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

. Instead, however, he passed on the opportunity to become an apprentice at Sheffield United. 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 (commonly abbreviated as FAM; ) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia, headquartered at Wisma FAM. The FAM is also one of the founding members of both the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) a ...

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. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. 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 ...

from 2000 to 2002, the Australian was accused of match-fixing along with footballers William Bone, Max Nicholson and Lutz Pfannenstiel. He was released on a 5775 pound 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 Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. Their wedding was broadcast live on television. Later, he married a

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. 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.

Honours

; Brunei *

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), 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 country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

: 1999 Individual * Meritorious Service Medal (PJK; 13 December 1999)

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