31/01/2026

SPORTS SATURDAY | JAN 31, 2026

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A HAM-FISTED attempt to ramp up Malaysia’s footballing fortunes with for eign-born players has backfired, critics say, sparking soul-searching and calls to redouble the focus on homegrown talent. Malaysian football was thrown into fresh chaos on Wednesday when the local governing body’s entire executive body quit. It was the latest twist in a saga over seven natu ralised players who allegedly used forged docu ments to join the national team. Fifa accused the Malaysian football associa tion (FAM) of using doctored birth certificates to claim ancestral links to the country – a prerequi site for national selection – when none in fact existed. World football’s governing body suspended the players and slapped more than US$450,000 (RM1.8m) in fines on FAM. FAM and the players appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has granted a stay on the 12-month bans until the case is reviewed in late February. Malaysia is football-mad, but the country has never qualified for the World Cup and is ranked 121, one place above regional rivals Indonesia. Long-suffering Malaysian fans had high hopes when football authorities launched the naturali sation drive in 2018, ahead of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Gambia-born Mohamadou Sumareh made his debut for the national side in 2018 and several other overseas-born players followed. In all, 23

Time to go local Anger as bid to ramp up Malaysia’s football fortunes backfires

EUROPA LEAGUE (League phase) : Porto 3 (Mora 27, Moura 36, Fernandez 41-og) Rangers 1 (Gassama 6) , Lille 1 (Giroud 90+2-pen) Freiburg 0, Real B etis 2 (Antony 17, Ezzalzouli 32) Feye noord 1 (Tengstedt 77) , Aston Villa 3 (Rogers 64, Mings 76, Jimoh-Aloba 87) Red B ull S alzburg 2 (Konate 33, Yeo 49) , Red S tar B elgrade 1 (Duarte 89) Celta Vigo 1 (Lopez 87) , Lyon 4 (Himbert 33, Merah 55, Karabec 88, Rodriguez 90+3) PAOK 2 (Giakoumakis 20, Meite 66) , Celtic 4 (Nygren 6, Vier gever 10-og, Engels 19-pen, Trusty 66) Utrecht 2 (De Wit 44, Blake 62) , Maccabi Tel Aviv 0 B ologna 3 (Rowe 35, Orsolini 47, Pobega 90+4) , B asel 0 Viktoria Plzen 1 (Panos 39) , Midtjyl land 2 (Simsir 49, Jensen 74) Dinamo Zagreb 0, Ludogorets 1 (Stanic 42) N ice 0, N ottingham Forest 4 (Otvos 17-og, Jesus 21, 55, McAtee 90-pen) Ferencvaros 0, S turm Graz 1 (Kiteishvili 85) B rann 0, FC SB 1 (Cisotti 71) Fenerbahce 1 (Yuksek 19) , S tutt gart 3 (Undav 6, Demirovic 7, Andres 90) Young B oys 2 (Gigovic 42, Lauper 57) , Panathinaikos 1 (Taborda 58) Roma 1 (Ziolkowski 80) , Go Ahead Eagles 0 B raga 0, Genk 2 (Heymans 45-pen, Karetsas 82) Malmo 1 (Ali 4) . RESULTS Mei Xing says will soldier on after split THE recent split with Go Pei Kee has not dampened national women’s doubles player Teoh Mei Xing’s determination to continue compet ing on the international stage. The 28-year-old insisted she remains physically fit and ready to feature in upcoming tournaments. As such, Mei Xing will form a temporary partnership with junior player Tan Zhing Hui for two tour naments in Singapore, the Singapore Inter-national Challenge 2026 (Feb 24-March 1) and the Singapore International Series 2026 (March 3 -8). “My new partner is not con firmed yet, but I will play with Zhing Hui since her partner (Gan Min Yee) sustained an injury, and I will stay until her partner recovers,” she told reporters after a training session in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Asked about the reason behind the separation with Pei Kee, Mei Xing said the decision was made by the latter. “It was not good news for me, and I can’t change her mind. Of course, I was shocked and upset, but I respected her decision. “I don’t think last year’s results were very bad. I think they were still acceptable and could have been improved, but I don’t really know her thoughts,” she said. Mei Xing-Pei Kee began their partnership in June 2024, climbing to a career-high world ranking of 18, with their lone title coming at the Malaysia Super 100 in 2024. – Bernama

