PETALING JAYA: Bring Harimau Malaya back to their den.
The national football team must be returned to the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and should no longer operate as a privatised entity.
That is the message from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as they want the national side back under FAM’s direct control.
The FAM have been operating independently under chief executive officer Rob Friend since December 2024 and are not under the national body’s direct control.
“We strongly recommend that the federation be in charge of the national team. That is our clear recommendation,” said Vahid Kardany, the AFC deputy secretary-general.
“We have advised them that they should bring it back, and they agreed to a certain extent. They are in discussion.” He also questioned the viability of having two separate entities overseeing the same sport.
“You can’t have two tigers on the same hill. You have to have one person in charge of football.”
But Kardany’s concerns ran far deeper than just the national team structure. He painted a damning picture of a federation that have been disconnected from the very core of their purpose for over a decade.
“For example, FAM were not in charge of the development of football — the DP (National Football Development Programme) that has been running for the last 11 years,” he said.
“What is the role of FAM then? Playing politics? No assets. Now they have got it back and we will see how it is done.” But he also raised the concern of FAM having four technical directors in their setup.
The four are - Tan Cheng Hoe (national team), Scott O’Donell (FAM), Soleen Al-Zoubi (women’s team) and Datuk Ong Kim Swee ( DP).
“Technical leadership is capable but governance interference makes improvement impossible. When we did our report, we were told that some of the directors do not speak to each other, they do not sync.
“I have never seen in any associations having four same directors at the same level. You cannot have all four speak different languages
“Football philosophy and school has to come from one. Can’t have four doing their own.”
Kardany stressed that one of the fundamental roles of any football federation is to develop the game.
“They keep closing academies. They have to open them,” he said, pointing to Japan as a model. “In the 1990s, Japan opened J-Village in Fukushima, it is still going, and better than ever. That is what you need.”
