Kota Ranger Football Club (; abbrev: KRFC), formerly Perkota, 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 ...

an football club, playing in the

Brunei Super League The Brunei Super League ( abbr: BSL; – LSB) is a professional league for men's association football in the sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. It is at the top tier of the Bruneian football league system, and it is managed by the Football As ...

. It was formed in 1978 and was successful in the late eighties and early nineties, winning the national championships twice. Kota Ranger directly translates to City Ranger in English. Having won two national

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

playoffs, a competition that pitted the four district champions against one another; in 1987 and 1993, Kota Ranger is regarded as one of the most successful clubs from that era. Kota Ranger FC, a dominant force in Brunei football in the 1980s and 1990s, and AM Gunners FC are two club names that may hint at some

British influence British Influence, formally the Centre for British Influence Through Europe, was an independent, cross-party, pro-single market foreign-affairs think tank based in the United Kingdom, founded in 2012 to make the case for the European Union am ...

on the local game.

History

Early days

In the 1970s, Perkota was created by Alidon Laidin and his siblings of Kota Batu on the outskirts of

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital and largest city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei–Muara District, the s ...

, overlooking the

Brunei Bay Brunei Bay () is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia. It is located east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong District of Brunei, separated from the rest of Brunei by th ...

. Before focusing on

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and changing their name to Kota Ranger FC in 1978, the main sports were perahu racing,

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

, and sepak takraw. This was a result of their accepting players from outside the Kota Batu region as well. They participated in the national championships run by the Brunei Football Association and claimed silverware first in 1987, then secondly in a league championship in 1992. Regionally, they participated in the

1987 Asian Club Championship The 1987 Asian Club Championship was the 7th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Several Asian clubs started the qualifying round in Fall of 1987. Yomiuri FC (Japan) became the second Ja ...

and the 1992 Borneo Inter-Club Cup, winning the latter outright. A

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

scored by Momin Ahmad on the 22nd minute of the match between Kota Ranger and

Persiba Balikpapan Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Balikpapan, commonly known as Persiba Balikpapan, is a professional football club based in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The club set to play in the Liga 2 from 2025–26, after promotion from Liga Nusant ...

, brought the club to victory. They failed to qualify for the 1992–93 edition of the

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious cl ...

, despite having beaten PKNK F.C. from

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 ...

in the first round. A few

national players The National Players is the longest-running classical touring company in the United States. Classical Touring Company After 70 consecutive seasons of touring, this acting company has given approximately 6,600 performances and workshops on play ...

, including Liew Chuan Fue and

Rosanan Samak Haji Mohammad Rosanan bin Abdullah Samak (born 18 July 1965) is a Bruneian football coach and former player, who played as a striker most notably with the Brunei team that played in the Malaysian league in the 1990s. He was a member of the ...

of the 1999 Malaysia Cup team, were from Kota Ranger.

Decline

Kota Ranger was one of the founding clubs of the B-League in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. They were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

after being in the last place with only one win during the 2004 Premier League, and spent time in the second tier of Brunei football until 2015, when they became league champions and promoted to the

. Norsillmy Taha scored the winning penalty which resulted in a 1–0 victory over

Tabuan Muda Tabuan Muda () was a Bruneian football team that played in the Bruneian football league system, under the management of the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. The team was formed in 2015 to prepare Brunei's youth international te ...

Revival

Currently their best record in the competition is in the 2017–18 season when they finished runners-up to

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 ...

. In 2019, Kota Ranger claimed their first ever

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 ...

triumph, beating MS PDB 2–1, the winner coming in the 89th minute via Nur Asyraffahmi Norsamri after Amir Bujang for the policemen cancelled out an earlier Amalul Said goal. During the 2020 Super Cup, the club went as far as winning the final match 3–1 against

at the

Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium (; abbrev. SNHB) is a multi-purpose stadium in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It is currently used mostly for association football matches. The stadium holds 28,000 and was opened on 23 September 1983. It was nam ...

Adi Said Adi bin Said (born 15 October 1990) is a Bruneian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Brunei Super League club Kasuka FC, Kasuka. He has played in Malaysia. Club car ...

's debut followed by him scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

; on the 3rd, 44th and 90th minutes of the match. The club was leading 1st place in the 2020 Super League when it was unexpectedly postponed and eventually cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the country, ending the tournament with only two matches completed. That following year, the restrictions were lifted and the club would participate in the 2022 FA Cup, Kota Ranger made it into the

semi finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the 2022 FA Cup after winning against KB FC in the quarter-finals. However, they would be defeated by

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 ...

with an aggregated score of 3–0.

Current squad

Club officials

Continental record

Honours

Brunei Premier League The Brunei Premier League () is the second tier of the football pyramid of Brunei. It was Brunei's top-tier football league until 2012, when the Brunei Super League was created. The Premier League falls under the management of the National Footba ...

** Champions (1): 2015 *

** Runners-up (1): 2017–2018 * National Championship play-off ** Champions (2): 1987, 1993 *

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 ...

** Champions (1): 2018–2019 ** Runners-up (1): 2003 *

Piala Sumbangsih The Malaysian Charity Shield (English: Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah () or Piala Sumbangsih, is a Malaysian football super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pittin ...

** Champions (1): 2020 * Brunei National Championship ** Champions (1): 1987 * Jasra Trophy League ** Champions (1): 1988–89 * BAFA-Standard Chartered Football League ** Champions (1): 1992 * Borneo Inter-Club Cup ** Champions (1): 1992 * Piza Cup ** Champions (1): 2005 * Piza Cup Charity Shield ** Champions (1): 2006 * Joint Cup Championship ** Champions (1): 2019

References

External links

* {{Brunei Super League teamlist Football in Brunei Football clubs in Brunei Association football clubs established in 1978 1978 establishments in Brunei Sport in Bandar Seri Begawan