Shebby: More import players, please
FORMER national player Serbegeth Singh has asked the FA of Malaysia (FAM) to be brave, and open up the quota for import players in the M-League.
Serbegeth, or popularly known as TV pundit, Shebby Singh, said it is time for FAM to prioritise efforts to develop the league instead of being worried about changes that could affect the performance of the national team.
Shebby, who was once “global adviser” to English club, Blackburn Rovers, said: “At the moment, football in Malaysia is divided into two - the professional league and national team. We have to decide which should be given the priority.
“I believe we should prioritise the national league because it will generate income for each team. All this while we have been using the same concept of limiting imports and what has that brought us?
“Now we set the target of making our league popular and highly profitable in five years. The market in this region (Southeast Asia) is huge.
“MP & Silva has stated that our league will be worth RM1.26 billion in 15 years, so FAM have to work hard.”
Harian Metro on Thursday reported that FAM president Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim is hoping to increase the number of imports to five in addition to one import from Southeast Asia to improve the quality of the MLeague.
Prior to this, M-League teams are limited to three foreign and one Asian player.
Shebby said an increase in imports will improve the competition within the league. “Let our local players compete with the imports. That is the only (foreign) exposure they have outside of the AFC Cup.” Aziman Rosdi