After 14 years, an in-depth audit on NFDP must be conducted

THE National Football Development Plan (NFDP) run and managed by the National Sports Council (NSC) must undergo all types of audit after more than a decade in the business.

Bear with me as I walk you down memory lane.

It was in December 2008 that the idea of conducting an in-depth study into the domestic structure led to the creation of a master plan that we today call the NFDP.

In the Cabinet Committee for Sports chaired by the then Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, a special committee comprising all stakeholders and ex-players were tasked to compile and propose an action plan to raise the standard of Malaysian football.

Eventually, a seed fund of RM10mil was set aside and a committee chaired by the then Youth and Sports Deputy Minister Datuk Razali Ibrahim was given the blessings by the Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, to manage it under the NFDP in 2009.

With Lim Kim Chon put in charge of the NFDP, the early days of the plan were chronicled by the management team through the blog Program Pembangunan Bola Sepak Negara, managed by the football unit under the national back-up team at the NSC.

Since then, the NFDP has undergone a few remodelling exercises, with Khairy Jamaluddin adding elements of re-education and enhancement of coaching education while appointing Kim Chon’s brother, Teong Kim, to succeed the former as director. The NFDP 2.0 was successfully launched.

Also hired were Saad Ichalalene, Franck Plaine and Abdifitaah Hassan, to develop the methodology which Khairy calls the Malaysian DNA.

A townhall to discuss the way forward when the ministry was helmed by Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman in October 2018, led to a more inclusive approach friendlier to the FA of Malaysia (FAM).

The creation of two committees namely the NFDP Working Committee chaired by the director-general of the NSC and the Technical Committee chaired by the FAM deputy president proposed the programme to be divided into the NFDP project headed by technical director, Ichalalene while the Talent Search and coaching Unit led by the Head of the Unit, Abdifitaah from Holland.

Two Talent Search Technical Trainers, P. Ganasamoorthy and Datuk Richard Scully, ran the Grassroots Course and D Licence.

After Teong Kim’s contract expired on Oct 31 2019, NFDP was restructured, with Ichalalene made NFDP Technical Director, while Dennis Bekking from Holland succeeded Teong Kim as director of the AMD.

Ichalalene, a former French footballer of Algerian descent, was a crucial factor in cultivating the modern playing methods and the required DNA.

When Teong Kim was redesignated as chief coach of the elite few at the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD) in 2016, Ichalalene was roped in as the head of coaching methodology and talent scouting, along with Plaine and Abdifitaah to nurture talents at the Akademi Tunas (AT), Pusat Latihan Daerah or District Training Centre and the State Sports Schools level.

In 2019, Ichalalene who was the Under-14 coach and the Under-19 assistant coach at Paris St Germain, was presented with the opportunity to take the national Under-12 team to the Soong Ching Ling Cup in Hangzhou, China, his first test as a head coach at the international level.

Some of the boys who went to China with Ichalalene formed the core of the Under-17 side that qualified for the AFC Asian Cup Under-17 in Thailand in 2023.

A younger generation of players recently failed to qualify for the Saudi Arabia edition next year after finishing second in Group H, leading to team manager Christopher Raj’s resignation.

Since 2010, NFDP had been NSC’s baby, with possibly more than RM300mil had been spent to bankroll the project.

With an annual budget of more than RM20mil to run AMD and the NFDP, the public has the right to know how taxpayers’ money is being used, whether or not the players are given the right training, education and diet as they bid to become the nation’s footballing saviours.

While National Sports Associations (NSA) are required to open bank accounts for their spendings to be monitored by the NSC, who monitors NSC’s spendings?