DPMM FC to sign Brazilian, Irish players

Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Sunday, September 18, 2011

TIME is precious and DPMM FC are wasting none of it!

Brunei's only professional football club are looking to make a return to the Singapore League (S-League) and have "confirmed their first two imports" of the season.

The team, who became the first foreign team to win a trophy in Singapore by claiming the League Cup in their debut season in 2009, applied to re-join the S-League earlier in the week after Croatian coach Vjeran Simunic penned a new contract last Thursday.

According to the team's official website they are on the verge of signing defender Tales Ricarte dos Santos and midfielder George O'Callaghan.

Headlined "DPMM have confirmed the first 2 imports of the season", the brief post on the club's website said: "DPMM FC are on the verge of signing defender Tales Ricarte dos Santos and midfielder George O'Callaghan".

Tales, 27, last played for Tocantinopolis and the Brazilian regularly featured in the Serie D in Brazil.

On the other hand, the 32-year-old O'Callaghan played at Ipswich in the 2007/8 season and featured for Tranmere the following season before transferring to Yeovil Town, where the Irish attacking midfielder laced up for 12 matches.

Several other players are also on trial with the team as DPMM FC are looking to maximise the quota of four imports per team.

With the vast experience of Simunic, who was previously in charge of the side for 17 months until October 2009 when Fifa suspended the Sultanate, it shouldn't be a problem for him to select the best from the rest.

Simunic oversaw DPMM FC's most successful spell when they became the first foreign side to lift the Singapore League Cup in June 2009 after defeating Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out.

French side Etoile FC are the S-League's defending champions, with the competition starting on Feb 12 with a dozen teams playing in three rounds.

Currently in its 16th season, Singapore's top-flight is scheduled to end on Nov 28 though hopefully DPMM FC won't have to wait until then to find out if they can play.The Brunei Times