“The season remains long, but Kampung Buangkok’s journey won’t stop here. As a self-funded team making tremendous sacrifices to represent Singapore—including playing back-to-back matches to reduce travel costs—they are fueled by passion and pride. And for that reason, they deserve our full support. Whether as fans of Singaporean football or simply as Singaporeans, it’s on us to rally behind them”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step. We hope that this one small step will draw the attention of various organizations within the footballing fraternity and potentially lead to the establishment of a local futsal league and national team in the near future”
Despite their enthusiasm, the transition into Japanese football culture was fraught with challenges. “It took us nearly two months to break into the team culture,” Isa explained. “The language barrier and various other factors were quite frustrating. However, we are incredibly grateful to Hiroshi Yofuko, the club’s head coach, who took the time to understand us and gradually introduced us to the team.”
“We can talk about a huge country like Brazil, where it is common for footballers play both, but definitely not us in Japan. So yes, it’s certainly not an easy task if you ask me. Since now I’m in this position, the management trusts me, I will do my best to lead the league”
“This is a great opportunity for me to learn from a big club that used to play in LaLiga, especially from a small country like Hong Kong. The football here is totally different, and I can learn a lot and improve as a player for sure”
Just when we thought we should be the only ones not familiar with CSL, the club was comfortable admitting that they were not familiar with CSL in the first place. In 2021, they were still in Division Two, and in two years, they gained promotion to Division One and eventually to the Chinese Super League. According to the Club’s Chairman, Mr. Xu, everything developed too fast! However, Mr Xu and his team spared no effort to ensure the club was ready for the new CSL season. The club hired many new full-time staff to take on various new roles in business development, media, community engagement, dietician, and many more to meet the demands of a professionally run football club.
“So, my country, Japan, won the AFC U-23 Asian Cup. But it came as a surprise to me. Of course, I believed in them and cheered for them. But then again, Japan didn’t exactly gather the best team for the tournament. It was far from the team that they had built up until now, and in fact, it was the most worrisome thing they had ever done since the team was formed, including the preparation period”
“It was not about how many goals I scored, but our outstanding performance in that tournament garnered unexpected attention and support from everyone back home in Macau. Because nobody believes in us, right? Even when we play international friendlies, we rarely win. At most, we get a draw, but we rarely win. So when we started winning in the AFC Solidarity Cup, people began talking about us. People in Macau, newspapers and various media started to take notice and support us”
“You must realise that you must push yourself to the next level to accomplish anything. You always have to believe that you can, and then you will be able to do it. It’s all up here (pointing to the head). Understand that football is not played with the feet; the feet are just tools. It is here (pointing to the head). It’s all mentality”
“You know what was the quality of Croatia back then? We never surrender; we never give up. And we loved playing against a strong national team! What was there for us to lose? Nothing! We beat Italy, we beat Germany, we beat England, we beat all the big teams. Then again, all these started young in Croatia. And that’s also what I wanted to do: motivate all the young players to be proud of their country. The moment they touch their football crest or flag on their chest, singing the National Anthem out loud, it’s the country pride they have to play for. In that 1998 World Cup, we showed just that”
“Unlike the temporary break in Chinese football, Malaysian football development is more substantial, as it has proven for the past ten years. Credit has to be given to the HRH Crown Prince for sure. He not only reinforced the first team by injecting high-calibre players such as Jordi Amat, Shane Lowry, Pablo Aimar and more, but he also invested heavily in developing the training centre and the stadium and possessed a long-term vision for the club. Yes, all these might look easy on paper, but the HRH Crown Prince is the one who showed it by action. I have nothing but great respect for him”
