HRH Sultan Ahmad Shah to visit Cambodia

His Royal Highness Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, the President of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) will visit the Kingdom of Cambodia from 24 to 26 March 2011.

During the vist His Royal Highness will pay a courtesy call to the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC) in Phnom Penh and have discussions with FFC President, General Sokha Sao and senior leaders of the federation on closer cooperation between the two national associations.

His Royal Highness delegation includes FAM Deputy President, His Royal Highness Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and General Scretary, Dato Azzuddin Ahmad.  

Back to grassroots for Women’s Football

Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) hopes the five day FIFA-FAM Women Grassroots Course and Festival will be a catalyst to develop women’s football in all the states.
“We hope through this course, the participants will gain insights into how to develop and coordinate programs at grassroots and this will go a long way in helping raise the standard of women’s football in our country,” said FAM General Secretary, Dato’ Azzuddin Ahmad.
30 participants from all over the country are participating in this course being held at the National Sports Council in Bukit Jalil. Two Instructors from FIFA, Samuel Schweiggruber and former Germany’s national coach Monika Staab are conducting the course.
“The fact that many more wanted to attend this course is an indication of the growing interest in football and I believe this has got to do with the national team’s victory in the AFF-Suzuki Cup last year,” said Dato Azzuddin.

“Unfortunately we can only have 30 participants for this course.”

During the five days, the participants will be given an insight into FIFA’s development programs and the philosophy of grassroots football as well as world- wide development and newest trends in development programs.
There will also be sessions on basic skills and also preparation of grassroots football festival and tournaments.
FAM, according to Dato’ Azzuddin, disbanded the women's national football team after the 2009 SEA Games and senior players with vast experience would be considered for coaching jobs in the states.
"They will assist the FAM to identify talented players at the grassroots level. Before forming a new women's national squad, FAM would focus on programs aimed at developing the sport at grassroots level throughout the country, to unearth more players.

“Development programs at the grassroots level had already started in April last year but such programs involved only the Klang valley and Negeri Sembilan,’’ said Dato’ Azzuddin.

Meanwhile, former national skipper Angela Kais, 31, said though she was saddened by the decision to disband the women's national team, she welcomed FAM's decision to focus on grassroots development.

"Since the team has been disbanded, we will have no team to play but since we will still play a part in development programs organized by the FAM, it will us a chance to contribute our part, especially to identify new players," she said.

National team get sufficient funding

WITH a targeted top 14 finish the national netball team received their biggest morale booster as they prepared for the World Netball Championships in Singapore on July 3-10.
The team will be sufficiently funded in their lengthy preparation, thanks to support received via the fund-raising Charity Golf for Netball event held at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Shah Alam yesterday.

The event was jointly-organised by the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Charity Golf (TSM), which also saw the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Malaysian Netball Association (MNA) president Suraya Yaacob said the bulk of funding required has already been footed by the National Sports Council (NSC), while proceeds from the charity golf event covered the rest.
"We require a total of RM400,000 for the whole programme and the players have already gone through rigorous selection, centralised training and preparation, which will include a stint in Perth, Australia," said Suraya.

"We are ranked 16th out of the 16 nations that qualified for the World Championships, but we've been the top ranked team among the juniors in Asia for four consecutive years.

"With a good development squad, we will now be looking towards improving our ranking on the international stage."

Suraya added that for the final phase of training, the initial squad of 26 players has already been trimmed to 16 players, who will form the squad for the World Championships.

Seksyen 11 top former champs

FORMER champions SMK Seksyen 11 of Selangor gained some measure of respect in the Under-14 Minister of Education League Cup (MELC) 2011 when they edged SMK Putera 1-0 in a clash of former champions.
SMK Seksyen 11 were the inaugural winners of the MELC in 2008 but last week in their first game of the new season, they were humiliated 2-0 by SMK Seri Kota of Malacca.

But this time round, playing against the 2009 champions, it gave them the impetus to lift their game with the winner coming from Muhammad Afiq Muhammad Azam in the 53rd minute.

"We played our real game today (Saturday) although the finishing was not that good as we missed a few good chances," said Mat Dinos Talib, the chief coach of SMK Seksyen 11.


SMK Putera, who had picked up their first full points against SMK Za'aba of Negri Sembilan last week, felt playing away twice in their first two games of the season was the cause of their defeat.

"We played two away games already and next week we will be travelling to Penang. The players are tired having to travel for back-to-back matches," said Mohd Hanapiah Awang, the chief coach of SMK Putera.

"With lack of rest, it affects our performance. But this is no excuse as we will try to play our best in the next match away."

In the meantime, SMK Tabuan Jaya of Sarawak are the surprise leaders of Group A with four points from two games.

They followed up their away win over Penang's SMK Mutiara Impian last week with a 1-1 draw against SMK Za'aba of Negri Sembilan.



