DPMM FC
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Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (English: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Brunei Football Club; abbrev: DPMM or Brunei DPMM) is a professional football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. The club set to play in the Malaysia Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of Malaysian football after last playing in the Singapore Premier League until 2024–25. DPMM is owned by the Crown Prince of Brunei, Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah.
The club played in the Brunei Premier League in the early 2000s, winning the league title in 2002 and 2004. DPMM then decided to play in Malaysia, and joined the second-tier Malaysian Premier League as a foreign-based team in for the 2005–06 season.[1] 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 Malaysia 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 in their first season in Singapore, but were forced to withdraw from the league competition five games before the end of the season after FIFA suspended the Brunei Football Association 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 league title in 2015 and 2019. They are returning to the Malaysia Super League starting from the 2025–26 season.
History
Beginnings in Brunei (1994–2004)
DPMM started out as a college team in 1994, before being officially established as a professional club in 2000. After being the most successful team in college-level football in Brunei, most of the team's talented players joined DPMM when it became a professional.[2]
The club enjoyed considerable success in Brunei's domestic competitions in the early-2000s, winning the Brunei Premier League in 2002 and 2004,[3][4] the Brunei FA Cup in 2004, and the Brunei Super Cup in 2002 and 2004.[5]
Joining the Malaysian league (2005–2008)
In 2005, DPMM 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.[1] The club was then promoted to the top tier of Malaysian football, Malaysia Super League via the play-offs after a 2–1 aggregate victory over Pahang.[6] They then remarkably finished in 3rd place in their first season in the top tier (2006–07).[7] In the following season (2007–08), they finished in 10th place. They then had to leave the Malaysia Super League due to the deregistration of the Brunei Football Association by the Registrar of Societies.[8]
Since 2004, DPMM 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).[9]
Joining the Singapore league, and suspension (2009)
After leaving the Malaysia Super League, DPMM joined Singapore's S.League for the 2009 season, becoming the first team in the league to play their home matches outside Singapore at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium. The club quickly made an impact on the Singapore football scene by winning the Singapore League Cup in June 2009. They defeated the SAFFC in the final on penalties after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. However, on 30 September that year, FIFA suspended the Brunei Football Association for government interference in its affairs.[10] 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 to finish the S.League season, but the appeal was rejected. The results of all DPMM's league matches for 2009 were therefore expunged.[11]
Lifting of suspension, success in Singapore (2012–2015)
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 the 2012 season, and became dominant after the arrival of former English Premier League manager Steve Kean in 2014. They won their first S.League title in 2015, a year after losing ground in the final fixture of the 2014 season.[12]
Intention to pull out from the S.League (2016–2020)
Since the 2016 season, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has been reducing the number of imports allowed per the 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)).[13]
Towards the conclusion of the 2017 S.League in November, DPMM 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 the Football Malaysia LLP, which stipulated that DPMM 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".[14]
In late December, DPMM stated their intentions to join the Indonesian league for the 2018 season instead.[15] 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.[16]
Further talks with the 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 age restrictions. 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.[17]
Although they participated in the newly revamped Singapore Premier League in 2018, finishing in third place below champions Albirex Niigata (S) and Home United, DPMM considered joining another league in the Southeast Asia region. Reports by Singapore press in October 2018 revealed that DPMM have submitted an official enquiry to join Thai League 1 for the 2019 season.[18] The club would later announce that they will be competing in the 2019 Singapore Premier League,[19] but afterwards expressed an interest to join Indonesia's Liga 1 in 2020.[20]
