Malaysia faces backlash for dropping out of Central Asia tournament: Reasons puzzling

On July 17, the Central Asian Football Federation (CAFA) issued a statement expressing regret that the Malaysian team withdrew from the tournament at the last minute, greatly affecting the plans and preparations that were in the final stages.

Malaysia knows all the tournament plans, there are no changes.

According to CAFA, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) announced the decision to withdraw the national team from the Central Asian Championship - CAFA Nations Cup 2025 for the reasons that the tournament changed its schedule, was not included in FIFA Days, and naturalized players were not released by their clubs.

Malaysian naturalized players return to the country one after another to play for Johor Darul Ta'zim Club, not to mention foreign players.

Photo: Ngoc Linh

"Malaysia's participation in the tournament was confirmed in advance, with full details of the tournament dates (August 29 to September 8) and fixtures, and these dates were never changed in the first place. Unfortunately, this late withdrawal has caused some disruption to the ongoing organisational processes, especially as planning and preparation were already in the final stages," CAFA said in a statement.

Also in the announcement, CAFA intended to blame FAM: "FAM stated the reason that the tournament is not included in FIFA's international competition schedule (FIFA Days), and therefore, the release of players may be limited.

However, under tournament rules, final player registrations – selected from a preliminary list of 35 players – can be submitted on a match-by-match basis. This allows for maximum flexibility, including the possibility of key players joining the team for subsequent matches.

CAFA remains committed to delivering a high quality and competitive tournament for the people of Central Asia and beyond, and we would like to thank all participating countries for their continued support and cooperation.”

According to Malaysian press, FAM's sudden withdrawal from the Central Asian tournament could have an impact in the future when the country's team wants to return to participate in the tournament.

Meanwhile, according to Malaysia coach Peter Cklamovski, withdrawing from the Central Asian Championship - CAFA Nations Cup 2025 is a strategic decision. Thereby, the Malaysian team has better preparation for important matches in October and November in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers with matches against Laos and Nepal. The big goal is to win a ticket to the final round, including the key match in the second leg against Vietnam at the end of March 2026.

However, there are many sources saying that the Malaysian team is concerned about the difficulty of calling up naturalized players, even though some have recently returned to play in the domestic league, and it is difficult to compete on equal terms with the top teams in the Central Asian region such as Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Oman, which led to the decision to withdraw from the tournament.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/malaysia-bi-phan-ung-vi-bo-giai-trung-a-nguyen-nhan-kho-hieu-185250717084002273.htm