Muhammad Abu Bakar bin Mahari (born 11 February 1985) is a

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

playing as a striker for Penabai Kuala Tutong FT. He is nicknamed the "Eto'o of Tutong" due to similarities in appearance and footballing qualities with

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Club career

After impressive displays for the Prisons Department and NBT FC in the domestic league, Abu Bakar was drafted in to play for Brunei's sole professional club

DPMM FC Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (English language, English: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Brunei Football Club; Abbreviation, abbrev: DPMM or Brunei DPMM) is a professional association football, football club based in Bandar S ...

in the

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an S.League and he contributed 3 goals in 20 matches, winning the

2009 Singapore League Cup The 2009 Singapore League Cup kicked off on 1 June. For this season, the 12 teams will be divided into four groups of three in the preliminary round which will be played on a round-robin basis. The top two teams from each group qualify for the n ...

. Abu Bakar was sent on loan to his old club the Prisons Department while DPMM could not resume playing due to a FIFA ban. In this period, he suffered an injury which kept him out for a year. Contemplating retirement, his then-coach

Vjeran Simunić Vjeran Simunić (born 26 April 1953) is a Croatian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player. Playing career Simunić started his playing career in Hajduk Split in the ...

finally convinced him to play for DPMM in their comeback season in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, but he only managed to appear in 4 games before being released. Abu Bakar subsequently played for

Jerudong FC Jerudong Football Club () is a Bruneian professional association football, football club that last competed in the Brunei Super League. With almost 30 years of service, the club has experienced its fair share of highs and lows while competing in ...

in the 2012–13 Brunei Super League, then

QAF FC QAF FC is a professional football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. The club won the Brunei League in 2006 when the DPMM FC had to withdraw because they play in the Malaysian Premier League, thus the QAF FC won the title. Their captain ...

the following year. He dropped a division in 2015, appearing for re-banded

Kasuka FC Kasuka Football Club () is a Brunei professional association football, football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan that currently plays in the Brunei Super League, the domestic top-tier competition. History Early days (1993–1998) Due to t ...

in the 2015 Brunei Premier League. He scored six goals to help Kasuka gain promotion to the 2016 Brunei Super League. Abu Bakar moved to

Kota Ranger FC Kota Ranger Football Club (; abbrev: KRFC), formerly Perkota, is a Bruneian football club, playing in the Brunei Super League. It was formed in 1978 and was successful in the late eighties and early nineties, winning the national championships t ...

in 2016. He scored four goals against Menglait FC in his club's opening match for the 2017 Brunei Super League. On 11 August, in a match that pitted two unbeaten teams in the Super League, Abu Bakar scored two goals to beat his club's direct rivals

MS ABDB Royal Brunei Armed Forces Sports Council; , commonly abbreviated MS ABDB, is the multi-sport club in charge of all sporting activities of all service branches of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF, – ABDB), in the sultanate of Brunei Daruss ...

. The 2–1 score would send Kota Ranger three points clear off the top of the 11-team league. Abu Bakar finished the 2017–18 season as the second highest top scorer (behind

Abdul Azizi Ali Rahman Private (rank), Soldadu Abdul Azizi bin Ali Rahman is a Bruneian Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for Brunei Super League side DPMM FC, DPMM FC II. Club career Abdul Azizi began playing ...

) with 22 goals. His team also finished second in the league, three points off the champions MS ABDB. He was unable to recapture his goalscoring form in the following season, but managed to win the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

instead. In 2025, he captained PKT FT competing in the

2025 Brunei FA Cup The 2025 Brunei FA Cup is the 14th edition of the Brunei FA Cup. A record low of 12 teams will enter the competition that is to run from February to May 2025 by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. On 18 May 2025, the second team of DP ...

International career

Abu Bakar was selected for the

Brunei national under-23 football team Brunei national under-23 football team (also known as Brunei Under-23, Brunei U-23 or Brunei Olympic Team) represents Brunei in international football competitions in Olympic Games, Asian Games and SEA Games, as well as any other under-23 inter ...

competing in the 2008 Sukma Games in Malaysia. Abu Bakar made his

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

debut in a 0–1 loss against

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

on 13 May 2008. His first goal came against

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

in a 2–3 reverse in the

2008 AFF Suzuki Cup qualification The 2008 AFF Championship qualification was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 17 to 25 October 2008 for the five lower-ranked teams in Southeast Asia. All teams play in a round-robin tournament format and the top two teams of the group qualify f ...

on 23 October the same year. Abu Bakar's league form in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

forced the doors to an international callup in December for the

2017 Aceh World Solidarity Tsunami Cup The 2017 Aceh World Solidarity Tsunami Cup was a four-team association football youth tournament held at the 45,000-seat Harapan Bangsa Stadium in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh between the 2 and 6 December 2017. The tournament was organized a ...

, nine years after last representing his country.

International goals

Honours

Team

;Brunei DPMM FC *

Singapore League Cup The Singapore League Cup was an annual association football competition in Singapore. It was launched in 2007 and was open to teams who competed in the S.League. Albirex Niigata (S), a satellite club of Albirex Niigata of the J League, has won t ...

(2):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* S.League:

Runner-Up ;Kota Ranger FC *

Brunei FA Cup The Brunei FA Cup is Brunei's premier knockout tournament in men's football. The current format is administered by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (FABD) since 2012. The championship winner will receive B$10,000 and first runner up ...

: 2018–19

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Bakar Mahari 1985 births Living people Bruneian Muslims Men's association football forwards Bruneian men's footballers Brunei men's international footballers DPMM FC players QAF FC players Kota Ranger FC players Kasuka FC players Singapore Premier League players Brunei Super League players