Despite lowly finish Next Step FC end on a high

There’s the old saying that tables do not lie, which on the face  of things means Next Step FC, the newest professional club in Cambodia did not have a good year. Their ne of season stats has them finishing 11th out of the 12 in the second tier, with a mere 6 points and a goal difference of -76. Football though is about much more than numbers.

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The background to Next Step FC

Originally founded as an academy club by the enigmatic Englishman and two time former Soltilo Angkor FC coach Charlie Pomroy, they decided to go professional as part of the new Cambodian Premier League plans of 2022.

This led to a frantic rush to get their professional license, with them not only being the last club to receive theirs, but also leaving scant time for recruitment and preparation, something Coach Pomroy laments to this day “We only knew we were definitely in the league a few days before it started, which made essential things like signing players and getting sponsorship near impossible”.

But Next Step were nothing if not ambitious and managed to not only assemble a ragtag squad, but amazingly also win their first game of the season 1-0 against National Academy, alas this was not to the bright start they had hoped for.

Next Step Football Club and the 2022 Season

Despite that initial success the rest of the season was to prove hard both on and off the pitch for Next Step FC, with moments like the 17-0 defeat at Prey Veng, as well as the numerous red cards for Pomroy being some of the low points. 

Yet low points, whilst low also amplify the high ones, with leading scorer the Brazilian Bruno (10 goals) arguably scoring the goal of the season, not just in Cambodia, but perhaps the world and the club scraping enough results not to receive the wooden spoon.

https://youtu.be/wtrh4S9YPHY

It was though off the pitch where the real struggles occurred, with financing from the league being overall not enough and rarely on time with Pomroy adding “At times it feels like the second-tier was almost an afterthought, with not enough support for the lower clubs such as ourselves from the CPL”.

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This was a complaint shared by other lower league clubs, many of which have also suffered financial hardship, a hardship only made ore controversial by the CPL still not having one official well paying sponsor. 

Overall though the club were simply happy they made it through the season according to the coach “It has been tough from a financial point of view and we have had to rely on a lot of kindness and patience from people from both inside and outside of the club. With this in mind we see finishing the season as a huge achievement, even if results did not always go our way”.

And of course when you are at the bottom the only way really is up, with Pomroy adding “Simply making it through the season has brought us interest from people wanting to invest, or sponsor the club, so we are really confident of doing much better in 2023”.

And just how far can the club go? According to Pomroy there were literally no limits “If I am given enough money I can win the Cambodian Premier League with Next Step FC”.

And while these might seem like lofty goals, if spirit and sheer tenacity are anything to go by then Next Step FC could well end up being the champions of Cambodia, given a little bit of time.