After losing 17-0 and finishing second bottom of the second-tier of Cambodian football last you’d have been forgiven for writing of Next Step FC, but the club, a brainchild of English coach Charlie Pomroy are potentially looking at a bright future.
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The Next Top FC Story
Originally formed as essentially a football academy in Siem Reap, Next Step were initially key in the development of a number of players who would later go on to play professionally, before themselves deciding to go down the professional route.
This occurred when the former Cambodian League was restructured and rebranded as the Cambodian Premier League, with Next Step FC gaining the very last of the 7 expansion places available, although alas a mere two days before the league began.
Next Step FC in 2022
To say the season was not exactly what had been hoped for would be an understatement, as mentioned the club not only finished second to bottom of the 12 team CPL 2, but also struggled off the pitch, with relatively little in the way of finances.
This though was more about the lack of time being granted for planning and a lack of knowledge about the Cambodian Premier League according to head coach and founder Charlie Pomroy who told us “We had two days to prepare for the league, a league with little in the way of prize money or sponsorship, so with everything considered we feel we did pretty well”.
The season though was far from “all bad”, with the club not only managing to finish the season, but also gaining global fans, particularly when star striker Bruno scored arguably the goal of 2022 – which you can see below.
What has changed for Next Step FC?
Overall the Cambodian Premier League was seen, despite some of its flaws as a huge success which has meant sponsors are now much more up for investing in clubs, something Next Step FC have managed to take advance from with a number of key deals, such as with new media enterprise BPVE and travel agency Young Pioneer Tours to name but two.
You can read about the BPVE Next Step Deal here.
And money of course brings recourse for improving infrastructure, as well as bring better players and coaches, with Next Step FC making a number of key on and off the field signings.
And now there is legitimately a buzz at the club.
The Next Step FC Buzz
And the buzz has not just been about new signings, or money, but also about the overall aim and ethos of the club, something not previously seen in Cambodian football.
So, what is it that makes Next Step FC different? Coach Pomroy was happy to explain “We are not just here to make profit, we are here to develop players. Ideally we only want people to stay with us for a maximum of three years before they move on and develop. We want to be a positive force for the development of Cambodian football”.
Off the field the club are also trying to do “things differently”, with not only plans for fan ownership, but also becoming a real global brand, with Pomroy telling us “We have fans from throughout the world and are trying too look outwards rather than inwards. In this we have not only partnered with some global brands, bit have some of the most engaging social media within the Kingdom”.
One of these partners is the adventure travel company Young Pioneer Tours, whose founder Gareth Johnson has been made Chief Media Officer (CMO) for company, he also had a clear vision for what the club wanted to achieve telling us “Young Pioneer Tours have a global reach and we feel that the Next Step FC ethos is the same as ours, to be part of the global community, rather than only looking regionally. We feel that with our reach we can help the club achieve this”.
And just how far can the club goin CPL 2 during the 2023-24 season? According to Coach Pomroy the club were not only aiming to challenge, but “win the league, or at worst get promotion”. Time will of course tell if this ends up successful, or not, but if faith and hard work enough are alone, then Next Step FC will go very far.
