‘Stupid’ football naturalisation drive gets red card, with Malaysian national team no nearer Fifa World Cup qualifying
- Country starts period of soul-searching about state of game with team ranked 154th in world
- Naturalising players has not worked for China either, with team winning just once in qualifiers for 2022 tournament in Qatar
A drive to ramp up Malaysia’s footballing fortunes with naturalised players has failed, critics say, with the national team no nearer a first World Cup appearance and soul-searching about the state of the game in the country.
Football is among the most popular sports in the nation of more than 30 million people but at international level Malaysia are minnows – 154th in the Fifa rankings, a spot below tiny Andorra.
Long-suffering Malaysian fans had high hopes when football authorities launched the naturalisation programme in 2018, ahead of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and several overseas-born players were handed citizenship.
But the scheme was put on hold in August after Malaysia’s tilt at the World Cup came up short once more, with naturalised players taking some of the flak.
Already naturalised players can still play for the country but there will be no new ones coming through the door in the near future.
Santokh Singh, who played for the national side in the 1970s and 1980s – better times – said there should be a renewed focus on training local players.
“We’ve got so many good local players who are capable of performing better than the foreigners … they are not getting a chance to play,” the 69-year-old told AFP. “Naturalisation of players is stupid.”
