Privatising the national team a potential banana skin for FAM

DESPITE the abrupt resignation of Kim Pan-gon and the ensuing boycott of the Ultras Malaya ahead of the ongoing Merdeka Tournament, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) have found themselves in a cushy position financially.

But I assume the piece of random news that the Prime Minister had approved of a RM15mil cash injection for the national team came with a caveat, with the possibility of FAM having to relinquish their autonomy over Harimau Malaya, which remains the final asset of the governing body.

Before the drama surrounding Pan-gon’s departure, the national team were doing well in terms of progress on paper, objectively speaking.

Pan-gon’s immediate predecessor Tan Cheng Hoe, improved Malaysia’s world ranking from 178th to 154th in three years – from the AFF Cup in 2018 to the 2021 edition.

The South Korean saw his charges climb from 154th to 134th in the rankings within two years.

Under Cheng Hoe, the team’s build up play was symbolised by the goal by Syahmi Safari against Thailand in the 2018 AFF Cup, which involved seven players and eight passes in 20 seconds.

Pan-gon took the team further by injecting his men with a huge sense of self-belief on top of cultivating a high-performance environment around the squad as they reached the 2023 AFC Asian Cup final.

It was mainly due to the work of FAM president, the newly-minted Tan Sri Hamidin Mohd Amin, who appointed both Cheng Hoe and Pan-gon.

What FAM require now is for the government to fully support the national team financially – a call that was made exactly 20 years ago but had fallen on deaf ears until recently.

While launching the new 2004 football season with a league under a new brand called the Malaysian Super League (MSL), the then Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, deputy president of FAM, pleaded for the fans, relevant bodies and above all, the players – Sayangi Bola Sepak Malaysia (Be passionate about Malaysian football).

Al-Sultan Abdullah urged everyone connected to the game to put their act together to bring the game into the rarefied air of international professionalism.

Holding the post of a vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), he reiterated his stand that only through total government intervention that Malaysia would be able to bridge the gap with the Asian superpowers.

In the 15-page speech delivered before the launch on Nov 30, 2004, Tengku Abdullah outlined a number of measures in order to produce a quality league and ultimately a strong national outfit.

Among them were:

l Reinventing FAM, which required a reorganisation within the national body and the affiliates

l Total involvement from the government – from financing the national team to incentivising companies for sponsorship through tax relief

l Corporatisation of the MSL, the marketing arm of FAM that served as the precursor to the FMLLP and now MFL.

Elaborating on the idea, Al-Sultan Abdullah said the national team needed a new structure by itself, supported by able and strong technical expertise.

But his idea was not to privatise the team.

The federal government may consider adopting our national team in total, whereby all expenses in getting the best technical people and overseas exposure are borne by the government.

In the Middle East, Japan and South Korea, they have the support from either their governments or corporate multinationals.

Internally, FAM have a mechanism to oversee the national team’s progress without having to undergo a privatisation process.

The Thailand FA initiated a mini privatisation project run by team manager Thavatchai Sajakul who was given a free rein to put together a dream team in 1994 that featured Kiatisuk Senamuang, Tawan Sripan and Dusit Chalermsan among others by sourcing for private funding.

Within two years, the Thais qualified for their first AFC Asian Cup in the UAE.

The Thai surge continued under English coach Peter Withe as they reached the semi-finals of the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok after a historic victory over South Korea in the quarter-finals.

In so doing, the Thais had done enough to scale to their best-ever 43rd place in the world rankings.

Although Thavatchai was the manager, the Thai FA were the real boss.

FAM will err if they decide to hand over the team to a third party who may have vested interest.

With the government’s highly valued assistance, all FAM need to do is to conduct business with transparency and sincerity.

And for every single sen to be accounted for.