PETALING JAYA: The national team’s rightful place is under the Football Association of Malaysia’s (FAM).
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) say so. And former national striker Safee Sali agrees wholeheartedly.
“This is a move that people have been looking forward to,” said Safee, a former Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia president.
“The national team should be run by FAM. There is no need for another separate entity.”
His views align closely with the AFC’s assessment.
The continental body have made their position on the national team clear - they must return to FAM’s direct oversight.
The Harimau Malaya have been operating independently under chief executive officer Rob Friend since December 2024.
AFC deputy secretary-general Vahid Kardany has stressed that Malaysian football cannot function effectively with two competing power centres pulling in different directions.
For Safee, the transition is not about apportioning blame. It is about learning from the past and doing better.
“We can learn from what happened with the privatisation.
“The AFC have seen the mistakes, and now we have to fix them for the future. We can do better.”
He described the prospect of FAM reclaiming full oversight as both exciting and long overdue.
“FAM can monitor everything. The changes ahead are genuinely exciting.”
The AFC’s concerns, however, run far deeper than the national team structure alone.
Kardany has painted a troubling picture of a federation that drifted from their core purpose over more than a decade - sidelined from football development programmes it should have been leading, stripped of assets, and reduced to an administrative shell.
Now that FAM are reclaiming those responsibilities, the expectation from the AFC is clear: deliver, or be held accountable.
Safee shares that urgency. Having witnessed Malaysian football’s long decline from the inside - first as a player, then as a football administrator, he believes the window for genuine reform is here, and must not be wasted.
The AFC have also raised red flags about FAM’s fragmented technical structure, which currently sees four directors operating at the same level with differing mandates and, reportedly, little coordination among them.
The continental body have been firm - a single, unified football philosophy must drive the game’s development, from grassroots to the senior national team.
Kardany has pointed to Japan’s sustained investment in football infrastructure since the 1990s as the model FAM should aspire to replicate.
On a personal note, Safee hinted that he may have a more direct role to play in shaping Malaysian football’s future.
The former striker indicated he is exploring a run in the upcoming FAM elections, eyeing either an exco position or a role within a state football association.
“I believe I can contribute something meaningful,” he said.
“It’s time to bring Harimau Malaya back to their den.”
