KUALA LUMPUR – Players seeking release from representing the national squad is not new in the local football scene with the issue cropping up again ahead of the 2022 ASEAN Football Federation Cup (AFF) to be held from this Dec 20 to Jan 16 next year.
Before accusing players who ‘reject’ to represent the country as not being patriotic, it should be noted by all quarters that the AFF Cup is a tournament organised outside the international window of the International Football Federation (FIFA).
Based on the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players Annex 1: Section on the Release of Players to National Teams Article 6, it is not compulsory to release players outside an international window or outside the final competitions included in the international match calendar.
Therefore, organising the AFF Cup outside the FIFA international window allows the clubs, as the employer, from releasing the players for various reasons, including personal matters, family matters and injuries.
However, there is a positive and negative impact to it, whereby players who do not play for the national team outside the international window get to rest before returning to training with their respective clubs.
Apart from that, the club also does not face the risk of players getting injured, a situation that can threaten the team’s preparation for the new season, as well as having to fork out extra expenditure for the cost of treatment, not to mention that the AFF Cup is often organised at the end of the year.
From another aspect, the trend of rejecting the call to represent the country is not only seen as affecting the quality of the national team’s game, but also giving additional tasks to the coaching staff to build a strong team.
Support of the fans can fade if there is no key players in the national team, and this may also affect the number of spectators in the stadium because these players are like a magnet, with each of them having the aura to attract tens of thousands of supporters to watch them play.
Recently, 12 players withdrew from representing the national squad for the 2022 AFF Cup for various reasons, including personal matters, family matters and injuries, following discussions between the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), head coach Kim Pan Gon and the clubs involved.
They included seven Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) players – Shahrul Mohd Saad, La’vere Lawrence Corbin-Ong, Muhammad Nazmi Faiz Mansor, Arif Aiman Mohd Hanapi, Muhammad Akhyar Abdul Rashid, Matthew Davies and Muhammad Syafiq Ahmad.
It was then followed by two Kuala Lumpur (KL) City FC players, namely Muhammad Akram Mahinan and Declan Lambert, who applied to be excluded from the national team for personal reasons last Tuesday.
Therefore, the writer opines that it is time for the AFF to make changes to ensure it remains relevant and able to attract the involvement of key players.
The change also needs to start with the governing body of the Asian football itself, which is the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), by virtue that the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has already introduced the UEFA Nations League for its affiliates.
The competition generally replaces the friendly matches that were previously held in FIFA’s international window, with European teams engaging in more frequent competitive action against other European teams of comparable quality.
Organising an Asian version of the Nations League, involving all 47 AFC affiliates, will create more meaningful matches with the relegation after the teams are divided into several divisions based on the latest FIFA rankings.
The situation can ensure that each competing team will give their best performance to gain promotion to a higher division and avoid being relegated to a lower division.
The Asian version of the Nations League will also open an opportunity for the Harimau Malaya squad to test their strength against giant Asian teams such as Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar and others.
In conclusion, the writer believes that AFF or AFC needs to take the initiative to ensure that all its affiliated members get the appropriate benefits and eliminate the perspective of “strong teams will continue to be strong while the weak teams will continue to be weak”. – Bernama
