Harimau Malaya head coach Peter Cklamovski of Australia
PETALING JAYA: New national head coach Peter Cklamovski is ready to rebuild Malaysian football.
The 46-year-old Australian was named as the replacement for Kim Pan-gon of South Korea under the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) new structure currently overseen by the Johor regent and Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) owner Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
In his first meeting with the press during the launch of the new national team jersey by Puma at Sunway Pyramid here on Thursday (Jan 23), Cklamovski said he took up the job because he admired Tunku Ismail's desire for Malaysia to achieve greatness in the sport.
"TMJ has the power, integrity, passion and belief to achieve something for this sport," said the former FC Tokyo manager.
"In order to achieve that, we have to work hard, work together and we have to stay humble. We have to realise where we are right now, today. We have to know that we have a lot of work to do, step by step.
"We want to build football in this nation in the right direction."
Cklamovski arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday and would be watching some of the Malaysian League games. He will also discuss on plans ahead of Harimau Malaya's campaign in the Asian Cup 2027 third-round qualifiers in March.
The other new FAM appointments are Nafuzi Zain (national Under-23 coach), Dr Craig Duncan (performance and sports science head) and Rob Friend (chief executive officer).