coaches, playing enough matches and a proper infrastructure,” he told AFP . Critics say there are too few full-time football academies for homegrown talent. Shazwan Wong, who coaches teenagers at Kepong football club – an emerging club that competes in international tournaments – says Malaysian players lag their regional rivals. “Every year there will be new players coming up to represent the national team.” “The question is: will they be good enough to compete in Asia against the Koreans, the Japanese? Are they able to compete on a world level against the Brazilians or Argentinians?” “We won’t run out of players,“ Shazwan said. “It’s the quality.” Ivan Yusoff says that naturalised players do not fully appreciate what it means to represent the country. “To me, this (naturalisation) doesn’t even make sense,“ said Yusoff, who coaches players around Sri Melaka in Kuala Lumpur. “Why do we need outsiders? We’re the ones who want to make our country proud,” said Yusoff. – AFP Munoz pleased after JDT thump Shan United JOHOR DARUL TA’ZIM (JDT) head coach Xisco Munoz was pleased with the performance of his players after beating Shan United FC 3-0 in the Asean Club Championship 2025/2026 Group B match in Iskandar Puteri, Johor on Thursday night. Munoz said his players worked hard to ensure the win despite facing difficulties in breaking the deadlock in the first half. “I think the result is positive, even the first 30 minutes were not easy, but the most important thing is that we got the three points,” he said dur ing a post-match press conference. The Spanish coach also praised Bergson Gustavo Silvera Da Silva and Oscar Pasero Arribas for taking their chances well and scoring, helping JDT stay on track towards the semifinals. Munoz added that starting heritage players Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel helped the team and gave them a chance to return to action. “It is not easy for players who have not played for a long time, but I think they performed well,” he said. Looking ahead, Munoz said JDT will now focus on their next match and are ready for the challenge against Nam Dinh on Feb 5 at the Thien Truong Stadium in Vietnam. He added that the coaching staff will make careful plans to manage the players fitness, as JDT will also compete in the Super League and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite (ACLE) early next month. Meanwhile, Shan United FC head coach Han Win Aung had to accept his teams fourth defeat, leaving them at the bottom of the group stand ings. Nam Dinh have reclaimed the top spot with 12 points, overtaking JDT, who sit second with 10 points. – Bernama

foreign footballers were granted citizenship by late 2025. But Malaysia failed to qualify for 2022 and fared no better in trying to reach this year’s World Cup in North America. Throw in the scandal and many in the nation of 35 million people are baffled and angry. “This is extremely embarrassing,” lawyer and MP Ramkarpal Singh told parliament after Malaysian football made headlines for all the wrong reasons. “When we see the development of football in this country dropping to this level, it’s very sad. “This matter has affected the reputation and the good name of the country,” Ramkarpal added. Critics and football pundits believe ending the dependency on foreign-born players and addressing issues from the bottom up is the way forward. “Malaysian football wouldn’t be in such a pre dicament if there were structured grassroots development involving all stakeholders,” said journalist Haresh Deol. “To move forward we must pay a whole lot of attention to the grassroots: getting the right

Windfall for Perak athletes

Ű BY P. CHANDRA SAGARAN

of appointment to Perak state secretary Datuk Ahmad Suaidi Abdul Rahim as the state’s con tingent Chef de Mission for Sukma XX11 Selangor 2026. State financial officer Datuk Mohd Zaki Mahyuddin was appointed as the Deputy Chef de Mission 1 and former Olympian diver Datuk Leong Mun Yee as Deputy Che de Mission 2 Nine state executive council members, five Government Departments, seven agencies and two sports associations rep resentatives received letters of appointments as adoption agency. Each entity would adopt an average of two sports. Meanwhile, Saarani unveiled a new Perak Sports Council 40 seater bus at the event.

country who won 58 medals including 27 gold, 13 silver and 18 bronze at the biennial games. They collected a sum of RM93,800 to emerge medal winners in 22 individual and team events to make the state proud. Those who grabbed gold medals earned a total of RM56,000, silver (RM19,200) and bronze medallists went home with a sum of RM18,600. Meanwhile state medal win ners at 12 international and national competitions last year earned a total of RM45,650 as incentives. Saarani said the state appre ciate the hard work by the ath letes who made the state and country proud. Saarani also presented letters

PERAK State Government pre sented incentives totalling RM139,350 to athletes who excelled in 2025 Thailand SEA Games, international tourna ments and domestic competi tions. The incentives in the form of mock cheques were given by Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad at a function at Indera Mulia Stadium in Ipoh on Thursday. Present were senior state government officials, Perak Sports Council (MSN) director Mazlan Mohamad sports asso ciations’ representatives and athletes. Heading the list were Perak athletes who represented the

Herry hopes Aaron-Wooi Yik meet world No. 1 Korean pair at All England

N ATIO N AL men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi is hoping for a showdown between his charges, Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, and world No. 1 Korean pair Kim Won Ho-Seo Seung Jae in the All England final in Birmingham this March. Herry is confident that Aaron-Wooi Yik, who were runners-up in the 2019 and 2024 editions, have a chance to overcome the defending champions if the top national men’s doubles pair

German Open from Feb 24 to March 1, followed by the All England from March 3-8. He said the national men’s doubles players have responded positively to the changes implemented in the physical training sessions. “Since I improved the physical training sessions, I’ve seen the players more motivated to prepare for this year’s All England,” he said. – Bernama

he told reporters after a training session here today. The two-time Olympic bronze medallists lost 15-21, 21-12, 18-21 to Won Ho-Seung Jae in the final, their second defeat in three meetings with the Koreans. Herry added that he is focusing on improving the players’ physical training sessions, including cardio, strength and speed work, ahead of the

can reproduce the form they showed at the 2026 Malaysia Open final on Jan 11. “We have to look at the draw first, but I wish the two pairs can meet again in the final. We have a chance (of winning). “If you look at their performance in the Malaysia Open final, Aaron-Wooi Yik made simple mistakes in the closing points; if that hadn’t happened, the result would have been different,”