KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) plan to introduce a new elite club competition from 2024 to cater to the continent's best teams.
It is understood the competition will comprise between 20 and 24 teams, and clubs can use any number of foreign players.
However, this could be bad news for the M-League, which has been granted the 2+2 slots for the Asian Champions League (ACL) following Johor Darul Ta'zim's (JDT) last-16 showing in this year's edition.
KL City are also doing well in the AFC Cup. The City Boys have reached the inter-zonal final.
The AFC have yet to officially announce details of the new elite tournament, which will offer a bigger prize purse.
Sports analyst Pekan Ramli does not support the idea.
"Only a few teams in the M-League are financially healthy. And only some Malaysian clubs can match the best teams in Asia.
"It will be tougher if clubs can use any amount of foreign players in the elite competition. I think this will affect the standard of the M-League and Harimau Malaya in the long run.
"The AFC should relook whether a new elite competition is suitable for Asia."
Former Kedah coach Azraai Khor, however, supports AFC's idea and believes JDT will be able to sustain themselves, if the new elite competition is introduced soon.
"It is a good idea. I only see JDT having the resources to play in that competition as the club are organised in all aspects.
"Furthermore, JDT can afford to sign quality foreign players. Of course, not all clubs can play in this elite competition as it requires additional investment.
"I am unsure about the other M-League clubs. Terengganu do well domestically, and we will see how they match up against JDT in the FA Cup final next week.
"Selangor have managerial issues, while Sabah's rise could be temporary due to funding problems in the future.
"I do not foresee clubs from Japan, South Korea and the Middle East having issues. However, others from countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia could face problems."