Kuching City Football Club, simply known as Kuching City, is a professional football club based in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia that plays in the Malaysia Super League. It is also the youngest club to join the highest level of the Malaysian football league system, having been founded in 2015.[2] It is the third professional football club based in the state of Sarawak.
 | |
| Full name | Kuching City Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Il Gatto (The Cats) |
| Short name | KCC |
| Founded | 2015, as Kuching FA 2021, as Kuching City |
| Ground | Sarawak Stadium |
| Capacity | 40,000 |
| Co-owner | Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman Kamaludin Akil |
| CEO | Iswandi Ali Hassan[1] |
| Head coach | Aidil Sharin Sahak |
| League | Malaysia Super League |
| 2023 | MSL, 13th of 14 |
| Website | Club website |
History
In 2015, with the commencement of the People Football League introduced by the Football Association of Malaysia, the purpose of the league was to transform lower leagues in Malaysia and promote amateur football in all districts and states across Malaysia.[3][4] Consequently, Kuching F.A. was founded alongside it to represent the district of Kuching in Sarawak.
FAM Cup
In the 2015–16 Liga Bolasepak Rakyat, Kuching won the inaugural edition[5] after beating Padang Besar 3–1 at the Selayang Stadium. With the championship, Kuching got an automatic promotion into the 2017 Piala FAM.
In their first season in FAM League, Kuching achieved 4th place in Group B, qualifying the team for the play-offs. They were knocked out in the quarter-final stage by UKM F.C., which later gained promotion to 2018 Malaysia Premier League as finalist of the play-offs. Kuching's second season in the FAM League saw them in the 4th place in Group A, the same as previous season. Unfortunately, changes in the play-off qualifying saw them miss out on the knock-out stage as only top two teams of each group chosen. Kuching were registered to play in the 2019 Malaysia FAM Cup, but were also invited by FAM to play in the 2019 Malaysia Premier League, as a number of teams pull out from the league.[6]
After announcing their promotion to the 2020 Malaysia Premier League, Kuching changed their kit to a new one to kick start their new journey, the colours are green with white stripes and "City of Unity" is written in the middle of the kit. The following season, they added ''City'' to back of Kuching.
First cup final
Kuching City reach promotion to 2023 Malaysia Super League for the first time in history after the MFL License have been approved for the 2023 season. On 2 August 2023, former Singaporean legend, Aidil Sharin Sahak was announced as the new head coach of the club signing Namibia captain, Petrus Shitembi and Tajikistani midfielder Nuriddin Davronov. Aidil Sharin guided the club to a great run in the 2023 MFL Challenge Cup winning 4–0 on aggregate against his former club, Kedah Darul Aman in the quarter-finals, a 3–1 on aggregate against Kelantan United in the semi-finals which saw the club first ever cup final in their history.
Crest and colours
Kuching's crest has a yellow shield and the flag of Sarawak where the club originated from, and a green-white stripped tiger. "City of Unity" is written in the middle of the crest.
Crest
2019–2021 crest
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
| Season | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–2023 | Starsport | LSC & Kuching City of Unity |
| LSC, Yakult & Kuching City of Unity | ||
| Serba Dinamik, LSC & Yakult |
Players
First-team squad
- As of 8 March 2024[7]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Other players under contract
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Development squads
Kuching City B (U23)
Head coach: 
Oleg Kuzmianok
- As of 6 April 2024[38]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Season by season record
Updated on 1 November 2022.
| Season | Division | Position | Malaysia Cup | Malaysian FA Cup | Malaysian Charity Shield | Regional | Top Scorer (All Competitions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | Liga LBR | Champions | DNQ | – | – | – | |
| 2017 | FAM League | 4th of 7 Group B | DNQ | – | – | – | |
| 2018 | FAM League | 4th of 7 Group A | DNQ | Second round | – | – |  Shafitri Salim (4) |
| 2019 | Liga M3 | 2nd | DNQ | Second round | – | – | Joseph Kalang Tie (18) |
| 2020 | Premier League | 4th | Cancelled | Cancelled | – | – |  Bryan Jones (4) |
| 2021 | Premier League | 5th | 3rd of 4th Group stage B | Not held | – | – | |
| 2022 | Premier League | 3rd | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | – |  Abu Kamara (12) | |
| 2023 | Super League | – | – | ||||
Foreign players (since 2019)
| Season | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Player 6 | Player 7 | Player 8 | Player 9 | Former Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 |  Yuta Suzuki |
|||||||||
| 2020 | Hudson Jesus |
Bryan Jones Anicézio |
Yuta Suzuki |
Yuki Tanigawa |
||||||
| 2021 | Hudson Jesus |
Aylton Alemão |
 Ijezie Michael |
Yuta Suzuki |
Bryan Jones | |||||
| 2022 | Gabryel |
Aylton Alemão |
Abu Kamara |
Yuki Tanigawa |
 Keanu Marsh-Brown | |||||
| 2023 | Célio Santos |
Aylton Alemão |
Bruno Dybal |
Yuki Tanigawa |
 Mihailo Jovanović |
Abu Kamara |
 Dechi Marcel |
 Petrus Shitembi |
 Pedro Henrique |
 Sudi Abdallah
|
Club staff
As of 3 April 2024[update][39]
| Team management | |
|---|---|
| Role | Person |
| President | vacant |
| Technical director | Wan Jamak Wan Hassan |
| Manager | Irwanshah Mohamad[40] |
| Assistant manager | Ismail Haji Hamdin |
| Head coach |  Aidil Sharin Sahak[41] |
| Assistant coach | Firdaus Morshidi |
| GK coach | Khairul Azman Mohamed[42] |
| Fitness coach | Mohd Aidil Idham Fadzil Halmi |
| Video analyst | Ahmad Mundir |
| Team doctor | Muhamad Karbela Reza Ramlan |
| Physiotherapist Mohd Khairul Nizam Suhaimi, Ferdinand Lisa | |
| Media officer | Darul Imran Azmi |
| Masseur Mohamed Zawawi Ali Hassan, Mohd Shahrizan Sahari | |
| Kitman Mohammad Hysham Adenan, Azarul Nazriq | |
Honours
League
- Malaysia M3 League
- Liga Bolasepak Rakyat
- Winners: 2015–16
Cup
- MFL Challenge Cup
- Runner-up (1): 2023
References
External links
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