB Football Club and MyTeam (a football team created through the Malaysian reality TV show MyTeam) prior to the 2006-07 Malaysian football season.

History

Launched in 2006, the TV3 reality TV series MyTeam brought together a squad of soccer players from around Malaysia with no professional playing experience known as "MyTeam". The show followed the team as it was selected through trials and then trained and coached by the former Malaysian international footballer Shebby Singh, before taking on the Malaysia national football team in an exhibition match. MyTeam lost 2-1 to the national team in the exhibition game on 28 May 2006. The show generated considerable interest. MyTeam was subsequently invited to join the Malaysia Premier League for the 2006-07 season.

UPB FC was an ailing football club sponsored by the Malaysian United Plantations Berhad (UPB) company, based in Teluk Intan, Perak. (When it was first formed, the club had been known as Jenderata FC.) The club was poised to "go the way of the dinosaur" before the politician Khairy Jamaluddin, who along with radio DJ Jason Lo was the co-creator and Executive Producer of the MyTeam series, decided to take over the club and form a base for MyTeam to became a professional competitive team. The name UPB-MyTeam FC was adopted upon UPB FC's management's request (however it has been speculated that the "UPB" will be dropped from the club's name at some point in the future). Khairy Jamaluddin and Jason Lo became the club's President and Deputy President, and Bojan Hodak of Croatia was hired to become the team's coach.

UPB MyTeam FC finished the 2006-07 Malaysia Premier League season as runners-up behind PDRM FA, and as a result were promoted to the Malaysia Super League 2007-08 season.

A second season of the reality TV show, MyTeam2, was broadcast in 2007 (MyTeam2 took on the Indonesian national football team, losing 2-0). Three players from MyTeam2 (Muhamad Noor Hassan, Mohan a/l R. Azmi and Mohd Hisham Hashim) have joined the UPB MyTeam FC squad for the 2007-08 Malaysian Super League season.

UPB MyTeam FC held a trial on 1 and 2 November 2008 at Stadium Bukit Jalil to select 17 players for the 2008 President Cup.Unfortunately, the club was dissolved in year 2009. Currently, the club management has decided rebuilt the club with the same name and reported to join the Selangor FAS State League in 2013.

Honours

Title Winners Runners-up
Division 1/Premier 1/Premier League 2007 (1x)

Pool

Malaysian football is looking forward to naturalise some half-blood players to become Malaysian citizen. This option is taken as an effort to strengthen the national football team with another football DNA that is expected from the half-blood players who rise from other country football system. However, they are not necessarily included to the national team. They still have to fight for their places with the other local players. To this date, three half-blood players have donned Malaysian colours and did fantastic job. Junior Eldstål already have senior caps meanwhile Brendan Gan and Matthew Davies have playing for Malaysia U-23 squad. Matthew Davies has his debut in Malaysia national football team against Saudi Arabia national football team in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round and played very well and fully commitment every minutes. Unfortunately, his cap won't be count because the match abandoned as a result of fans riot. The initiative is taken by Malaysian club for bring them back to local league before gaining attraction from national coach. Junior Eldstål was brought back by Sarawak FA, Brendan Gan (Kelantan FA) and Matthew Davies (Pahang FA). Brendan Gan has played in 2012 Malaysia Super League with Sabah FA as a foreign player.

On 9 September 2015, Sabah FA legend, Scott Ollerenshaw has revealed that another 6 half-blood are taking their interview to get their Malaysian passport. They are Curran Ferns, Shazalee Ramlee, Nick Swirad, Daniel Ting, Sam Somerville and Kevin Gunter. Curran Ferns, Sam Somerville and Kevin Gunter already have their training stint with Malaysia Super League champion, Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C.. Elsewhere, Sarawak FA also has given training stint for Daniel Ting. All the 6 players has expressed their desire to play in Malaysia league and some clubs already showed their interest to get their signature.

Apart from those players, Darren Lok also will be naturalise later with another unnamed Eurasian striker as Scott Ollerenshaw state in his Twitter. However, there is a player who is declined to Scott Ollerenshaw's invitation. He is Ben King. He has two unsuccessful trials with Sarawak FA and Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. before back to England. Currently, he is Free agent.

Meanwhile, Dion Cools is suggested as the best Malaysian half-blood abroad. He is the key player for Belgium U-19 though they failed to qualify for 2014 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. On 2014–15 Belgian Second Division season, he helped his club, Oud-Heverlee Leuven promoted to 2015–16 Belgian Pro League, the top tier football league in Belgium. For 2015-16 season, he has signed for Belgian Pro League giant, Club Brugge KV. Dion Cools has say it would be an honour for him to represent Malaysia.

Coaches

Period Coach
2006-09 Croatia Bojan Hodak

See also

Notes

    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.