Kasuka FC

Kasuka Football Club () is a Brunei professional 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 the demand from the residents of Kampong Sungai Kedayan to play in the district league, Kasuka was founded in 1993. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the club enjoyed a great deal of success. For the 1997–98 season, they won the Brunei-Muara District League and added the Police Cup (PRG) and Mukim Berakas Cup (Perbekal) to their collection of victories. By winning the District League Champions Cup, Pepsi Cup, and Community Shield of the District League in 1999, Kasuka added three more cups to their collection.

Further successes (1999–2008)

With the arrival of coach Moksen Mohammad in 2000, he would lead the team to win both the Brunei-Muara District League and the Pengiran Sengamara Di Raja Cup. According to Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (FABD), the club also won both the Mukim Kilanas Trophy and Md Amir PP competition in 2000. Under his guide, Kasuka continue to succeed with a 3–1 victory, against DPMM in the Malaysian Pepsi Cup that following year. Kasuka were one of the founding members of the B-League in 2002, where they ended the season in third place. They stayed in the top flight until the 2007–08 season when they withdrew from the competition with just two games left to play.

Reformation (2014–present)

Kasuka reformed in 2014, winning promotion from the Brunei Premier League in 2015 into the Brunei Super League. They managed to obtain an AFC Club License in late 2020, in view of participating in the qualifying stages of the 2021 AFC Cup, by virtue of their second place standing in the 2018–19 season. On 7 July 2021, AFC announced that the ASEAN Zone matches of the 2021 AFC Cup were cancelled, denying Kasuka of their continental debut.

In the year 2022, Kasuka strengthened their ranks further with the acquisition of several talents such as Adi Said, Azman Ilham Noor and Khairil Shahme Suhaimi to mount a serious challenge for the 2022 Brunei FA Cup, the only FABD competition to be contested for the year. They were even touted to be the favourites to win the competition when it commenced. They managed to go all the way to the final on 4 December when Kasuka initially had an early lead after Leon Sullivan Taylor scored the first goal of the match in the 13th minute. Azwan Ali Rahman equalised deep in first half stoppage time and Shah Razen Said subsequently netted the winner in the 70th minute to hand Kasuka defeat at the last hurdle of the tournament.

Back-to-back league champions (2023–2025)

A year later, in preparation for the 2023 Brunei Super League they recruited talented import players as well as former DPMM players such as Shah Razen Said, Nur Asyraffahmi Norsamri and Hazwan Hamzah to make them favourites for the title. Tragedy struck the club in August when active squad member Abdul Halim Hassan passed away after a brief illness. After just 16 games into the season, the league abruptly ended, handing Kasuka the title with an unassailable lead at the top.

In May 2024, Kasuka announced their participation to the recently revived 2024–25 ASEAN Club Championship. They entered the qualifying play-off against Shan United of Myanmar in July where they were beaten 2–4 on aggregate.

In the first fixture of the 2024–25 Brunei Super League on 1 September 2024, Kasuka crushed Lun Bawang 9–0 to signal their intent to defend their championship title, despite the introduction of DPMM's second team to the league who are captained by Prince Abdul Muntaqim. Both teams were winning all their matches until 24 November when Indera SC managed to force Kasuka to a 2–2 draw, which put DPMM II in pole position leading to their final fixture of the season on 2 February at Jerudong Park Mini Stadium. Kasuka, who needed a victory to become champions, managed to outscore their opposition 2–3 courtesy of a Willian dos Santos hat-trick, and thus became Brunei Super League champions for the second time in a row. Willian dos Santos also managed to win the season 'top scorer' awards with 35 goals which is also the highest number of goal in a season in the Brunei Super League history. Kasuka then qualified to the 2025–26 AFC Challenge League qualifying play-off.

Current squad

Club officials

Performance in AFF club competitions

Honours

* Brunei Super League
** Champions (2): 2023, 2024–25
* Brunei-Muara District League
** Champions (1): 1997–98, 2000
* Brunei FA Cup
** Runners-up (1): 2022
* Pengiran Sengamara Di Raja Cup
** Champions (1): 2000
* Mukim Kilanas Trophy
** Champions (1): 2000
* Md Amir PP
** Champions (1): 2000
* Brunei Pepsi Cup
** Champions (1): 2001
* Brunei Police Cup
** Champions (1): 1997
* Mukim Berakas Cup
** Champions (1): 1997

References

External links

*

{{Brunei Super League teamlist

Association football clubs established in 1993
1993 establishments in Brunei
Football clubs in Brunei