Chance To Restore Image, Reputation Of Malaysian Football - Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 (Bernama) -- Harimau Malaya's drop to number 138 in the world ranking must be seen as a starting point for comprehensive reforms to restore the image and reputation of Malaysian football, said Youth and Sports Minister Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari.

He said major reforms would be implemented at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) level to improve Harimau Malaya's ranking.

He said the decline in the squad's world ranking is also related to several issues and controversies at the association level, which must be promptly and prudently addressed.

"We will carry out major reforms at the association level itself to ensure the team's ranking improves.

"… we, at the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS), will always monitor the FAM to make sure changes and reforms take place for us to progress,” he said when met at Wisma Bernama here today.

The national football team dropped from 121st to 138th place in the latest FIFA world ranking yesterday.

Mohammed Taufiq stressed that this should not be viewed as a mere failure, but rather followed by a clear recovery plan, including strengthening grassroots development.

"We have an exit plan and now our main focus is to ensure we unearth more talent at the grassroots level,” he said.

Commenting on Malaysia's failure to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup Finals, he called on all parties to learn from this.

"We look at this as something that we not only can learn from, but also as a challenge to improve by taking the necessary measures,” he said.

Malaysia's hopes of featuring in the Asian Cup Finals on merit for the second consecutive time were dashed after being docked points by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Recently, the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee found that FAM had breached Article 56 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code for fielding ineligible players in two Asian Cup 2027 qualifying matches against Nepal and Vietnam.

-- BERNAMA