An ex-Australian Football League defender is raising a stir in Malaysia

After an outstanding debut season in Malaysia, former A-League Melbourne Victory and Central Coast Mariners defender Giancarlo Gallifuoco is looking for silverware in the Malaysian Cup.

Gallifuoco left Melbourne Victory at the end of 2020 to join Kuala Lumpur City, a newly promoted team.

The 27-year-old made 21 appearances for the City Boys, scoring once and assisting twice as they placed sixth in the 12-team Malaysian Super League.

Kuala Lumpur City had an eight-win, nine-draw, and five-loss record in 22 games, but had the competition's equal-fourth-best defence.

"To be honest, if I had to describe my first season here, I would struggle to say anything negative because the staff, players, and management have all treated me so well," Gallifuoco told FTBL.

"For a foreigner, this always generates a family atmosphere, which is so unique in football culture around the world."

"The Malaysian Super League is really unique; due to the heat, the game is almost played in quarters, with refreshments breaks at 25 and 70 minutes, you must tactically choose quarter intervals to press or not press, as doing so for 90 minutes is unsustainable."

"This results in a one-of-a-kind chess game between the teams."

The former Victory, Central Coast Mariners, and Western Sydney Wanderers player was satisfied with his debut season in Asia. He has also played professionally in England and Italy.

"I believe no true competitor is ever truly satisfied with his own performance," he said. "However, our defence is one of the best in the league, ranking in the top three for most clean sheets, and more importantly, for a team that came up from the second division, we finished in the top six and went the entire season undefeated at home," he added.

"These small victories make me joyful."
We were a brand new privatised club, and we hadn't even finished putting together our team two weeks before the season started.

"By the end of the season, we had gone 11 games without losing and were one of, if not the most, in-form teams in the league."
As a result, I believe the first season was a success."