No decision yet on Aussie midfielder
Published on: Friday, March 22, 2024
By: GL Oh
Haris training with the team. Left: Kim Swee.
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah FC have yet to make a decision on whether to sign Australian player Charalampos ‘Haris’ Stamboulidis for the coming Super League season.
The 1.85cm tall midfielder who can also play as a defender last featured for Vera New football club in the Greek third tier league and been training with the team in the past few days.
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Rhinos head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee said on Thursday that they are still monitoring the players and his status with the team will be announced soon.
“The management has not made any decision to sign him as our newest import player to face the 2024-2025 Malaysia League campaign which is expected to start in May.
“We are still examining his performance and ability. What I have seen so far is quite positive and the final decision will only be made in the near future,” he said.
He also said he is well aware other teams in the league have started their preparation and have signed a number of import players to strengthen their squad for the new season.
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“We are still retaining our existing import players from last season and will set the target of finishing among the top five teams in the league this season.
“We see this as a positive target and hope that Sabah FC will be able to achieve it while trying to rectify the weaknesses from last season.”
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Sabah FC finished in third place behind Johor Darul Ta’zim FC and Selangor last season.
Among the imports still in the team are Park Tae-su, Saddil Ramdani, Ramon Machado, Gabriel Peres, Telmo Castanheira, Ko Kwang-min while the locals who are called up for training are Sharizan Saidin, Naim Firdaus, Hamran Peter and Mohd Nureizkhan Isa Japar.
Ong added that several friendly matches are planned for the team as well as organising an invitational match in preparation for the new season.
“There will most likely be an SMJ Cup tournament to be held in April or early May and the management is likely to make the announcement very soon.”
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