Malaysia needs to reform its football system after the naturalization scandal - Photo: FAM
Before deciding to use fraudulent naturalization to quickly strengthen the Malaysian national team, the "Harimau Tigers" had gone through a forgettable period of poor performance. Since winning the 2012 AFF Cup, the Malaysian team had been unable to return to that peak in the following years.
But perhaps the most significant and painful aspect is the disheartening 10-year record of not being able to beat the Vietnamese national team in any competition. Malaysia feels even more disadvantaged when looking at Indonesia – a team that has "grown rapidly" thanks to its naturalized players.
Malaysian football is eager to rebuild and catch up with other footballing nations in the region. However, they lack the resources to do so due to the slow development of youth football. Malaysian youth teams have consistently failed in major tournaments, lacking the competitiveness to compete effectively. In this context, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) should focus on youth development to reshape the sport.
But they didn't choose that time-consuming and demanding approach. Right now, Indonesia has transformed thanks to its naturalized players without needing to focus too much on formal football training. Indonesia's rapid rise has become a model for Malaysia to learn from.
While Vietnam and Thailand remain committed to sustainable football development, focusing on youth investment, Malaysia has decided to "rush the process" to achieve success sooner. Despite numerous football nations having paid the price for naturalizing players, Malaysia has ignored all those warnings.
They are determined to naturalize players at all costs and see it as the best method. But the conditions of Malaysian football are not the same as Indonesia – a country with a huge population and a long history of migration. Therefore, the pool of players of Indonesian descent is also abundant. Conversely, Malaysia does not have such high-quality "mixed-race" players.
Driven by impatience, Malaysia remains determined to implement its naturalization policy despite the consequences. This is FAM's responsibility in the matter, as the AFC previously concluded that "FAM's working environment is extremely unhealthy." This further fuels FAM's disregard for FIFA rules and its potential repercussions.
The Malaysian players who were naturalized illegally also bear responsibility in this incident. It's difficult to deny their guilt when they agreed to play for a country with which they had no blood relation. They even provided fake documents and records to help FAM complete the naturalization process. The punishment for Malaysian football is somewhat lenient, as they were not banned from international competition. The incident also exposed the poor performance of FAM before it was taken over by the AFC.
FAM will undergo major reforms in the near future. The shock of the naturalization process may help Malaysia see the negative side and develop more fundamental and appropriate strategies. The Malaysian football scandal reaffirms the correctness and necessity of pursuing and developing youth football.
Football administrators shouldn't necessarily chase results or get impatient seeing their rivals succeed. Football, like life, always demands patience, because success built hastily is certainly not sustainable.
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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bai-hoc-tu-bong-da-malaysia-20260319092608552.htm
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