On June 6, I posted on X: “Conversation over lunch – Will Kim Pan-gon eventually be made a scapegoat? BTW, for those craving Spanish food, here are dishes that you must try”.
It was the same month, Kim said he wanted to stay in Malaysia to guide the national football team in the qualifying campaign for the 2027 Asia Cup. After all, his contract was supposed to end next year.
This afternoon, the South Korean said annyeonghi gyeseyo (goodbye) to the FA of Malaysia (FAM). Kim’s assistant, Pau Marti Vicente from Spain, will be the interim head coach. Vicente will be assisted by E. Elavarasan. The rest of the coaching staff will remain as well.
Responding to a question raised by Astro Arena’s Fina Nasrom at this afternoon’s press conference at Wisma FAM, Kim said: “I told (FAM president) Datuk Hamidin (Amin) everything. I cannot reveal them to you, here. Very dangerous. He knows all the details. I convinced him. The reason, I cannot share with you.”
“(It’s) Better that you don’t ask Datuk (Hamidin) later. This, we must study for our next strategy plan, how to support the Malaysian national team’s success,” he added.
From wanting to stay, to quitting due to “personal commitment”, and “very dangerous”. This will surely get tongues wagging.
All eyes will naturally be on the next individual who will take over the reins – a seat that comes with a whole set of challenges.
In the meantime, Kim’s ardent supporters will sing praises for what he has done since occupying Wisma FAM in 2022.
His best achievement while in Malaysia was to get Harimau Malaya to qualify on merit for the Asian Cup, after a 42-year drought. That took place in 2022, when Malaysia defeated Bangladesh 4-1 in a qualifier match at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, playing in front of then prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. It was the same Ismail Sabri who contributed RM10 million to FAM for national football development several months earlier – despite the government having its own national football development programme, or NFDP.
Under Kim’s guidance, the national team emerged runners-up in the 2022 Thai King’s Cup, and the 2023 Merdeka football tournament. There are those who are jubilant that the past two years had seen Malaysia’s position surge up, from a lowly 154, to its best-ever placing of 130 in the FIFA world rankings.
In the latest FIFA rankings (as of June 20), Malaysia is placed 135. It is still far behind regional giants Thailand (100) and Vietnam (116). Even Indonesia is one rung higher than the Malaysians.
The guardians of the sport who were quick to celebrate Malaysia’s rise in the FIFA rankings must be reminded of what then-national coach Datuk K. Rajagobal had said: “Rankings aren’t everything”. When Malaysia dropped to the 162nd spot, he added rankings were not a true measure of his players’ capabilities.
The core set of FAM officials will surely remember this. They were there then, and they remain at Wisma FAM today. Surprisingly, they have managed to survive all the turmoil and upheavals related to Malaysian football.
This has been proven to be true, as Malaysia continues to struggle at the regional level. The last time Malaysia won the gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games was in 2011. But the sport continues to be rewarded.
Earlier this year, Kim and his boys were given the boot in the group stage of their Asian Cup campaign. Yet, the government gave FAM RM5 million – once again in the name of football development.
The state FAs, being the guardians of the sport, are tasked with developing the sport, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. The state leagues are a far cry from what they are supposed to be. Teams in the domestic leagues, supposedly being professionally run, are still plagued by wage woes. The New Straits Times today reported that FAM and the Malaysian Football League risk losing their authority to grant national licences to M-League clubs by the Asian Football Confederation if the issue of unpaid players’ salaries remains unresolved.
Football in schools is played in a carnival format while there’s not much attention being paid to the quality of coaches who train kids at the grassroots. Also, parents send their children for football training with the hopes of them representing the nation one day, only to see a national line-up that has naturalised players – a temporary fix that doesn’t really solve the problem.
Football in Malaysia has remained stagnant for decades. Yet, it continues to hog the limelight because of its strong fan base – something politicians and opportunists hunger for.
All the money spent on developing players must be accounted for. Taxpayers’ money given to FAM must be tabled, and accounted for, in the august House. And since millions of ringgit have already been given to the national body, why should the government – via the Youth and Sports Ministry – be responsible in unearthing talents via a specific programme, at the expense of other sports that actually produce results. The nationwide talent identification and graduation process must be looked into.
So, even if FAM manages to attract Euro 2024 winning Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente to Kelana Jaya, nothing will change. Perhaps, it may encourage some traders to start selling churros each time the national team plays on home soil.
