
Lim Fong Kee, James Wong and C Nadarajan said FAM should focus on developing local talent rather than relying on naturalised players.
“How long will these naturalised players play for the nation? I can’t see any outstanding players among them (recently naturalised players),” said Lim, a former member of the Malaysian squad that competed at the 1972 Olympics.
“Where are our grassroots (players) and our local coaches? I am sure many Malaysians are interested in helping us improve the standard of football,” he said.
Lim said the government should get the right people to develop Malaysian football as the country had fallen far behind the likes of Japan and South Korea.
“Even Vietnam and Thailand overtook us. Get someone who knows about football, not politics.”
Lim, a former goalkeeper, was commenting on social media criticism over the continued inclusion of naturalised players in the national football team.
Since 2015, a number of players have been naturalised and called up to the national team.
They include Lee Tuck (England), Guilherme de Paula, Endrick dos Santos Parafita, and Paulo Josué (Brazil), Ezequiel Agüero (Argentina), Mohamadou Sumareh (Gambia), Liridon Krasniqi (Kosovo) and Romel Morales (Colombia).
For the AFC Asian Cup, which starts on Saturday, only Endrick, Paulo, Morales, and Sumareh made the squad.
Wong, whose winning goal against South Korea saw Malaysia qualify for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, said he does not consider the current national team as being “Malaysian enough”.
“It looks like a new-look foreign team. I’m not sure if the naturalised players are even going to stay in Malaysia after they finish their careers.”
“I don’t agree with granting citizenship for the sake of football. Why can’t we develop our own players?” he told FMT.
In the past, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh criticised the naturalisation process, questioning whether stateless children need to consider pursuing professional football careers as a means to obtain Malaysian citizenship.
Similarly, former national team player Santokh Singh also criticised the heavy reliance on naturalisation, dubbing the practice “stupid.”
Meanwhile, Nadarajan, a former national striker, said he felt it was unfair that footballers were given citizenship when many others born in the country still do not have citizenship.
He said there was a need to review the policy of naturalising players and at the same time bring Malaysian players up to par with foreign players.
“Only three to four (homegrown) players are playing regularly. After all these years of development, are we only able to put forward four (homegrown) players at the national level?” he said.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram