From Alegrete, near Brazil’s western frontier, to the humid football centres of Indonesia, Bergson’s long club journey is about to take a new international turn. The 35-year-old Johor FC striker has recently become a Malaysian citizen and will represent Malaysia during the coming FIFA window at the Asean FIFA Cup.
Malaysia’s 23-man squad was announced on Thursday by interim coach Tan Cheng Hoe. The tournament will run from 25 September to 5 October, split between Jakarta and Bandung, with Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Pakistan also involved.
A Johor landmark reaches the national side
Bergson has spent seven seasons in Malaysian football with Johor FC, becoming one of the defining forwards of the club’s modern era. Last year he surpassed every previous scorer in the country’s league history, and his current campaign has begun with six goals and two assists from six appearances. His total for Johor stands at 208 goals.
The forward arrived initially on loan from Fortaleza before Johor completed a permanent transfer in May 2021, paying US$400,000, a fee worth around R$2.2 million at that time. His years in Malaysia have brought five league championships and four Malaysia Cups among a wider collection of honours.
For the player born in Rio Grande do Sul, the call-up follows a career that began at Grêmio, where he was part of the side that won the Campeonato Gaúcho in 2010. His route through Brazil and beyond has included loan spells at Vila Nova, Ypiranga, Braga, Juventude, Portuguesa and Chapecoense, as well as periods with Busan Ipark, Náutico, Paysandu, Athletico, Ceará and Fortaleza.
There are trophies from several stops along that route: the 2018 Copa Sudamericana and 2019 Campeonato Paranaense with Athletico, the 2017 Campeonato Paraense at Paysandu, and Ceará’s 2020 Copa do Nordeste. Now, after building a remarkable scoring record far from the Brazilian calendar, Bergson heads to Jakarta and Bandung with a different crest on his shirt and Malaysia’s regional ambitions in front of him.
