Kuching City F.C.

Kuching City
Full nameKuching City Football Club
Nickname(s)Il Gatto (The Cats)
Short nameKCC
Founded2015 (2015), as Kuching FA
2021 (2021), as Kuching City
GroundSarawak Stadium
Sarawak State Stadium
Capacity40,000
26,000
Co-ownerFazzrudin Abdul Rahman
Kamaludin Akil
CEOIswandi Ali Hassan[1]
Head coachAidil Sharin Sahak
LeagueMalaysia Super League
2024–25Malaysia Super League, 4th of 13
Websitekuchingcityfc.com

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 was 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. Kuching City FC use the Sarawak State Stadium for home games.

History

In 2015, with the commencement of the People's 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 19 June 2025[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  MAS Shaiful Wazizi[8]
2 DF  MAS Jimmy Raymond[9]
3 DF  MAS Rodney Celvin[10]
5 DF  PHI Scott Woods
6 DF  MAS Arif Fadzilah (on loan from Terengganu[11])
7 FW  MAS Ramadhan Saifullah[12]
8 FW  MAS Hazwan Bakri[13]
9 DF  MAS Adam Shreen[14]
10 MF  NAM Petrus Shitembi[15]
11 FW  MAS Shamie Iszuan[16]
12 MF  MAS Abang Azri[17]
13 DF  MAS Dzulazlan Ibrahim[18]
14 FW  MAS Amir Amri[19]
17 FW  MAS Danial Asri
18 FW  MAS Zahrul Nizwan[20]
19 FW  MAS Gabriel Nistelrooy (on loan from Johor Darul Ta'zim II[21][22])
20 GK  MAS Haziq Nadzli
21 MF  MAS Danial Amier (on loan from Johor Darul Ta'zim[23])
22 MF  TLS João Pedro
No. Pos. Nation Player
23 FW  MAS Amirrul Iqmal[24]
25 MF  BHR Moses Atede
27 DF  MAS Filemon Anyie[25]
28 FW  GHA Jordan Mintah[26]
29 FW  MAS Zharmein Ashraf[27]
35 DF  NGA James Okwuosa[28]
39 GK  MAS Wan Azraie[29]
40 DF  MAS Iskandar Shah
41 DF  MAS Aiman Joanny
44 MF  MAS Alif Hassan (captain[30])
50 MF  MAS Diego Baggio[31]
55 GK  MAS Shahril Saa'ri[32]
64 DF  MAS Badrul Hisham
71 FW  MAS Rahim Razak[33]
77 DF  JPN Yuki Tanigawa[34]
— FW  CMR Ronald Ngah

Other players under contract

As of 4 July 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  MAS Ahmad Uzair Zaidil[35]
— DF  MAS Hariz Mansor[36]
— MF  MAS Alauddin Farid[37]

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; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK  MAS Syafie Mursalim
— GK  MAS Naim Ramadhan Narawi
— DF  MAS Abang Haikal Za'afari
— DF  MAS Haddad Aiman Sufian
— DF  MAS Fadzly Shauqie Jeffry
— DF  MAS Mohd Hazazi Harsi
— DF  MAS Nasharuddin Jaapar Sidik
— DF  MAS Nur Hasbullah Rahman
— DF  MAS Josef Charsel Setom
— DF  MAS Awang Nazmi Shamel
No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF  MAS Gabriel Batistuta Durling
— MF  MAS Faris Mohd Faidillah
— MF  MAS Adifbadri Ariffin
— MF  MAS Syahryl Aiman Saidin
— MF  MAS Mohd Khuzairi Abdullah
— MF  MAS Azkaharridhi Farhan Hasnan
— FW  MAS Cornelius Ornley Jina
— FW  MAS Mohammad Rahiimin Roslan
— FW  MAS Jeckelly Manir
— FW  MAS Shane Thomas

Season by season record

Updated on 30 November 2024.

Season Division Position Malaysia Cup Malaysian FA Cup Malaysia Challenge 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 – – – Alif Hassan (6)
2022 Premier League 3rd Quarter-finals Quarter-finals – – - Abu Kamara (12)
2023 Super League 13th Round 16 Second Round 2nd – – Abu Kamara (16)
2024-25 Super League 4th Quarter-finals Quarter-finals - – –

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

Julian Schwarzer

Michael Ijezie

Sirojiddin Kuziev

2024–25 Yuki Tanigawa Petrus Shitembi Jordan Mintah James Okwuosa Kipré Tchétché Nando Walter Moses Atede Keanu Marsh-Brown

Pedro Henrique

Club staff

As of 16 June 2025[39]

Team Management (Senior)
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
Goalkeeping coach Khairul Azman Mohamed[42]
Fitness coach Azmi Ibrahim
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

[43]

Team Management (Youth)
Manager

Ahmad Zaki Zaidi U23 [44]

Assistant manager Awang Azami Awang Idris U23
Head coach Oleg Kuzmianok U23 [45]
Assistant coach Joseph Kalang Tie U23 [46]

Nizam Mahmud U23

Goalkeeping coach

Abdul Gani Anuar U23 [47] Roslan Madilan

Fitness coach

Michael Wong U23 [48]

Team admin

Roja James U23 [49]

Media officer

Mohd Adib Marsat U23 [50]

Physiotherapist Gary Nyelang U23 [51]
Masseur

Padil Abet U23

Kitman

Saiful Abdullah U23 [52]

Honours

League

Cup

References

  1. ^ "New imports set to bolster Kuching City's Super League 2023 campaign". The Borneo Post. 6 January 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Kuching Joins Liga FAM". SarawakCrocs.com – Sarawak's No.1 Football Site. 2 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Liga Bola Sepak Rakyat (LBR) to revive interest at district level". SPORTS247.MY – The Ultimate Malaysian Sports Channel. 13 June 2015.
  4. ^ http://www.fourthofficial.com/2015/20837/liga-bolasepak-rakyat-will-unearth-more-talent-najib-razak/ Liga Bolasepak Rakyat will unearth more talent – Najib Razak
  5. ^ "Kuching FA Juara Sulung Liga Bolasepak Rakyat". SarawakCrocs.com – Sarawak's No.1 Football Site. 28 May 2016.
  6. ^ "Liga Premier: Kuching FA masih tunggu lampu hijau daripada FAM". 30 November 2018.
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