DPMM FC

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]

Intention to pull out of the S.League

Since the 2016 season, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has been reducing the number of imports allowed per S.League team. This has affected the Bruneian-based outfit greatly, with a lesser pool of local players against Singapore's (or Japan's in the case of Albirex Niigata (S)).^[2]

Towards the conclusion of the 2017 S.League in November, DPMM FC announced their intention on their website to possibly move to the Malaysian league, which they last appeared in 2008. This intention was later "dashed" by the FAM and in particular by Football Malaysia LLP, which stipulated that DPMM FC have to play their home games in Malaysia and to have a squad full of Malaysians with Bruneians regarded as import players. DPMM called these rulings "unprofessional" and "insane".

In late December, DPMM stated their intentions to join the Indonesian league for 2018 instead.^[3] This was made after a meeting between S.League clubs whereby new rules were set to restrict foreign imports to two, and the implementation of a youth-focused roster. However the move would be "technically impossible" to happen according to PSSI's secretary general a few days after the announcement was made.^[4]

Further talks with FAS made at the turn of the year resulted in a compromise that was reached on 10 January 2018, where the S.League competition organisers would allow them to sign up to 3 foreign players instead of 2 with no age restrictions and DPMM will also not be subject to the same age restrictions as the local S.League clubs. Each local S.League team, apart from the Young Lions, will be required to have at least six under-23 players and eight under-30 players in the squad, with the remaining players to be of any age.^[5]

Current squad

As of 10 March 2018^[6]

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 Haimie Anak Nyaring 2 DF Brian McLean 3 DF Abdul Mu'iz Sisa 4 DF Fakharrazi Hassan 5 DF Reduan Petara 6 MF Azwan Saleh 7 MF Azwan Ali Rahman 8 MF Hendra Azam Idris 9 FW Abdul Azizi Ali Rahman 10 MF Volodymyr Pryyomov 11 DF Najib Tarif 13 DF Suhaimi Anak Sulau

No. Position Player 14 DF Helmi Zambin 15 MF Abdul Hariz Herman 16 MF Azim Izamuddin Suhaimi 17 MF Shafie Effendy 18 GK Ishyra Asmin Jabidi 19 MF Nur Ikhwan Othman 20 FW Adi Said 21 DF Abdul Aziz Tamit 22 FW Shahrazen Said (Captain) 23 DF Yura Indera Putera 24 DF Hanif Hamir 25 GK Wardun Yussof

League

Cups