On 15 September 2019, DPMM were confirmed champions of the 2019 Singapore Premier League after their closest rivals Hougang United only managed to play a 4–4 draw with Geylang International, leaving the Bruneian club with an unassailable four-point lead at the top of the table.[21] They also reached the semi-finals of the 2019 Singapore Cup before being eliminated by via penalty shootout to Warriors on 30 October.[22]
In 2020, DPMM participated in the Singapore Premier League, but could only play one game before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to be suspended until October.[23] The team was unable to fulfill the remaining fixtures due to travel restrictions between Brunei and Singapore, resulting in the inevitable exclusion from the year's SPL season.[24]
DPMM once again withdrew from the 2021 Singapore Premier League due to the ongoing travel restrictions imposed by the Brunei government, but not before showing intent to participate in the league.[25]
Return to Brunei and back to using first team players (2019–2022)
In 2019, DPMM sent a youth team to play in the 2018–19 Brunei Premier League, with three first teamers namely Azim Izamuddin Suhaimi, Abdul Azizi Ali Rahman and Azwan Ali Rahman also registered with the team.[26] They finished in first place at the end of the season, winning promotion to the 2020 Brunei Super League.[27] The 'B' team which began to boast import players like Shuhei Sasahara only completed two games before the season was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]
Due to the first team's withdrawal from the Singapore Premier League for the 2021 season, coach Adrian Pennock announced that his team will be lacing up for the 2021 Brunei Super League that would commence in June of that year.[29] The league was suspended three months later due to increasing COVID-19 cases in Brunei and was eventually cancelled for the second successive season.[30]
DPMM competed in the 2022 Brunei FA Cup which was the only competition to be held for the year by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam.[31] On 4 December 2022, they became the winners of the competition by beating Kasuka in the final with a 2–1 score.[32]
Second stint in Singapore (2023–2025)
DPMM began the process of returning to the Singapore Premier League after the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic eased since the year of 2022. The AFC ratified the move in August of that year.[33] The Singapore Premier League website officially announced DPMM's participation for the 2023 season on 27 January 2023.[34] DPMM also qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Cup qualification round for the first time in their history qualifying in the Preliminary round 2 where they face Myanmar club, Yangon United at the Thuwunna Stadium on 16 August 2023, but unfortunately DPMM conceded a last minute goal which saw them exit the tournament. They finished seventh in the league and fourth in the 2023 Singapore Cup. For the first time in the club history, DPMM featured a main sponsor on their jersey ahead of the 2024–25 season, striking a deal with Royal Brunei Airlines where they will provide the team the necessity of travelling back and forth to Brunei for the league matches.
In early July 2024, just six games into the season, the club had to replace coach Rui Capela who left for personal reasons, and appointed Scotsman Jamie McAllister in his place.[35] The club endured a five-match losing streak at the start of 2025 but balanced it out towards the end of the season by winning their final six matches, finishing in fifth place in the SPL standings.[36]
Back to Malaysia League (2025–present)
On 22 May 2025, the Football Association of Singapore announced that DPMM will depart the league after the 2024–25 season.[37] Later that day, the Malaysian Football League confirmed the club's participation in the 2025–26 Malaysia Super League alongside 13 other clubs, with the Bruneian side designated as a guest team.[38] DPMM have already signed Indonesian international Ramadhan Sananta and Malaysian defender Fairuz Zakaria prior to MFL's announcement. The move was made official on 3 June in a signing ceremony that took place in Johor Bahru.[39]
Stadium
DPMM play their home games at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium. The stadium can accommodate 28,000 spectators. The building is oriented in a north–south direction with the grandstand located at the western section. It has a football field which fulfills FIFA standards, as well as the running track which fulfills IAAF standards. The stadium has a video-matrix scoreboard located at the northern section; it can display both Latin and Jawi writing.
On 20 April 2024, DPMM returned to playing at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium after a period of unavailability due to renovation, winning 3–1 in a pre-season friendly against China League One side Guangxi Pingguo Haliao. On 22 June, DPMM played their first league match since 2019 where they drew against Geylang International 3–3.
