Written by: Kieran Willowson

The S.League CEO Lim Chin expressed his delight at Brunei DPMM’s association with Singapore’s top flight adding that their continued participation not only raises the standard of football in Singapore but builds on the cordial and close relationship between the two countries in multiple areas ranging from football to infrastructure.

“I’m very happy that football is another platform for the two countries to bring people together. We are very happy that DPMM is playing in our S League”, said Lim at the sidelines of the DPMM – S.League Football Fanfare 2016 on Sunday.

“They have made it exciting as well. Our Singapore clubs to be able to come to Brunei to play enhances their professionalism and playing at a national stadium with such a good fan base is also another good experience for our football clubs”, he said.

“We are very happy that DPMM continue to participate in the S League. They won the league last year and this year is very exciting because everybody wants to try to beat the champions”, he added.

He also welcomed the possibility of future Bruneian players forging their careers in Singapore clubs in their next phase of development.

“I’m sure that will happen in due course. If they are good, we in Singapore can also sign three foreign players per club”.

“If the opportunity opens up, I’m sure some of the Brunei players in the coming years will be picked up by not only in Singapore but maybe also in Malaysia and Thailand as well”, the CEO added.

The national team players’ participation in the S League could benefit the national team due to their exposure of playing in a regional or international competition and Lim agreed that the DPMM players can have a profound effect to strengthen the national team.

“I think that is one of the ultimate objectives of the league and DPMM. I hope that their participation in the S.League will improve the standard of the majority of the players and the Brunei national players”.

“I also hope that the Brunei national team can do well in regional tournaments”, he continued.

Highlighting the strengths of the current S.League champions, the CEO spoke highly of the quality that the Brunei players have demonstrated not limiting to the league on a consistent basis.

“I think it is very clear and evident that the Brunei players in the DPMM are of a very high standard.”

“This is because from the last two or three seasons DPMM is the only team that won the League Cup three times. In the last two or three seasons, they were almost champions.”

“All of these results from the DPMM team show the quality of the Brunei local players”.

The CEO also lauded the DPMM – S.League Football Fanfare 2016 as a good initiative which supports community engagement as an avenue towards expanding a supporter base ahead of the new season.

[Brunei DPMM – S.League FanFare 2016 (32)]

Lim said the rest of the clubs in the S League have also embraced the same practice of enhancing interaction and encouraging deeper and wider engagement with the community.

“For example, Home United did something similar in their stadium in Bishan a week ago. All clubs are doing this in fact throughout the season organising community events to engage the public so that they can build a fan base and promote the club”, the CEO added.

DPMM will kick-off their 2016 campaign with a match against last season’s Singapore Cup champions Albirex Niigata (S) in the Community Shield on 13 February at the Jalan Besar Stadium.