Who will be the new coach for the national football team?
PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) are set to announce their new national coach on Sunday.
And it is learnt that one of the three Australians - Peter Cklamovski, Arthur Papas and John Hutchinson - are set to assume the hotseat and replace the current interim coach Pau Marti Vicente.
Former Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) coach Esteban Solari is also an outside favourite, with some claiming that he would be the preferred candidate thanks to his working experience with the Johor regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, who is the owner of JDT.
Vicente will leave after the ongoing AFF Cup.
Cklamovski last coached J-League side FC Tokyo but has the experience of working under Tottenham Hotspur coach Ange Postecoglou from 2018 to 2020 in Yokohama F-Marinos.
Then there is 44-year-old Papas, who last coached Thai club Buriram United and also worked with Postecoglou from 2019 to 2020 in Yokohama.
Hutchinson, 44, is currently the interim coach of Yokohama but has no prior head coaching experience.
These three men have strong links with Tim Cahill, who is speculated to spearhead the Malaysian football team as the sporting director. He is currently on the payroll of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) as technical director and advisor to the president.
Cahill has met with Tunku Ismail, fueling speculations that the legendary Aussie player would be the man to change the face of the national team in the future.