In Group B, SMK Syed Hassan of Perlis lead the group - also with four points from two matches. After beating SMK Peter Monjuntin of Sabah 3-1 at home last week, they held Bandar Penawar Sports School to a goalless draw last week.

Rajagobal happy with players

THE national team's 1-1 draw with S-League side Etoile FC on Saturday was a good learning curve for K. Rajagobal's side.
Despite looking fragile at times which could prove costly in upcoming tournaments. Ahmad Fakri Saraani's seventh minute strike did provide a glimpse of the team's potential.

They looked comfortable on the ball once they had found their rhythm. But there was too much desperate defending and ball chasing to suggest they could prove a surprise package at the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers Asian Zone Qualifying campaign.

Etoile, the defending S-League champions, could have won the match if they had been sharper in front of goal. There were many faults in Malaysia's game, especially with their leaky defence, led by Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak, which allowed the Etoile strikers to dictate terms especially in the second half.
However, fans should not be alarmed with Malaysia's performance on Saturday as Rajagobal was trying out new players and strategies.

The coach is hoping to create more options in terms of having a bigger pool of players ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers.

Rajagobal has done it before ahead of the 2009 Laos Sea Games and last December's AFF Cup, which subsequently helped his side lift both titles.

"I am happy with what I saw in the players today (Saturday). They showed commitment and dedication throughout the match," Rajagobal, 54, told Astro Arena at Jalan Besar Stadium after the match.

"As it was only a practice match, I took the opportunity to test all my players. I wanted to see whether they, especially the new ones, were able to maintain their composure and pace."

Among the players Rajagobal tested for the first time this year were Selangor midfielder Azidan Sarudin and Kelantan centreback Mohd Rizal Fahmi Rosid, both playing in their first senior match, and Kedah Baddrol Bakhtiar, who is back after a long layoff due to injury, with a brief second half appearance.

Rajagobal said the team played well but were guilty of losing their focus on occasions. "There are areas that need to be rectified. My players must learn to keep their focus throughout the 90 minutes," added Rajagobal.

"It was a difficult match as my team were against a French club who had bigger and taller players. But I am happy we played them as the experience will help my boys get use to playing physically stronger players."



Malaysia's opponents in the first round of the World Cup Asian Zone Qualifiers will be known on Wednesday. The two-leg first round qualifiers are on June 29 and July 3.

Rajagobal's side are also scheduled to play quality matches when they host English Premier League giants Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in a 10-day football festival in Kuala Lumpur in July.

Under-16 and 15 teams to train in Slovakia

Slovakia has invited FA of Malaysia (FAM) to send the National Under-15 and Under-16 squad for training and to participate in their youth league next year.

FAM deputy president KDYTM Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said the offer was made in recognition of Malaysia winning the AFF-Suzuki Cup last year.

"This is a good opportunity for the youngsters to gain exposure. We will work out the details together with the Education Ministry," he told reporters after chairing a meeting of FAM's technical and youth development committee at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, Tuesday.

Last year, FAM sent the National Under-21 squad for training in Slovakia whereby the team played in the Slovakian League from February till May, which paid huge dividends as most of the players who played in the AFF-Suzuki Cup were from it.

Tengku Abdullah also said the meeting decided to give Malaysia's Olympic squad coach Ong Kim Swee the opportunity to coach the National-Under 23 team in preparing of the SEA Games in Indonesia in November.

"His target is to defend the title we won at the last SEA Games in Laos. We want our coaches to have the exposure in preparing team for tournaments like SEA Games   ," he said.

National chief coach K.Rajagobal has been given new targets, which include the pre-World Cup, to defend the AFF-Suzuki Cup and also to qualifying for the 2015 Asian Cup.
The meeting also appointed Ismail Ibrahim as the Head Coach of the National Under-19 team and Aminuddin Hussin as the National Under-18 Head Coach.
Meanwhile, KDYTM Tengku Abdullah has proposed that a panel be set up to widen the talent pool of footballers in the country.
“Just look at Japan, they have some 200,000 youngsters to draw from. I believe with a more coordinated effort we took can widen the talent base.”

Well done boys

Malaysia advanced to the second round of the Asian Zone Olympic qualifiers with a 2-0 aggregate win over Pakistan after a goalless draw in Lahore, Wednesday.
Malaysia’s Olympic squad defeated Pakistan 2-0 in the first match on Feb 23 at the Shah Alam Stadium and Wednesday the youngsters did well to hold the host team to a 0-0 draw, which was more than enough to send the team to the second round.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will conduct the draw on Mar 30 to determine the fixtures for the second round where the winners of the first round will have to face seeded teams.
The second round matches will be on a home and away basis and are scheduled to be played on June 19 and 23 with the winners advancing to the third round which will have 12 teams that will be divided into three groups. The winners of the groups qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.

