Malaysia was criticized by its partners for its discredited behavior and for using false reasons to withdraw from the tournament.

As we all know, last month, Malaysia accepted to participate in the CAFA Cup, an event that featured strong teams such as Iran, Uzbekistan and Oman. However, at the beginning of this month, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) suddenly announced its withdrawal.

According to coach Peter Cklamovski, participating in the CAFA Cup brings too many risks to Malaysia, from travel, logistics to force. He believes that because the tournament has changed its schedule and is not held on the same day as FIFA Days, it will be difficult for clubs to release their players, leading to his team not having the optimal force.

But CAFA has refuted the above reason. In a recent announcement on its homepage, the agency affirmed that the match schedule, which was set from August 29 to September 8, has remained the same since the beginning and “there has never been a change to the schedule”. CAFA believes that the reason given by FAM is incorrect.

Malaysia withdrew from CAFA Cup due to lack of naturalized team

Regarding the concern about the force, CAF also gives the teams maximum flexibility to register up to 35 players and change at any time. This is rare in national team tournaments, showing that CAFA has created the best conditions for Malaysia and the participating teams to compete comfortably. Through this, the Central Asian football governing body expressed disappointment with the reasons given by its Southeast Asian counterpart.

CAFA said that FAM’s decision to withdraw had affected the organization of the tournament, calling it an incident that Southeast Asian football had caused. “CAFA expressed disappointment that this sudden withdrawal has affected the preparation and planning process, which was already in the final stages. Despite this incident, CAFA remains committed to organizing a high-quality and competitive tournament for fans,” CAFA wrote.

Thus, the CAFA Cup 2025 will have only 7 competing teams including Iran, Uzbekistan, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. This event will be held from August 29 to September 8 in 2 countries: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.