Ministry to adopt Young Tigers

THE Sports Ministry will adopt the Young Tigers in an effort to relieve the Football Association of Malaysia of its financial obligations. The move will see FAM saving close to RM3 million annually which can be used in other areas. It is learnt that this exercise will go on for at least three years. "The Sports Ministry will take over the management of the Young Tigers from now on. We have a new management and coaching team to take care of the squad. With this move, FAM will just have to concentrate on the national team," said Sports Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Putrajaya yesterday. "We want to give the Young Tigers more international exposure, we want to send our players for attachments, but all this must be approved by the Cabinet Committee for Sports." It is also learnt that former national player Ong Kim Swee will be the new Young Tigers coach. Kim Swee is currently taking care of the national Under-18 side. "The Sports Ministry will also take over the grassroot development programme. We will use a number of ex-internationals to help in this programme and we will get FAM to coordinate this. We want to get as much help as possible in implementing the programmes." Ismail Sabri also mentioned that a new steering committee comprising the Ministry Of Education, Ministry of Sports and FAM, will be formed to look into areas that can help FAM resolve its grassroots problem. "We are forming a new committee so that all the parties can work hand-in-hand to overcome any problems and challenges. We at the ministry are only concerned about the development programme because that is where the problem is," said Ismail Sabri. Ismail Sabri also confirmed that a district league will start in April and will be managed by the ministry, while the football community league will kick off in May. "We are going to sit down and look at the structure at youth level, the coaching syllabus, certification, the sports science aspects and many other areas,"added Ismail Sabri.