Malaysia last qualified for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but did not play because of a boycott of the Games as a result of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
In Wednesday’s match, Malaysian Head Coach, Ong Kim Swee left out striker Ahmad Shakir Ali and brought in Gary Steven Robbat as an extra man in midfield. By doing so, Kim Swee opted for a more conservative approach for the second leg.
The move paid off and Malaysia held on to the 2-0 first leg win to advance on a 2-0 aggregate.

Suhaizi officiates in Indonesian Super League

Malaysian referee, Suhaizi Shukri on Sunday became the first foreigner to officiate an Indonesian Super League match as part of an experiment to improve the domestic game.

In the match Persija Jakarta defeated Persiba Balikpapan 5-1 to move into the top three of the ISL. with a thumping 5-1 victory over Persiba Balikpapan.

Judging by this one match held at the Gelora Bung Karno, seems to be a success.

Following repeated protests from clubs about bad refereeing by local officials, the league administrator, Liga Indonesia, announced in January that it planned to use international match officials.

Suhaizi was the first overseas ref to be entrusted with the job, and Bambang Irianto, the director of referees for the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), said more would follow.

“We’ve been asking the Asian Football Confederation to recommend more referees to officiate games here. It’s a part of our efforts to improve the league,” Bambang told the PSSI Web site.

PSSI secretary general Nugraha Besoes said Australia, Malaysia and Singapore had already agreed “to each send 10 referees for the Super League.”

The game passed off without major incident and Suhaizi was delighted to have been chosen to officiate the match.

Persija coach Rahmad Darmawan said it was about time the domestic league made use of foreign referees.

“I don’t think it’s about the quality of local officiating. It’s just that they are under great pressure from the fans and sometimes they can’t handle that,” he said. “This development will hopefully encourage [local] referees to improve their standards.” 

Blatter confident of another term

FIFA president Dato’ Sri Joseph S. Blatter is confident that he will retain his presidency for another term, which is likely to be his last as head of football’s governing body.

Dato’ Sri Blatter,  who was in Kuala Lumpur for a one-day working visit, said he needs another four years to continue his agenda in developing football around the world. He has been at the FIFA helm for 13 years.

“Among other things I want to continue is to develop the spirit of football at grass-root level, to increase professionalism in the governing bodies and to have more tournaments.,” said Dato’ Sri Blatter at a press conference after having an audience with the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) president, KDYMM Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah at Istana Pahang in Kuala Lumpur.

During the meeting, the FIFA President was also conferred by KDYMM Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah the Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP) award of the first degree, which carries the title, "Dato’ Sri".

Also present were FAM deputy president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Youth and Sports Minister Dato’ Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, FAM’s three Vice Presidents, Dato’ Subahan Kamal, Dato’ Hamidin Mohd Amin, Dato’ Afandi Hamzah and General Secretary, Dato’ Azzuddin Ahmad.

When asked about speculation that Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President, Mohamad Hammam will challenge him for the top post, the Swiss President, who visited East Timor, Myanmar and Laos before stopping over in Kuala Lumpur, said that competition is always good.

"I just passed 75 on March 10 and I don’t know how you see me but I think I am full of energy and I have not yet finished my work to develop football and organize competition.

"I am willing to go on for the next four years. This is my wish and we will see what the congress will say. I welcome any challenge. I have the support among Asian and Middle East countries,’ said Dato’ Sri Blatter.

The world body’s presidential election is due to take place in Zurich on June 1

Speaking further on his vision for the next four years, Dato’ Sri Blatter said that he plans to implement a healthy football program.

“To do that, we need to be working with the health and education ministry of the respective countries.

Dato’ Sri Blatter also said that Sultan Ahmad Shah would be an excellent candidate for the Asean Football Federation (AFF) president’s post and wished the Sultan good luck in contesting for the post.

KDYMM Sultan Ahmad Shah has been nominated to contest during the regional body’s congress in Bangkok on April 10. FA of Thailand’s President, Worawi Makudi has also been nominated for the post.

Pahang brace for long road trips

PAHANG are bracing for a long stretch of "life on the road" when the Super League resumes next month.
Their Darulmakmur Stadium in Kuantan will be closed for major renovation works for up to one year and all Pahang's home fixtures in the league, FA Cup and Malaysia Cup will be played away from home.

Coach Dollah Salleh said the team had produced some great results at home this season including the 2-0 win over league leaders Kelantan just over a week ago.

"Losing home comfort will not be easy as we have done well at home thus far and also managed to secure a place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a win over Kuala Lumpur at home," said Dollah.
"We now have a mountain to climb to reach the FA Cup final as both legs of the semi-finals against Terengganu will be played in Kuala Terengganu."

But Dollah said it will be premature for anybody to write off Pahang just because they are without home advantage for the rest of the season.

