A trio of new faces at Crown

Hok Sochivorn

With the Metfone C-League season expected to begin in early April, Phnom Penh Crown have added three new names to their senior squad roster including one of the best known faces in Cambodian football, Hok Sochivorn. Now 27 years old, Sochivorn has most recently been coaching the Stung Treng provincial team after successful spells as a striker with the Royal Navy and Hello United teams, each for four years, during which time he was a regular for the Cambodian national team, making his debut in Indonesia against the Philippines in the 2002 Tiger Cup, after previously appearing for the youth and Under-20 teams. Phnom Penh-born, he later had shorter stints with Naga Corp, Preah Khan, Post Tel, Phuchung Neak and Kirivong before relocating to Stung Treng a couple of years ago. Crown's Bojan Hodak is pleased with the addition. "He's a very experienced player, technically and tactically aware and his finishing is good. He will also help us out on the coaching side of things in future," explained the Croatian-born coach. As for Sochivorn, he's happy to be back playing and looking forward to working and learning from an experienced foreign coach. He is one of three footballing brothers who at one time played for Hello United and the Cambodian national team together. The others are Hok Sochetra and Hok Sotitya.

Koem Sophanal

Also joining the Crown squad is 18 year old Koem Sophanal, who was the captain of the Stung Treng provincial team in the recent Hun Sen Cup competition. He's been a member of the province team for the past four years as an attacking midfielder after impressing whilst playing for his high school team, Preah Reachbochanikech in Stung Treng. Sophanal expressed his pleasure at joining Crown. "I'm really happy to join the club. I will work hard to make a success of my time with Crown. This is a great opportunity for me." His new coach, Bojan Hodak said; "He likes to play the ball forward and is a positive type of player. He's never really had serious coaching before so he'll definitely improve, though we need to build up his strength, physically."

Hong Pheng

The final new face to join Crown is Hong Pheng, 21, who arrives after impressing in the Hun Sen Cup group matches played in Kompong Thom, whilst with Baksey Chamkrong FC from Siem Reap. Pheng hails from Battambang and began his football for his high school team, Preah Monivong. He appeared for the Battambang provincial team for two years before moving to Siem Reap to take up Information Technology studies at Angkor University. He spent two years with the Baksey Chamkrong team, impressing everyone with his speed and finishing prowess. "I'm very happy to join the club. I love playing football and I'm quite quick so this will be a great chance for me. And I can continue my studies at Norton University, so it's a great move for me," commented the youngster. Bojan Hodak is also looking forward to working with Pheng. "He's very quick and is a very interesting prospect in front of goal. We need to build up his strength, as with Sophanal, and I'm looking forward to developing him technically, tactically and physically, but he's already good for his age."