Malaysia do not need world famous footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi in order to emerge as one of the giants in football, said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Infantino, who was in Kuala Lumpur for the first time as FIFA president, said the important elements to be on par with other strong countries in football were discipline and a comprehensive action plan.
"There's no magic formula or secret to say football is changing and Malaysia will be a world champion. The only way is to work seriously.
"Obviously in a football country like Malaysia, with so much passion, success will come. You don’t have to wait for Ronaldo or Messi to be born in Malaysia to wait for the success to come.
"This can be achieved with hard work, with discipline and with complete action," he said during Wednesday's launch of the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) F:30 roadmap, which aimed to make the national team among Asia's top five teams by 2030.
Meanwhile, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who was also present at the event, described the F:30 as a basic framework capable of building an ecosystem that would promote the growth of Malaysian football.
"On behalf of the AFC, we hope Malaysia reaps the rewards of this wonderful initiative," he said.
Bernama
Thu Nov 01 2018
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