FOOTBALL Association of Malaysia deputy president Khairy Jamaluddin has instructed the FAM secretariat to inform all states football associations that national team players will not be released to the states when the team are in training.
“I have asked the general secretary, Lt Jen Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad to inform all states that the national team management committee will not release players when they are in training. National team preparation takes priority,” said Khairy. It was learnt that five states had requested for their national players, who are in training for the match against Indonesia on June 7 in Jakarta, be released for Malaysian Games. Khairy’s decision will indeed be good news for national coach B. Sathianathan who constantly has to release players to states when in training for national duty.
This was the case when the Under-23 team were preparing for the Korat Sea Games when some states requested for their players to be released.
Former national coach Norizan Bakar also has to put up with this when he only had 11 players in training for the Asian Cup last year.
