Mohammed Brian Iman Abdullah Bothwell is a former professional footballer most known for leading Brunei FA to their first

Malaysian Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the nation's o ...

title in 1999. He won the Penang Sports Club International Soccer Sevens tournament in 2007 with the Brunei Dragons.

Career

Brunei

Spending several seasons in Australia, Bothwell returned to his native

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

after being invited to train with

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

. Instead, however, he passed on the opportunity to become an apprentice at

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

. Next, the Scottish-born forward went back to Australia before transferring to Brunei FA, earning 50,000 pounds a year. In 2003, the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM, ms, Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia responsible for organising the Malaysia national football team within the country. The Football Association o ...

ratified a policy which stated that foreign players must ply their trade elsewhere for two years before they can return to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. Despite this, they still allowed Bothwell to play for Brunei at the time without playing abroad for two years. By 2004, Bothwell had left the team.

Geylang

While lining up for

Geylang Geylang is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west. Geylang is perh ...

from 2000 to 2002, the Australian was accused of match-fixing along with footballers William Bone,

Max Nicholson Edward Max Nicholson (12 July 1904 – 26 April 2003) was a pioneering environmentalist, ornithologist and internationalist, and a founder of the World Wildlife Fund. Early life Max Nicholson, as he was known to all, was born in Kilternan, ...

and

Lutz Pfannenstiel Lutz Pfannenstiel (born 12 May 1973) is a German former professional football goalkeeper, coach, scout, TV analyst and the current sporting director for St. Louis City SC. He holds the record for the only footballer to play professionally in ...

. He was released on a 5775

pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), a unit of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile Symbols * Po ...

bail after being catechized by the police regarding the incident. Brian was cleared of any involvement in match fixing and went on to win the league title the following season. Retiring in 2006, the former footballer opted to become a coach, getting his AFC B License and AFC Level 1 Goalkeeping license. He last coached Geylang's Under-18 side.

Personal life

In order to marry Malaysian Salwani Abdul Rahman Sahib, Bothwell converted to Islam. Their wedding was broadcast live on television. Later, he married a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an. As a child, he was a supporter of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

club

. During his time in Australia, Bothwell lived with his parents Margaret and Brian who moved there as well.

References

External links

Brian Bothwell
at Aussie Footballers {{DEFAULTSORT:Bothwell, Brian 1970 births Living people Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Brunei Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players Singapore Premier League players Geylang International FC players Scottish emigrants to Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore Malaysia Premier League players Falcons 2000 SC players Brunei (Liga Premier team) players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Australian expatriate sportspeople in Brunei Footballers from Glasgow