Does Malaysian football have a "behind closed doors" problem with naturalized players?
This is an incident that has angered coach Cklamovski, who supports the recent policy of naturalizing foreign players en masse under the backing of the Regent of Johor state, Mr. Tunku Ismail, owner of Johor Darul Ta'zim Club.
Will coach Cklamovski pay the price for his shocking statement that caused turmoil within Malaysian football?
Photo: Ngoc Linh
Thanks to that, the Malaysian team has become much stronger and won a dominant victory over the Vietnamese team with a score of 4-0 in the second round of the third qualifying round of the 2027 Asian Cup on June 10. Before that, for nearly 11 consecutive years, the Malaysian team had never defeated the Vietnamese team in regional tournaments and World Cup qualifiers.
However, the success of naturalized players has not satisfied the entire Malaysian football community, although FAM President Joehari Ayub has repeatedly affirmed "strong and consistent" support.
The reason is because people fear that naturalization can help the Malaysian team become stronger, but on the contrary, it will stifle the development of domestic football, especially local players will not have many opportunities to participate in the team.
Furthermore, many clubs in the Malaysia Super League are also facing dire financial situations, many teams have to stop operating or go bankrupt and disappear from the Malaysian football map. Meanwhile, the power is concentrated in clubs with potential thanks to rich owners, such as Johor Darul Ta'zim, which is currently too superior to the remaining clubs. One of the best coaches in Malaysian football, Mr. Ong Kim Swee, has been working in Indonesia for the past 2 seasons to lead the clubs Persis Solo and Persik Kediri (from 2025).
Therefore, the Malaysian coach Cklamovski, because of the support from Mr. Tunku Ismail, spoke out strongly against the incident. Although the incident happened more than 3 weeks ago, after the victory over the Vietnamese team. But on the occasion of the FAM Extraordinary Congress at a hotel in Subang Jaya on June 30, the incident was mentioned again.
The victory of the Malaysian team with many naturalized players over the Vietnamese team, suddenly there are too many problems with this country's football
Photo: Ngoc Linh
In it, FAM President Joehari Ayub asked Coach Cklamovski to explain his statements. Among them, there were hints of "internal sabotage" and " political interference".
"This is a huge problem, it shows the simmering disagreement within Malaysian football, is there anything shady "behind closed doors" about the naturalized players in this country's football?", CNN Indonesia expressed. This news site also predicted that the incident could cause coach Cklamovski to lose his job, if FAM still cannot reduce public pressure on the shocking statements of the 46-year-old Australian coach.
According to The Star (Malaysia): "The incident that made Coach Cklamovski upset was related to the suspicion of the origin of Malaysia's recently naturalized players. While FAM supported and affirmed that the naturalization procedures were clear according to FIFA's regulations and criteria. FIFA also checked that these players were valid and they were eligible to play in the match against the Vietnamese team. However, public opinion is still suspicious, and the matter has been simmering until now."
Also according to The Star : "In the coming time, all attention will be on coach Cklamovski, not only because of the result (winning the match against the Vietnamese team, which is still doubtful about the authenticity of the naturalized players), but also because of how this coach will handle the internal storm that is said to be happening."
At the same time, FAM was also criticized after the decision to appoint Mr. Hamidin Mohd Amin as FAM Honorary President. Many people believed that FAM had done a favor for Mr. Hamidin Mohd Amin, who was FAM President from 2018 to 2025, before the current President Mr. Joehari Ayub replaced him.
However, Mr Joehari Ayub explained: "Honestly, this appointment is not personal. Anyone can make assumptions or comments, but for us, we have to move forward. We believe that Mr Hamidin Mohd Amin will bring positive value. That is our feeling."
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/malaysia-co-the-chia-tay-hlv-cklamovski-vi-tran-thang-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-185250701110113998.htm
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