Players
Current squad
Template:Updated[40] <templatestyles src="Template:Football squad player/styles.css" /> Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Club officials
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Template:Flagicon Al-Muhtadee Billah[41] |
| Vice-chairman | Template:Flagicon Abdul Rahim Kemaluddin Al-Haj[42] |
| Team manager | Template:Flagicon Mohamad Ali Momin[43] |
| Head coach | Template:Flagicon Jamie McAllister |
| Assistant coach | Template:Flagicon Moksen Mohammad[44] |
| Fitness coach | Template:Flagicon Rosmin Kamis[43] |
| Goalkeeping coach | Template:Flagicon Jorge Ferreira |
| Marketing manager | Template:Flagicon Momin Ja'afar[43] |
| Kitman | Template:Flagicon Kasim Amit[45] |
| Physiotherapist | Template:Flagicon Faisal Hashim[45] |
League and cup history
| Season | League | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Template:Flagicon Brunei FA Cup/ Template:Flagicon Malaysia FA Cup/ |
Template:Flagicon Malaysia Cup | Top goalscorer | Goals | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Flagicon Singapore Cup | Template:Flagicon Singapore League Cup | |||||||||||||
| 2001 | Template:Flagicon Pepsi Cup League | 2nd | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 42 | 4 | 15 | Template:Flagicon Radiman Abdul Rahman | 17 | Template:Flagicon Sandi Sejdinovski | ||
| 2002 | Template:Flagicon Brunei Premier League | 1st | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 55 | 16 | 40 | Quarter Final | Template:Flagicon Sean Lockhart | 10 | Template:Flagicon Yordan Stoykov | |
| 2003 | 2nd | 18 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 65 | 12 | 44 | Round 2 | Template:Flagicon Ajayi Oluseye | 28 | Template:Flagicon Azman Eusoff | ||
| 2004 | 1st | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 81 | 7 | 52 | Winners | 30 | Template:Flagicon Amir Alagic | |||
| 2005 | Withdrew | Quarter Final | Template:Flagicon Goran Vujanović | 17 | Template:Flagicon Graham Paddon | |||||||||
| 2005–06 | Template:Flagicon Malaysia Premier League | 3rd | 21 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 40 | 33 | 33 | Group Stage | Template:Flagicon Tiago dos Santos | 10 | Template:Flagicon Ranko Buketa | |
| 2006–07 | Template:Flagicon Malaysia Super League | 3rd | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 46 | 29 | 44 | Template:Flagicon Shahrazen Said | 21 | |||
| 2007–08 | 10th | 24 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 27 | 34 | 22 | First Round | Template:Flagicon Shahrazen Said Template:Flagicon Rosmin Kamis |
5 | Template:Flagicon Yordan Stoykov | ||
| 2009 | Template:Flagicon S.League | Expelled from the league[46][47] | Quarter Final | Winners | Template:Flagicon Shahrazen Said | 8 | Template:Flagicon Vjeran Simunić | |||||||
| 2010–11 | Banned by FIFA | |||||||||||||
| 2012 | Template:Flagicon S.League | 2nd | 24 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 49 | 26 | 48 | Preliminary | Winners | Template:Flagicon Shahrazen Said | 13 | Template:Flagicon Vjeran Simunić |
| 2013 | 8th | 27 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 38 | 48 | 35 | Quarter Final | Runners-up | Template:Flagicon Rodrigo Tosi | 8 | ||
| 2014 | 2nd | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 63 | 30 | 50 | Third Place | Winners | 24 | Template:Flagicon Steve Kean | ||
| 2015 | 1st | 27 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 48 | 26 | 52 | Third Place | First Round | Template:Flagicon Rafael Ramazotti | 21 | ||
| 2016 | 3rd | 24 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 47 | 37 | 41 | Quarter Final | Runners-up | 20 | |||
| 2017 | 8th | 24 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 30 | 61 | 17 | Quarter Final | Semi Final | 14 | |||
| 2018 | Template:Flagicon Singapore Premier League | 3rd | 24 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 46 | 38 | 41 | Runners-up | Template:Flagicon Volodymyr Pryyomov | 18 | Template:Flagicon Renê Weber | |
| 2019 | 1st | 24 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 51 | 25 | 50 | Fourth Place | Template:Flagicon Andrey Varankow | 21 | Template:Flagicon Adrian Pennock | ||
| 2020 | Withdrew[24] | Template:Flagicon Charlie Clough Template:Flagicon Andrey Varankow |
1 | |||||||||||
| 2021 | Template:Flagicon Brunei Super League | League abandoned[30] | Template:Flagicon Andrey Varankow | 22 | ||||||||||
| 2022 | No league competition | Winners | Template:Flagicon Shahrazen Said | 19 | Template:Flagicon Helme Panjang | |||||||||
