Football

Solve M-League problem first, says Zulakbal

KUALA LUMPUR: If FAM still can't fix the much maligned M-League, it could affect the FA of Malaysia's (FAM) grand plans for a national team revolution.

Football critic Dr Zulakbal Abdul Karim said this as FAM plans drastic changes for the national team in the New Year.

He said FAM's plans look promising, but if the underlying problems, of which the M-League is a large part, were not fixed, Malaysian football would still be struggling.

Last September, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim allocated RM15 million for Harimau Malaya and the national Under-18 and Under-13 squads to recruit top coaches, upgrade facilities and support development.

Regent of Johor Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sultan Ibrahim is spearheading the initiative, and FAM had announced the appointment of Rob Friend as the chief executive officer of the national team. Australian Peter Cklamovski and ex-Kedah coach Nafuzi Zain have been picked to lead the senior and Under-23 squads respectively.

"We can see that there is a new determination from FAM to change ahead of its election congress, although we don't know who will be elected as the new president," said Zulakbal, who also has a Professional Coaching Diploma from the Asian Football Confederation.

"FAM has hired a chief executive officer for the national team and we will have a new national team coach and an Under-23 team coach. And last year, the Malaysian Football League (MFL) appointed Giorgio Pompili Rossi as its new CEO.

"The MFL CEO should have shared his action plans to solve the issues with the M-League fixtures, player wage issues and import players quota.

"I hope that he has plans to restructure the M-League in terms of its policies especially with player wages."

The M-League has long been a sore point for Malaysian football with never-ending cases of unpaid wages, leading to several Malaysian clubs slapped with player registration bans by Fifa.

Zulakbal said a wage cap for players and fair business practices needed to be implemented in the M-League, and intervention and enforcement from the Human Resources Ministry were needed as well.

"I believe most leagues have a maximum-minimum salary range for players to avoid the clubs from spending indiscriminately," said the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris Sports Science associate professor.

"The M-League also needs to have fair business practices. We have seen clubs signing players through the backdoor. Some clubs sign players and don't play them, resulting in the players fading away.

"Clubs need to be fit financially to play their players. We have seen it happening too often... we need club owners to be responsible and liable for legal action if they fail to pay their players' wages.

"The Human Resources Ministry needs to give attention to these issues and has enforcement to make the club owners toe the line."

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