Former Isuzu UTE A-League duo Dane Ingham and Dean Pelekanos will play in the Malaysian Super League next season, having joined Sabah SC after the conclusion of their respective A-Leagues contracts.
Ingham and Pelekanos were revealed as Sabah FC recruits as part of a four-player transfer announcement from the Malaysian club, overseen by Sabah technical director and retired Socceroo Scott Ollerenshaw.
Ollerenshaw has been technical director at Sabah since 2021, having returned to the club following a three-year stint at the Malaysian club as a player in the 1990s.
Ingham, 26, joined the Malaysian club after four seasons at Newcastle Jets. The former Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar fullback made 87 appearances for Newcastle between 2021 and 2025 but left the club in early June following the conclusion of a two-year contract signed in mid-2023.
VISIT THE 2025-26 ISUZU UTE A-LEAGUE TRANSFER CENTRE
The New Zealand international is joined at Sabah by former Western Sydney Wanderers midfielder Pelekanos, whose second stint at the Wanderers concluded at the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2024-25 campaign.
A product of the Wanderers academy, Pelekanos left the club in 2023 to play for St George City FA and then Rockdale Ilinden before a return to the Isuzu UTE A-League in 2024; he made 14 appearances under Wanderers head coach Alen Stajcic before departing the club at the end of his one-year contract.
READ MORE
FEATURE: Meet the 28yo Aussie who booked a one-way ticket then made history in Europe
REPORT CARD: Your team’s Isuzu UTE A-League season rated
DONE DEAL: Sydney FC sign ‘one of Australian football’s hottest prospects’
Together, Pelekanos and Ingham have bolstered Sabah’s playing squad for the 2025-26 Malaysian Super League season, as The Rhinos look to improve on a third-place finish to push for the club’s first top-flight title since their promotion from the Malaysian second tier in 2019.
A club familiar to Isuzu UTE A-League fans, Sabah faced Macarthur Bulls in the Zonal Semi-Finals of the 2023-24 AFC Cup, falling to a 3-0 defeat to the Bulls in Campbelltown.
INSIDE AUCKLAND FC’S TRANSFER PLANS: ‘Biggest challenge’ clear as global search begins
