Expert points out the reason why U23 Malaysia missed out on the Asiad ticket

Malaysian expert Zulakbal revealed the deep-rooted reason why their football team did not secure a spot in Asiad 20.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and host Japan have agreed to only allocate 16 slots for Asiad to the teams that qualified for the AFC U23 Championship 2026 in Saudi Arabia.

This means many Southeast Asian teams, including Malaysia, were eliminated right at the initial stage. According to expert Zulakbal, this is a direct consequence of the U23 Malaysia team’s insufficient quality to compete at the continental level.

“The host wants matches with high quality that bring together top talents. Selecting only the 16 strongest teams follows the trend similar to Olympic football and is likely to continue for a long time,” said expert Zulakbal.

According to this expert, the root cause lies in the youth player development system. He believes that the cancellation of the MFL Cup for the U23 age group last season by the Malaysian Football League (MFL) deprived many players of an important platform to gain experience.

“Without a stable competitive environment, most players in the transition age struggle to break into the first team, resulting in a noticeable decline in the quality of the next generation,”the expert stated.

Currently, youth training is mainly handled by the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) and the Mokhtar Dahari Academy, but Zulakbal emphasized that these two systems alone cannot fully solve the resource challenge.

He suggested that Malaysia needs to establish additional development programs to create a next generation of players with adequate skills, avoiding a large gap between the elite group and the rest.

According to him, without timely reform, the absence at Asiad could just be the beginning of a long-term decline for Malaysian football on the continental stage.

He also noted that tightening qualification criteria is understandable since the host always prioritizes professional quality to ensure effective investment in a large-scale multi-sport event.