KUALA LUMPUR – The Harimau Malaya women’s team will be competing in the 2022 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Women’s Championship in the Philippines in July.
This comes after the disappointing news that the women’s team would not be part of the Malaysian contingent to the 2022 Hanoi SEA Games in May.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Mohd Saifuddin Abu Bakar said at a press conference at Wisma FAM today that 30 players will be involved in the training programme ahead of the championship.
“They will join the centralised training programme here at FAM from July 1-14,” he said.
The under-18 women’s team will also be competing in the 2022 AFF Women’s Under-18 Championship taking place in Indonesia in July while the under-15 women’s team will be competing the following month in Indonesia as well.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin also announced that the FAM women’s football committee will start a national women’s league, which will be kicking off in May.
Previously, the women’s league was scheduled to begin in March, however, due to lacklustre response from teams, the start of the league had to be pushed back.
“We had initially invited all teams from state football associations and clubs but because we want to improve women’s football in the nation, we have opened up the league to all interested teams that wish to join.
“FAM has agreed to allow direct team participation without the need for support from state football associations.
“Women’s football is still in the developmental stage and it would be better for teams to participate without having to go through a bureaucratic process,” said Saifuddin.
He says FAM is currently expecting at least 30 teams to join the women’s league.
The rebranded Tun Sharifah Rodziah Cup (PTSR) will kick off with the zonal league competition on May 14.
Saifuddin added that FAM will also be launching a national women’s football development plan on May 14 in conjunction with Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Day.
FAM currently have 35 grassroots courses planned for this year with 18 courses already organised or set to be organised by the end of March.
“Previously we only conducted PTSR but now the national women’s football development plan includes grassroots, youth and girls programmes in preparation for our future women’s national team,” he added. – The Vibes, March 24, 2022
