Faiq Jefri Bolkiah (born 9 May 1998) is a member of the

Bruneian Royal Family The House of Bolkiah is the ruling royal family of Brunei Darussalam. It is composed of the descendants of the 1st sultan Sultan Muhammad Shah and his family. The Sultan of Brunei is the head of state and absolute monarch of Brunei. He is a ...

and a Bruneian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Thai club

Chonburi Chonburi ( th, ชลบุรี, , IAST: , ) is the capital of Chonburi Province and Mueang Chonburi District in Thailand. It is about 100 km southeast of Bangkok, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Its name means 'city of water'. Chonb ...

. He has served as the captain of the Brunei national team.

Club career

Early career

In 2009, while as a member of A.F.C. Newbury, Bolkiah signed a one-year deal with the

Southampton F.C. Academy Southampton F.C. B team and Academy or Saints B and Academy is the youth organisation run by Southampton F.C. to encourage and develop young footballers in the south of England. Renowned players including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, and Alan Shear ...

. He was still with Southampton until at least December 2011. In 2014, Bolkiah signed a two-year youth contract with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

after previously training with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and trialing with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. During his time with Arsenal, Bolkiah competed in the 2013 Lion City Cup against

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

, and a Singapore youth selection. He scored a goal in a 2–1 victory over the team from Singapore. With his contract with Chelsea set to expire in summer 2016, he left the team in December 2015. After a trial with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, he signed for

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on a reported three-year professional contract in March 2016. He further signed a one-year extension to his deal in the summer of 2019.

Marítimo

On 23 September 2020, Bolkiah signed on a free transfer to Marítimo of Portugal's

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. Three months later, he made his debut with under-23 team in a 3–3 home draw against Sporting CP U23 after being named in the starting line-up. Forty-five days later, he was named as a Marítimo substitute for the first time in a league match against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

. On 11 April 2021, he made his senior debut for Marítimo B, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 win over Gondomar.

Chonburi

In December 2021, Bolkiah joined

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

outift,

ahead of the second half of the 2021-22 season. He became the first ever Bruneian to join a Thai club. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 victory against

Port F.C. Port Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลการท่าเรือ), formerly known as Port Authority of Thailand F.C. or Thai Port F.C., is a Thai professional football club based in Khlong Toei district of central Bangko ...

on 25 November 2022.

International career

Bolkiah was eligible to represent the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

. He was scouted for the youth teams of the United States but chose to represent Brunei, doing so at the U19 and U23 levels including at the

2015 Southeast Asian Games The 2015 Southeast Asian Games ( ms, Sukan Asia Tenggara 2015; ; ta, 2015 தென்கிழக்கு ஆசிய விளையாட்டுப் போட்டிகள்), officially known as the 28th Southeast Asian Games, or ...

. In that tournament, he scored in a 1–2 defeat to

Timor Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-wester ...

. He was expected to make his senior international debut on 15 October 2016 in a

2016 AFF Championship qualification The 2016 AFF Championship qualification tournament was the qualification process for the 2016 AFF Championship, the eleventh edition of the AFF Championship. It was held in Cambodia and involved either teams that finished last in the group stage ...

match against

Timor-Leste East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

. He debuted in the match, starting and playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–1 victory.

Personal life

Faiq is the son of

Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei Jefri Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III (born 6 November 1954), is a member of the Brunei Royal Family. His elder brother is the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. Prince Jefri was the finance minister of his oil-rich country from 1986 t ...

and nephew of

Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...

, the current

Sultan of Brunei The sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...

. He was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and holds both Bruneian and American citizenship. He was educated in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is note ...

. Bolkiah has been described as "the richest footballer in the world", with an estimated net worth of US$20 billion.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list Brunei's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Bolkiah goal''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolkiah, Faiq Living people 1998 births Soccer players from Los Angeles Association football midfielders Bruneian footballers Brunei international footballers Bruneian expatriate footballers American soccer players American people of Bruneian descent C.S. Marítimo players American expatriate sportspeople in England Bruneian expatriates in the United Kingdom American expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Faiq Bolkiah Faiq Bolkiah Competitors at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games American billionaires Bruneian billionaires Southeast Asian Games competitors for Brunei