Midfielder OJ Porteria has made the next big move in his career as a professional football player.
Cambodian Premier League side Kirivong Sok Sen Chey has announced that they have signed the 27-year-old winger to augment their lineup for the upcoming 2022 Cambodian Premier League season, which is set to kick-off on March 5.
“Welcome to our new player OJ Porteria, a winger,” said an English translation of the team’s social media post. “Porteria is a 27-year-old Filipino-American and professional football player in the Philippines Football League (PFL) with United City before moving to a club based in Takeo, Cambodia. He is also a former Philippine national team player.”
Porteria will be expected to become a bright spark in Kirivong, which seeks to improve its eighth-placed finish in the 2021 edition of the Cambodian Premier League.
The club was founded in 2007 and is yet to register a major title in its history. The closest it got to doing so was a fourth-place finish in the Hun Sen Cup, which is Cambodia’s main domestic cup competition.
“Porteria was developed in the DC United Academy from the age of six until being selected as a member of the Super Y-League Under-13 youth team. He joined Filipino top club Kaya from 2012 to 2016 and moved to another top club, Ceres–Negros/United City, in the 2017-20 seasons, scoring 21 goals. In the 2020-2021 season, he moved to Thailand to join Ratchaburi Mitr Phol in Thai League 1 before moving back to United City,” furthered the translated statement.
With four PFL gold medals, the 2015 United Football League Cup title, the 2017 AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal gong, and the 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara championship under his belt, the onus is on Porteria to raise the level of Kirivong in domestic and, potentially, international competitions down the line.
Photo from PFL
