Courtesy: The Star online

FAM plan to stage national level futsal meet

KUANTAN:
The FA of Malaysia (FAM) have plans to organise a futsal championship at national level by the end of the year.

The FAM deputy president, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, said that the decision was based on the response towards the KL World 5s tournament, which ended at the Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.

He said that the national team’s success in winning the Bowl Cup by beating Indonesia 5-4 win showed that Malaysia could excel in the sport.

“There are weaknesses for us to overcome, especially after looking at the quality of teams like Argentina and Brazil,” he said after having lunch with the Pahang football team at Shahzan Inn here yesterday.

Argentina defeated Brazil 3-2 with a golden goal to emerge as champions. It was the first-ever win for Argentina over their arch-rivals in international futsal tournaments.

Abdullah said that the two countries clearly dominated the sport and Malaysia and other Asian countries still lagged far behind. But he added that that it was not impossible for Malaysia to develop players of the same calibre.

He said that the national championship would initially be held in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam because of the availability of facilities there.