Malaysia's leading English-language newspaper, the New Straits Times, wrote in a lament: "Was the cancellation of the domestic U23 tournament a mistake? The door to the 20th Asian Games has closed, awakening the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and showing that the Malaysian U23 team is not of sufficient quality to participate in this multi-sport event."
“The exclusion of the Malaysian U23 team from the Asian Games in Japan serves as a wake-up call for FAM. The Asian Olympic Council (OCA), along with host nation Japan and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), agreed that the men's football competition at the Asian Games would only have 16 slots, reserved for the 16 teams that will participate in the 2026 Asian U23 Championship.”
U23 Malaysia has been left far behind by U23 Vietnam (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
"The Malaysian U23 team missed the opportunity to participate in the 20th Asian Games, but Vietnamese and Thai football teams got this chance. If the current trend continues to be applied to the Asian Games in Doha (Qatar) in 2030, it could deal a very heavy blow to the development of Malaysian football," the New Straits Times added.
According to a Malaysian daily newspaper, the fact that the Malaysian U23 team did not qualify for the 20th Asian Games is not just a matter of absence from a single tournament for youth age groups, but may reflect the development of Malaysian youth football in recent years.
In recent years, Malaysian football has paid less attention to youth development, focusing too much on naturalizing foreign players, both at the club and national team levels.
The New Straits Times stated: “FAM’s decision to cancel the domestic U23 tournament last season, due to the financial constraints of M-League clubs, represents a step backward for football.”
The current U23 Malaysia team is no longer a match for the U23 Vietnam team (Photo: Khoa Nguyen).
The newspaper quoted Malaysian sports doctor Zulakbal Abdul Karim as saying: “Malaysian football used to have a nationwide U23 league, but it was canceled. Players in that age group have lost their playing field, while it is increasingly difficult for them to compete for a place in professional clubs. As a result, their development foundation is affected.”
"Currently, the development of Malaysian youth football is entrusted to the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) and the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD), but the program is not performing as expected."
Malaysian football needs players of the next generation. We need to develop programs to train players in various age groups to reach the appropriate level for the AMD youth football academy,” Dr. Zulakbal Abdul Karim further commented.
Not only did they fail to qualify for the 20th Asian Games, but the Malaysian U23 team also performed poorly in the most recent SEA Games from 2019 to 2025 (from SEA Games 30 to SEA Games 33), failing to win any medals in these tournaments.
Meanwhile, in the same four SEA Games, the Vietnam U23 team won three gold medals (in 2019, 2022, and 2025) and one bronze medal (in 2023). This is not including the three consecutive Southeast Asian U23 Championship titles won by the Vietnam U23 team during this period (2022, 2023, and 2025), along with a bronze medal at the Asian U23 Championship (2026).
That detail reflects the disparity in training quality between Vietnamese and Malaysian football.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-malaysia-neu-sai-lam-khien-doi-nha-mat-ve-du-asiad-ve-tay-u23-viet-nam-20260213121432111.htm
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