"We have known all along about the plan to renovate the stadium so we have made some preparations to cope with it," he said.

Meanwhile, Pahang Sports Council director Nik Nasaruddin Mohd Zawawi said the 40,000-capacity stadium will be the main venue for the Malaysia Games next year.

"We know it's an inconvenience for many including our football fans but the stadium roofs need to be fixed, the seats and scoreboards have to be replaced and work needs to be done on the track," he said.

"The last time we did any major work on the stadium was when we hosted the Malaysia Games in 1996."

Raja ropes in Azidan, Rizal

Azidan (left) hopes to impress in his first senior call-up.

MIDFIELDER Azidan Sarudin and defender Rizal Fahmi Abdul Rosid were the two new faces who reported for the national squad's second phase of training at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya yesterday.
Azidan, who plays for Selangor and Rizal Fahmi, a Kelantan recruit, are both determined to impress in their first ever senior call-up. Both are hoping to be shortlisted for the March 26 friendly against Singapore League's French club side Etoile FC.

Kedah striker Baddrol Bakhtiar also received his first national team call-up since suffering an injury before the Guangzhou Asian Games.

National coach K. Rajagobal, however, did not include former Selangor striker Safee Sali, Negri Sembilan's G. Mahathevan and Young Tiger Faizal Muhamad, who all featured in last month's friendly against Hong Kong, in his 24-man squad.
Rajagobal hopes to gauge his players, especially the new ones, in the friendly against Etoile, as part of their preparation for the 2014 World Cup Asian Zone first round qualifiers.

The Asian Football Federation will conduct the Qualifying draw on March 30.

The national team are full of confidence after their victory in the AFF Championships in December where they defeated Indonesia 4-2 on aggregate in the two-leg final. They hope to make it at least to the second round of the World Cup Qualifiers.

"Of course we need to start preparing early for the World Cup Qualifiers as it will be a tough event. Currently, I have a large pool of quality players with the majority from the AFF Cup winning squad," said Rajagobal.

The squad: Amar Rohidan, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Mohd Azmi Muslim, Mohd Sabre Mat Abu (Ked), Azidan Sarudin, Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal, Asraruddin Putra, Safiq Rahim (Sel), Ahmad Fakri Saarani, Aidil Zafuan Abd Razak, Farizal Marlias, S. Kunalan (NS), Ashaari Samsudin, Sharbinee Allawee (Ter), S. Chanturu Suppiah, Khairul Fahmi Che Mat, Rizal Fahmi Abdul Rosid, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (Kel), K.Gurusamy, Izzaq Faris Ramlan, Mahalli Jasuli, Muslim Ahmad, Mohd Fadhli Mohd Shas (Young Tigers), Shahrizal Mohd Saad (Johor FC).

Azraai returns with Negri

Azraai Khor Abdullah

AZRAAI Khor Abdullah is back to haunt M-League teams again.
After dominating the league with Kedah a few seasons ago, Azraai, after his short tenure with the FA of Malaysia, makes his much anticipated return with Negri Sembilan when the Super League resumes on April 1.

The Negri FA announced yesterday the appointment of the former national Under-21 coach as its new chief coach on a two-year contract.

Azraai succeeds Wan Jamak Wan Hasan, who resigned on March 17 after a spate of poor results in this season's M-League.
The 59-year-old's arrival in Seremban should trigger a new beginning for Negri, who are hoping to bounce back when the league resumes.

"I am proud and honoured to be the coach of Negri. It's an exciting challenge and I am ready to do my best," said Azraai.

"Negri are a fantastic team that are well respected in the league and have great fans. I'm looking forward to getting to work with my players and preparing them for competition."

Azraai is regarded by many as one of the most successful coaches in the country.

The Alor Star-born had early stints with the Kedah President Cup side before joining TNB Kelantan for a season.

In 2004, Azraai accepted an offer to coach the Kedah team where he enjoyed his best years, winning back-to-back trebles (Malaysia Cup, Super League and FA Cup titles) in 2007 and 2008 before signing on with FAM as the national under-21 chief coach, a year later.

But it was an unhappy experience for Azraai with FAM as he was removed as their Under-21 coach last July following an internal squabbling upon the return of his team from their Slovakia stint. He was only released from his contract, with compensation, on March 9.

"It is good to be back after eight months. And to get an offer from a team almost immediately after I got my release from FAM is good for me," said Azraai.

"My job with Negri starts immediately. I will take my first look at the team tomorrow (today). I have no time to relax as I have less than two weeks to shape them up before the league resumes."

Negri are ninth in the 14-team Super League with nine points from seven matches. They have scored only six goals and conceded nine.

But if Azraai can weave his magic once again, Negri will definitely bounce back. His first match in charge of Negri will be against Terengganu at home on April 2.