KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia must stop treating the Asean Championship as a secondary competition and instead field its strongest available squad, with every tournament carrying the weight of national pride, local football observer Datuk Dr Pekan Ramli said.
Pekan believes there should no longer be any distinction between “major” and “minor” tournaments whenever Harimau Malaya take to the pitch, arguing that supporters expect nothing less than victory regardless of the competition or the players selected.
He was responding to suggestions that Malaysia should send their under-23 side to this month’s Asean Championship before the senior national team returns for the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup, which will be held during the Fifa international window in September.
“For me, this has always been a very straightforward issue. Every competition that Malaysia enters deserves to be taken seriously because, at the end of the day, we are representing the country and carrying the nation’s badge,” Pekan told Scoop when contacted.
“Supporters do not differentiate between tournaments. Whether it is the Asean Championship, the Asian Cup, World Cup qualifiers or any other competition, the expectations remain exactly the same. The moment players put on the Malaysia jersey, the public expects them to fight for victory.
“It does not matter whether the team is made up of under-17, under-23 or senior players. Once you represent Malaysia, you are no longer playing for yourself or your club – you are playing for the country’s reputation. That responsibility should never be taken lightly.”
Pekan said the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) should assemble the strongest squad available for every tournament whenever circumstances permit, rather than prioritising one competition over another.
“If there are no scheduling issues, no club-versus-country conflicts and no injury concerns, then the best players should always be selected. I don’t believe we should be choosing which tournaments deserve our strongest squad.
“Sometimes we become too focused on saving our best players for competitions that we think are more important, but football does not work that way. There is no guarantee that we will even win the tournament we are prioritising.
“So why sacrifice one competition in the hope of succeeding in another? Momentum, confidence and a winning mentality are built by approaching every match with the same level of seriousness.
“When players consistently compete in high-pressure matches wearing the national colours, they develop the mentality needed to win. If we start treating certain tournaments as less important, that mentality will inevitably suffer.”
The senior lecturer at UiTM’s Sports Science and Recreation Faculty added that Malaysia must cultivate a culture where every international fixture is viewed as an opportunity to strengthen the national team rather than simply prepare for a bigger event.
“Strong footballing nations don’t switch their mentality depending on the competition. They aim to win every match because success breeds success. That is the mentality Malaysia needs if we want to raise our standards and become a consistently competitive team in Asia.”
The debate comes as Malaysian football prepares for a packed regional calendar.
The Asean Championship, formerly known as the AFF Championship, will be staged from July 24 to August 26, marking the tournament’s 30th anniversary and the first edition to be played during the middle of the year instead of its traditional year-end schedule.
Vietnam entered the competition as defending champions after lifting the 2024 title.
Attention will then shift to the inaugural Fifa Asean Cup, scheduled for September and October during the official Fifa international match window.
Because the competition falls within the Fifa calendar, participating nations are expected to have greater access to their overseas-based players, potentially allowing Malaysia to field its strongest possible squad against the region’s leading teams.
The new tournament has been approved by Fifa and is expected to become a significant addition to Southeast Asia’s international football calendar. – July 5, 2026