If they can play at 36, why not naturalise them, says FAM

 

The Football Association of Malaysia says only seven foreign players have been naturalised to date. (FAM Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has dismissed criticism of the naturalisation of older foreign footballers, saying there is nothing wrong if they could still play.

“If a 36-year-old player can play, why not? It shouldn’t be a problem,” FAM secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman told FMT.

He was responding to former youth and sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who said it was unjust to provide citizenship to older footballers who may be past their prime.

Khairy also said naturalising older foreign players was a “huge insult” to Malaysian mothers who had long fought for their children’s citizenship rights.

The former Rembau MP said he became upset when a proposal mooted citizenship for foreign footballers.

“And I thought, ‘Well, if he’s young, say 23 years old with plenty of time to play for Malaysia, then that’s fine’. But he was 36.

“At that age, why were we offering him citizenship? He’s not even eligible to play for the national team.”

Noor Azman, however, said foreign footballers must have played in the local league for five consecutive years to qualify for the naturalisation process.

“If they are 23 years old, they should have started playing in the Malaysian league professionally from 18 for five consecutive years for us to register them with Fifa,” he said.

Under Fifa rules, a player must continuously reside in a country for at least five years after reaching the age of 18 to be eligible to represent that country in international football.

This rule applies to players who wish to gain eligibility to play for a national team through naturalisation and have no biological ties to the country.

Noor Azman said that to date, only seven foreign footballers had been naturalised.

They are Liridon Krasniqi (Kosovo), Lee Tuck (England), Endrick dos Santos Parafita (Brazil), Paulo Josué (Brazil), Guilherme de Paula (Brazil), Ezequiel Agüero (Argentina) and Romel Morales (Colombia).

Of the seven, only Krasniqi and de Paula’s naturalisation was pushed for by FAM, Noor Azman said, while the remaining five were naturalised through their respective local clubs. - FMT