KUALA LUMPUR – Kuala Lumpur City FC aims to produce more naturalised players for the betterment of the national football team in their upcoming international tournaments.
Speaking to Scoop, KL City’s chief executive officer, Stanley Bernard, said the club is willing to continue and expand the naturalisation process for some of their best foreign talents, with the aim of having them play for Harimau Malaya in the years to come.
“I’m a patriotic guy and I always think of using my football club to develop more players to be part of the national team.
“We have some really good players in our team, and we also have a few foreign players who have been with the club for more than five years and have the potential to become naturalised for Harimau Malaya.
“Currently, we have already naturalised players like Paulo Josué, Sean Giannelli, Khair Jones, and Declan Lambert who are always on the radar of Harimau Malaya.
“We are ready to assist the national team in naturalising more players so that head coach Kim Pan-gon can utilise them for the upcoming 2024 Asian Cup in Qatar and the 2026 World Cup & 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers,” said Bernard.
He also said that the club aims to become the main feeder club from the Malaysia Super League to develop more young local players for the national team.
“It’s every owner’s dream to develop local players from their club to be part of the national team.
“So far, we do have many local players who are part of the senior team and the U-23 team, but we would like to produce more in the years to come.
“We have a significant pool of talent from the President’s Cup team and the Youth Cup team, and we want to leverage this and provide them with as much exposure as we can, so they can be integrated into the team.
“As long as I’m here, I will ensure that we continue this process for the betterment of our national football landscape,” Bernard added.
KL City currently has 19 Malaysian players, including naturalised players, in the team.
Six of these players are regularly chosen by Pan-gon for international friendlies and tournaments, such as the 2022 AFF Championship and the recently concluded Pestabola Merdeka tournament.
The Harimau Malaya squad will commence their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign against the 97th-ranked Kyrgyzstan on November 16 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
Malaysia is grouped with Chinese Taipei, Kyrgyzstan, and Oman in Group D for the qualifiers. – November 9, 2023