KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 pandemic has derailed the national team's preparation for the AFF Futsal Championship on Jan 25-31 in Thailand next year.
National coach Chiew Chun Yong said following the cancellation of domestic tournaments and friendly matches due to the pandemic, the team will go for Plan B to ensure the players are in "competition mode".
"Plan B is to invite countries that have not imposed travel restrictions to come over for friendly matches. It has been nine months since the players took part in any competitive matches.
"We will wait for the final approval from the National Security Council. However, we need to initiate something by working on Plan B to get the players together and play matches regularly," he said after opening an AFC Level Two coaching course in Kuantan today.
Chun Yong said the cancellation of this season's Malaysia Premier Futsal League has left the players without any major events until the end of this year.
"The futsal leagues in Vietnam and Thailand have resumed while the Indonesian national team have held training sessions. If the AFF Championship goes on as scheduled, the national team have to start early preparations to do well in the tournament," he said.
Meanwhile, futsal coaching courses in the country have resumed under a new normal after a long break due to Covid-19.
"FAM have allowed the courses to resume and last week the training instructor courses were held while the AFC futsal goalkeeper and fitness coaching courses will be held later this year," said Chun Yong.