Malaysia does not call up new naturalized players amid crisis at FAM's top management

On August 29, Malaysia coach Peter Cklamovski announced a list of 29 players to prepare for two friendly matches in September, but no new naturalized players appeared. The move caused much speculation.

Malaysian football elite heavily criticized

"FAM (Football Association of Malaysia) is facing the worst crisis in its history," New Straits Times quoted an expert named Faithal Hassan as saying on August 29, after the organization's president, Joehari Ayub, suddenly resigned after only 6 months in office. FAM vice president Yusoff Mahadi is currently the interim president. And it will not be until next year that a new president will be elected for the remainder of the 2025-2029 term.

Coach Cklamovski does not call up new naturalized players, amid crisis in Malaysian football's upper echelons

Photo: Ngoc Linh

Mr. Faithal Hassan, PhD and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Science , University of Malaya (Malaysia), expressed: "In my opinion, FAM is at its worst point since Malaysian football began to develop in 1926. This situation exposes serious flaws in FAM, directly affecting national football. Here, we can see that there is no respect for Joehari Ayub, so that he can freely lead FAM".

Among them, many famous football commentators in Malaysia, such as Mr. Pekan Ramli, requested that FAM clarify and announce the deep reason why Mr. Joehari Ayub suddenly submitted his resignation, instead of just the usual and simple health reasons. Thereby, also to end all speculations that could lead to unpleasant accusations, the most prominent of which is the issue of recently naturalized players.

In the same development, the Malaysian team announced a list of 29 players to prepare for two friendly matches in September, including against Singapore on September 4 and Palestine on September 8.

In this list, the latest naturalized player expected to be included is Nacho Mendez (27 years old, Spanish origin, just joined Johor Darul Ta'zim Club) but there is a new name appearing: defender Richard Chin (22 years old), of Malaysian origin, born in England, with a Malaysian father and a Seychelles mother.

In particular, Argentinean player Facundo Garces was once "in trouble" when he said that he had Malaysian roots from his "great-grandfather" (against FIFA regulations), but later corrected it, saying it was a translation error, and affirmed that he had Malaysian roots from his paternal grandparents. On this occasion, coach Peter Cklamovski still called him back to the Malaysian team, although the Australian coach had previously admitted that he had to carefully consider the player's participation.

Meanwhile, some other naturalized players who appeared in the match where Malaysia won 4-0 against Vietnam in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10, and caused controversy over their origins, such as Imanol Machuca, were absent for unknown reasons. Captain Matt Davies was also not named. As for the rest, coach Peter Cklamovski prioritized calling up most of the players, including naturalized Malaysians, who are playing in domestic tournaments more than before.

In total, the Malaysian team only called up 4 players who are playing abroad, including player Endrick who is playing for CA TP.HCM Football Club in the V-League (Vietnam), Rodrigo Holgado from America de Cali Club (Colombia), Gabriel Palmero (Unionistas Club) and Facundo Garces from Alaves Club (both from Spain).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/malaysia-khong-goi-cau-thu-nhap-tich-moi-giua-cuoc-khung-hoang-o-thuong-tang-fam-185250829110442455.htm