‘Tis the season to wonder what’s going on

THE English Premier League usually runs from August to May, with the teams taking a two-month break in June and July.

Even then, international meets like the Olympics, World Cup, European Cup and Copa America are scheduled for these two months to keep top players busy – and employed.

Those not involved in these tournaments would take a one-month break, and start preparing a month earlier.

In Malaysia, though, they are going from kicking balls to twiddling thumbs. There will be five months of no football in the Super League.

The just-ended league will only resume on May 3. The Malaysian Football League (MFL) had announced an April resumption earlier but on Friday, they dropped the May date.

No wonder Fandi Ahmad is nonplussed. The Pahang coach had to ask for next year’s schedule before MFL finally made the announcement.

“When are we going to start training? We need to know when the pre-season is starting,” said the Singaporean football legend.

After the five-month break comes another surprise – a 12-month season. The 2024-2025 season, including the FA Cup, Malaysia Cup and MFL Cup, will run until April 2025.

In 2026, though, it will be back to a nine-month season, pretty much in line with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) calendar which will ensure the M-League transfer window coincide with international leagues.

But registration dates for the transfer window will be from Feb 3 to April 26, which is nowhere near the January transfer window.

The international summer transfer window is from July to August, but for the Malaysian League, the second window is from Aug 26 to Sept 22. That means if clubs want to sign players from European teams, they only have the last four days of August to do so,

Then there is the cost for clubs. With no competitive action for five months – and therefore no gate takings – how are they going to generate revenue?

Players selected for international duties will have competitive runouts for which they are likely to be paid. But what about the rest?

Some clubs are taking drastic measures by reducing the wages of players. Many already have arrears for 2023.

Can the clubs sustain themselves? Some are only planning to start their pre-season in March, and planning to pay only half-wages for January and February.

Maybe MFL can have a pre-season tournament to get the interest going, thus offer more commercial value to the league and teams. The aim is to ensure that the five months are not ponderous for Malaysian football.

The Asian Cup and World Cup 2026 qualifiers will be on, but there has to be interest in domestic football.

There is also the question of player fitness. Friendlies help but competitive games are the ones that make a difference.

The MFL may be right in wanting to ensure their calendar, in the longer-term, matches with AFC but how much thought was given to the welfare of players? Some players are already planning to take short-term working gigs to ensure they can pay the bills during the five-month period.

The whole situation stinks of a lack of professionalism, a problem that had long plagued the league.

The next five months are going to be interesting to watch, even if there are not matches to be seen.