Malaysia team unexpectedly withdraws from Central Asian tournament: 'Trouble' because of naturalized players

On the afternoon of July 16, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced that the national team had withdrawn from the 2025 CAFA Nations Cup Central Asian Football Tournament, because the schedule was not included in FIFA Days and the naturalized players were not released by their clubs.

Malaysia team's setback?

FAM believes that the Central Asian - CAFA Nations Cup 2025 schedule is not included in the FIFA Days this September, but in fact this is probably just an excuse to withdraw, after they received information in advance that the tournament schedule will take place from August 29 to September 8 and participated in the group draw.

Coach Peter Cklamovski (middle) and the Malaysian team after the match against the Vietnamese team on June 10.

Photo: Ngoc Linh

Accordingly, the main reason may be because FAM has not been able to negotiate with the clubs of naturalized players in Spain, Argentina, Colombia and Japan to join the team. Meanwhile, choosing only domestic players to compete will affect the results and the possibility of losing points on the FIFA rankings. Therefore, after much consideration, FAM has decided to withdraw from participating in the Central Asian tournament - CAFA Nations Cup 2025.

Previously, according to the draw results, the Malaysian team was in a group with strong opponents in the Central Asian region such as Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. If they reach the final or the third-place match with the first or second place in the group, respectively, they will meet Uzbekistan (host), Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan or Oman in the remaining group. The Malaysian team is also scheduled to gather from the end of August.

However, with the new withdrawal from the tournament, the Malaysian team will only focus on training on the FIFA Days schedule in September and is not expected to have any friendly matches. On this occasion, the Vietnamese team will also not compete, as coach Kim Sang-sik will focus on the U.23 team with important goals at the U.23 Southeast Asian tournament, the U.23 Asian qualifiers and the 33rd SEA Games at the end of the year.

According to Malaysia coach Peter Cklamovski: "We have many players playing in the world's top leagues such as Spain, Argentina, Colombia and Japan. Bringing them to the tournament in Central Asia was not feasible at that time, especially with the mandatory 72-hour recovery rule from FIFA, which added to the pressure.

Besides, there are impacts on logistics and budget. Therefore, we have to make the decision to not participate in the tournament, to focus all our efforts on better preparation. Thereby, also to prepare for the important schedule in October and November in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers with matches against Laos and Nepal."

Coach Peter Cklamovski also said that the decision of the Malaysian team not to participate in the Central Asian - CAFA Nations Cup 2025 will disappoint many people, because after the 4-0 victory over the Vietnamese team, the country's fans had high hopes that the home team would have greater ambitions to reach the Asian level to compete with the continent's top teams.

However, Harimau Malaya is probably still not confident in itself, due to its heavy dependence on naturalized players. Among them, there are quite a few players whose origins are suspected to be related to Malaysia, which has caused controversy over the past time and is still simmering in public opinion in this country.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-malaysia-bat-ngo-rut-lui-khoi-giai-trung-a-rac-roi-vi-cau-thu-nhap-tich-185250716144716554.htm