KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Football League (MFL) will hold discussions with all Super League clubs regarding the decision by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to mandate their participation in the President’s Cup and Youth Cup starting next year.
MFL chief executive officer, Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said the purpose of the discussion is to assess the clubs’ ability to implement this decision and their understanding that it is for the player development process.
“It is a decision that I feel is good for development, but it is a discussion that I also need to have with all the chief executive officers of the clubs to ensure that it can be implemented at the club level.
“We also want to see the clubs’ understanding of FAM’s decision – which is a development-based decision needed from the professional clubs in the Malaysian League (M-League),” he said
The President’s Cup is an Under-20 (U-20) age group tournament, while the Youth Cup is for the Under-18 (U-18) age group.
At the same time, Stuart said that everyone needs to understand the importance of the development aspect, which will benefit the clubs and the national team from various perspectives.
He said that investment in development teams is as important to a club’s decision to sign an international player.
“Sometimes the decision to sign an international player costs the same as the development cost that a team is not willing to pay,” said Stuart, who acknowledged that over 60% of Super League teams this season have sent development teams.
Super League teams were previously given exceptions to either send Under-23 (U-23) or Under-18 teams.
However, on November 6, the FAM Executive Committee mandated that all Super League teams next season must send teams for the President’s Cup and Youth Cup. – November 23, 2023