| 2023 | Template:Flagicon Singapore Premier League | 7th | 24 | 6 | 5 | 13 | 39 | 43 | 23 | Fourth Place | Template:Flagicon Hakeme Yazid Said | 12 | Template:Flagicon Adrian Pennock | |
| 2024–25 | 5th | 32 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 54 | 61 | 44 | Semi-finals | Template:Flagicon Dāvis Ikaunieks | 14 | Template:Flagicon Rui Capela Template:Flagicon Jamie McAllister | ||
| 2025–26 | Template:Flagicon Malaysia Super League | 26 | ||||||||||||
Continental record
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | AFC Champions League | Qualifiers Round 2 | Template:Flagicon Geylang United | 0–3 | 4–0 | 0–7 |
| 2003 | ASEAN Club Championship | Group B | Template:Flagicon Perak FA | 3–0 | 3rd | |
| Template:Flagicon Singapore Armed Forces | 2–2 | |||||
| 2005 | ASEAN Club Championship | Group B | Template:Flagicon Thailand Tobacco Monopoly | 2–2 | 2nd | |
| Template:Flagicon Finance and Revenue | 1–2 | |||||
| Template:Flagicon Tampines Rovers | 0–1 | |||||
| Semi-final | Template:Flagicon Pahang | 1–0 | ||||
| 2023–24 | AFC Cup | Preliminary Round 2 | Template:Flagicon Yangon United | 1–2 |
Records and statistics
Top 10 all-time appearances
Appearances statistics below are only based on records from the 2009 S.League season onwards, includes cup games. Template:Updated
| Rank | Player | Years | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Azwan Saleh | 2006–present | 269+ |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Azwan Ali Rahman | 2013–present | 248 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Wardun Yussof | 2004, 2005–2024 | 238+ |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Shah Razen Said | 2005–2022 | 226+ |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Helmi Zambin | 2009–2024 | 226 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Rosmin Kamis | 2004–2009, 2012–2017 | 213+ |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Hendra Azam Idris | 2012–2024 | 213 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Najib Tarif | 2012–present | 199 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Adi Said | 2012–2018, 2019 | 161 |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Yura Indera Putera | 2015–present | 147 |
Top 10 all-time scorers
Goal statistics below are only based on records from the 2002 B-League season onwards, includes cup games
| Rank | Player | Appearances | Total goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Shah Razen Said | 207+ | 101 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Ajayi Oluseye | 76+ | |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Rafael Ramazotti | 89 | 66 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Andrey Voronkov | 59 | 58 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Azwan Ali Rahman | 229 | 56 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Rodrigo Tosi | 54 | 50 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Adi Said | 161 | 41 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Hakeme Yazid Said | 64 | 39 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Peter Grierson | 30 | |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Rosmin Kamis | 213+ | 27 |
- Biggest win: 18–0 vs Seri Wira (On 13 August 2022)
- Heaviest Defeat: 9-3 vs Home United (On 25 May 2017)
- Youngest goal scorer: Hakeme Yazid Said ~ 16 years 5 months 25 days (2 August 2019 vs Geylang International)
- Oldest goal scorer: Abdul Azizi ~ 36 years 5 months 21 days (8 July 2023 vs Albirex Niigata Singapore)
- Youngest debutant: Hakeme Yazid Said ~ 16 years 5 months 25 days (2 August 2019 vs Geylang International)
- Oldest fielded player: Alizanda Sitom ~ 46 years, 9 months and 26 days (25 May 2017 vs Home United)
Honours
League
Brunei
- Brunei Premier League
- Pepsi Cup League
- Runners-up (1): 2001
Singapore
Cups
Brunei
- Pengiran Sengamara Di Raja Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2000
- DPMM FC Invitational Cup
- Champions (1): 2002
- Brunei Invitational Cup
- Champions (1): 2002[48]
- Brunei Super Cup
- Champions (2): 2002, 2004
- Brunei FA Cup
Singapore
- Singapore Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2018
- Singapore League Cup
- Singapore Community Shield
- Runners-up (1): 2016
References
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External links
Template:Brunei DPMM FC Template:Brunei Super League teamlist Template:S-League Script error: No such module "Navbox". Template:Liga Premier